Nanomaterials for electrochemical energy storage

Abstract Nanomaterials have attracted considerable attention for electrochemical energy storage due to their high specific surface area and desirable physicochemical, electrical, and mechanical properties. By virtue of novel nanofabrication techniques, a wide variety of new nanostructured materials and composites with tailored morphologies have emerged and been studied as electrodes for supercapacitors and/or for Li-ion and Na-ion battery applications. This chapter documents key developments reported in the use of nanomaterials for electrochemical energy storage since 2010. We introduce common experimental techniques used to characterize nanostructured electrodes and lab-scale synthetic approaches to produce them. We then review four of the most intensively studied material groups used for nanostructured energy storage electrodes: carbon nanomaterials used for electrochemical double-layer capacitors and Li and Na insertion electrodes; pseudocapacitive metal oxides; metal sulfides for Li and Na insertion; and pure metals and alloys for Li and Na insertion.