Electrochemical Energy Reviews

The Recycling of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries: a Review of Current Processes and Technologies

Li Li, Xiaoxiao Zhang, Matthew Li, Renjie Chen, Feng Wu, Khalil Amine, Jun Lu

2018, 1(4): 461-482. doi:10.1007/s41918-018-0012-1

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The application of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in consumer electronics and electric vehicles has been growing rapidly in recent years. This increased demand has greatly stimulated lithium-ion battery production, which subsequently has led to greatly increased quantities of spent LIBs. Because of this, considerable eforts are underway to minimize environmental pollution and reuse battery components. This article will review the current status of the main recycling processes for spent LIBs, including laboratory-and industrial-scale recycling processes. In addition, a brief review of the design and reaction mechanisms of LIBs will be provided, and typical physical, chemical, and bioleaching recycling processes will be discussed. The signifcance of recycling will also be emphasized in terms of economic benefts and environmental protection. Furthermore, due to the unprecedented development of electric vehicles, large quantities of retired power batteries are predicated to appear in the near future. And because of this, secondary uses of these retired power batteries will be discussed from an economic, technical, and environmental perspective. Finally, potential problems and challenges of current recycling processes and prospects of key recycling technologies will be addressed.

Full-text：https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41918-018-0012-1

Recent Progresses in Electrocatalysts for Water Electrolysis

Muhammad Arif Khan, Hongbin Zhao, Wenwen Zou, Zhe Chen, Wenjuan Cao, Jianhui Fang, Jiaqiang Xu, Lei Zhang, Jiujun Zhang

2018, 1(4): 483-530. doi:10.1007/s41918-018-0014-z

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The study of hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysts for water electrolysis is a developing feld in which noble metal-based materials are commonly used. However, the associated high cost and low abundance of noble metals limit their practical application. Non-noble metal catalysts, aside from being inexpensive, highly abundant and environmental friendly, can possess high electrical conductivity, good structural tunability and comparable electrocatalytic performances to state-of-the-art noble metals, particularly in alkaline media, making them desirable candidates to reduce or replace noble metals as promising electrocatalysts for water electrolysis. This article will review and provide an overview of the fundamental knowledge related to water electrolysis with a focus on the development and progress of non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts in alkaline, polymer exchange membrane and solid oxide electrolysis. A critical analysis of the various catalysts currently available is also provided with discussions on current challenges and future perspectives. In addition, to facilitate future research and development, several possible research directions to overcome these challenges are provided in this article.

Full-text：https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41918-018-0014-z

One-Pot Seedless Aqueous Design of Metal Nanostructures for Energy Electrocatalytic Applications

Jianping Lai, Yuguang Chao, Peng Zhou, Yong Yang, Yelong Zhang, Wenxiu Yang, Dong Wu, Jianrui Feng, Shaojun Guo

2018, 1(4): 531-547. doi:10.1007/s41918-018-0018-8

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Over the past several decades, extensive eforts have been undertaken to fnd methods to synthesize advanced electrocatalysts that possess rationally controllable sizes, shapes, crystallinities, compositions and structures for efcient energy conversion technologies. Of these methods, the one-pot seedless synthetic method in aqueous solution at ambient temperature has attracted extensive attention from researchers because it is a simple, inexpensive, energy-efcient, safe and less toxic method for the synthesis of electrocatalytic nanomaterials. In this review, recent developments in one-pot seedless synthetic strategies for the design of various structures of Au, Pt, Pd, Ag and multimetallic nanocrystals in aqueous solutions at ambient temperatures will be introduced, primarily focusing on the structure-electrocatalytic performance relationships of the as-prepared metal nanocrystals. Current challenges and outlooks for future research directions will also be provided in this promising research feld.

Full-text：https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41918-018-0018-8

Recent Progresses and Prospects of Cathode Materials for Non-aqueous Potassium-Ion Batteries

Yun-Hai Zhu, Xu Yang, Tao Sun, Sai Wang, Yin-Lei Zhao, Jun-Min Yan, Xin-Bo Zhang

2018, 1(4): 548-566. doi:10.1007/s41918-018-0019-7

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Rechargeable potassium-ion batteries (KIBs) are potential alternatives to lithium-ion batteries for application in large-scale energy storage systems due to their inexpensive and highly abundant resources. Recently, various anode materials have been investigated for use in KIBs, especially the traditional graphite anodes which have already been successfully applied in KIBs. In contrast, the appropriate cathode materials which are able to accommodate large K ions are urgently needed. In this review, a comprehensive summary of the latest advancements in cathode materials for non-aqueous KIBs in terms of capacity, cycle life and energy density will be presented, as well as K-storage mechanisms. In addition, various strategies to improve K-storage performance will be provided through combining insights from the study of material structures and properties and thus bring low-cost non-aqueous KIBs a step closer to application in sustainable large-scale energy storage systems.

Full-text：https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41918-018-0019-7

Boosting Microbial Electrocatalytic Kinetics for High Power Density: Insights into Synthetic Biology and Advanced Nanoscience

Long Zou, Yan Qiao, Chang Ming Li

2018, 1(4): 567-598. doi:10.1007/s41918-018-0020-1

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Microbial electrochemical systems are able to harvest electricity or synthesize valuable chemicals from organic matters while simultaneously cleaning environmentally hazardous wastes. The sluggish extracellular electron transfer (EET) between "non-or poor-conductive" microbes and electrode involves both bio-and electrocatalytic processes but is one of the main impediments to fast microbial electrode kinetics. To boost EET, researches have been focused on engineering electrochemically active microbes, constructing a unique nanostructured electrode endowed with a large amount loading of microbes and enhancing biotic-abiotic interactions for rapid electrode kinetics. After surveys of fundamentals of microbial electrocatalysis, particularly the diverse EET mechanisms with discussions on scientifc insights, this review summarizes and discusses the recent advances in bioengineering highly active biocatalytic microbes and nanoengineering unique electrode nanostructures for signifcantly improved microbial EET processes. In particular, this review associated with our researches analyzes in more detail the EET pathways, which contain direct and mediated electron transfer. The confusion between the energy efciency and electron transfer rate is clarifed and the approaches to elevate the EET rate are further discussed. These discussions shed both theoretical and practical lights on further research and development of more high-performance microbial catalysts by using synthetic biology coupled with nanoengineering approach for high energy conversion efciency while achieving high power density for practical applications. The challenges and perspectives are presented. It is believed that a next wave of research of microbial electrochemical systems will produce a new generation of sustainable green energy technologies and demonstrate great promise in their broad applications and industrializations.

Full-text：https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41918-018-0020-1

Recent Progress in Liquid Electrolyte-Based Li-S Batteries: Shuttle Problem and Solutions

Sui Gu, Changzhi Sun, Dong Xu, Yang Lu, Jun Jin, Zhaoyin Wen

2018, 1(4): 599-624. doi:10.1007/s41918-018-0021-0

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Lithium sulfur batteries (LSBs) are among the most promising candidates for next-generation high-energy lithium batteries. However, the polysulfde shuttle efect remains a key obstacle in the practical application of LSBs. Liquid electrolytes, which transport lithium ions between electrodes, play a vital role in battery performances due to the dissolution of polysulfdes, and recently, researchers have shown that LSB performances can be greatly improved through the confnement of polysulfdes within cathodes. Inspired by this, growing eforts are been devoted to the suppression of the shuttle efect in LSBs by using liquid electrolytes, such as controlling the solubility of solvents and intercepting shuttle reactions. In this review, the design of applicable electrolytes and their functionality on the shuttle efect will be outlined and discussed. In addition, perspectives regarding the future research of LSBs will be presented.

Full-text：https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41918-018-0021-0

Cathode Materials for Potassium-Ion Batteries: Current Status and Perspective

Qing Zhang, Zhijie Wang, Shilin Zhang, Tengfei Zhou, Jianfeng Mao, Zaiping Guo

2018, 1(4): 625-658. doi:10.1007/s41918-018-0023-y

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Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) have recently attracted considerable attention in electrochemical energy storage applications due to abundant and widely distributed potassium resources and encouraging intercalation chemistries with graphite, the commercial anode of lithium-ion batteries. One main challenge in PIBs, however, is to develop suitable cathode materials to accommodate the large size of K⁺ ions with reasonable capacity, voltage, kinetics, cycle life, cost, etc. In this review, recent advancements of cathode materials for PIBs are reviewed, covering various fundamental aspects of PIBs, and various cathode materials in terms of synthesis, structure, and electrochemical performance, such as capacity, working potential, and K-storage mechanisms. Furthermore, strategies to improve the electrochemical performance of cathode materials through increasing crystallinity, using bufering and conducting matrixes, designing nanostructures, optimizing electrolytes, and selecting binders are summarized and discussed. Finally, challenges and prospects of these materials are provided to guide future development of cathode materials in PIBs.

Full-text：https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41918-018-0023-y

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