Rechargeable Li-based battery technologies utilising silicon, silicon-based, and Si-derivative anodes coupled with high-capacity/high-voltage insertion-type cathodes have reaped significant interest from both academic and industrial sectors. This stems from their practically achievable energy density, offering a new avenue towards the mass-market adoption of electric vehicles and renewable energy sources. Nevertheless, such high-energy systems are limited by their complex chemistry and intrinsic drawbacks. From this perspective, we present the progress, current status, prevailing challenges and mitigating strategies of Li-based battery systems comprising silicon-containing anodes and insertion-type cathodes. This is accompanied by an assessment of their potential to meet the targets for evolving volume- and weight-sensitive applications such as electro-mobility.

Perspective on recent improvements in experiment and theory towards realizing lithium metal electrodes with liquid electrolytes.

Driven by the increasing plea for greener transportation and efficient integration of renewable energy sources, Ni-rich metal layered oxides, namely NMC, Li [Ni_1−x−yCo_yMn_z] O₂ (x + y ≤ 0.4), and NCA, Li [Ni_1−x−yCo_xAl_y] O₂, cathode materials have garnered huge attention for the development of Next-Generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The impetus behind such huge celebrity includes their higher capacity and cost effectiveness when compared to the-state-of-the-art LiCoO₂ (LCO) and other low Ni content NMC versions. However, despite all the beneficial attributes, the large-scale deployment of Ni-rich NMC based LIBs poses a technical challenge due to less stability of the cathode/electrolyte interphase (CEI) and diverse degradation processes that are associated with electrolyte decomposition, transition metal cation dissolution, cation–mixing, oxygen release reaction etc. Here, the potential degradation routes, recent efforts and enabling strategies for mitigating the core challenges of Ni-rich NMC cathode materials are presented and assessed. In the end, the review shed light on the perspectives for the future research directions of Ni-rich cathode materials.

Since the oil crisis in the 1970s, the importance of rechargeable batteries has been noted by both academia and industry. This has become more prominent with the increasing demand in e-mobility and integration of renewable sources in the energy ecosystem. However, despite the great success of lithium-ion batteries in portable consumer electronics and the above-mentioned domains, it is challenging to further expand their use to large-volume technical applications due to the limited resources of some key elements (lithium, cobalt, etc.). Accordingly, emerging mono-valent (e.g., sodium and potassium) and multi-valent (magnesium, calcium, zinc, aluminum, etc.) batteries are expected to overcome the resource limitation and related challenges. Herein, we present the historical development of non-aqueous organic electrolytes and electrode–electrolyte interphases and focus on the similarities and differences between lithium-based batteries and other complementary emerging battery technologies. Special attention is paid to some basic parameters related to solvents and salts, including donor numbers and Eigen values, to better understand the transport behavior in the bulk electrolyte. Moreover, key parameters impacting the features of the electrode–electrolyte interphase are critically analyzed for each battery configuration. Additionally, we discuss the possible strategies to enhance the physical (e.g., transport behavior and mechanical properties) and (electro)chemical properties of electrolytes and interphases, aiming at promoting the development of sustainable and high-performance mono- and multi-valent batteries for practical applications. Particularly, it is scrutinized whether the accumulated facts with respect to lithium can be smoothly transferred to other emerging battery systems or not.

In this paper, the origin of the jelly roll deformation in 18650 lithium-ion batteries is examined in more detail by combining volume expansion measurements, accelerated lifetime testing, and CT imaging. Based on the presented research, a theory is developed to determine the cause of the jelly roll deformation at low states of charge (0%–20% SOC). The diameter of the cell is increasing during ageing, which reflects the increase of the internal pressure. Continuously growing cover layers of chemical degradation explain the latter. It is concluded that for releasing internal pressure, the jelly roll starts to deform. This deformation accelerates the ageing processes by electrically isolating active material from the current collector and the formation of fresh SEI. In addition, the CT images are used to determine the time of the deformation. Conclusively, it is shown that the jelly roll deformation is driven by cyclic ageing. Due to the correlation of the mean diameter change and the capacity curve, the deformation of the jelly roll and thus the sudden cell death can be predicted by measuring the mean diameter change of the battery.