Advanced Materials and Degradation Mechanisms in Beyond-Lithium-Ion Batteries

Dear Colleagues,

While Li-ion batteries have dominated the market for decades, they face challenges such as resource scarcity, environmental impact, safety concerns, and the need for better performance in emerging applications such as electric vehicles and grid storage. To overcome these challenges, researchers are exploring post-Li-ion batteries, such as Na-ion batteries, lithium metal batteries, metal–air batteries, solid-state batteries, etc., to achieve higher energy density, lower cost, improved safety profiles and greater sustainability.

The advancement of cutting-edge materials and a thorough understanding of degradation mechanisms are pivotal for driving these systems toward practical applications. To uncover the fundamental relationships governing battery degradation, systematic in situ and operando measurements are needed to capture real-time changes in structure, chemistry, and interfaces during operation. These insights are essential for bridging the gap between laboratory research and commercial implementation.

Therefore, this Special Issue highlights recent progress in advanced materials, along with the development of effective in situ and operando characterisation techniques for mechanism investigations.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Material development for post-lithium-ion batteries;
• Electrode architecture and morphological optimisation;
• Synthesis techniques and the theoretical modelling of materials;
• The in situ and operando characterisation of battery materials;
• Non-invasive optical and acoustic methods in battery research;
• Advanced sensor technologies for battery monitoring and diagnostics;
• Scalability and manufacturing innovations for advanced batteries.

Dr. Yi Gong
Dr. Huanxin Li
Dr. Wenjia Du
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Batteries is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.