New Materials for Li-Ion Batteries

Dear Colleagues,

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) based battery technologies represent an omnipresent aspect of energy storage in modern life. Increasing demands for capacity, high power density, increased safety and cycling life for use in automotive applications and various portable devices drive ongoing needs for advances in the design of novel battery materials and systems. Multiple avenues are of interest for improving overall performance and safety of these systems, including investigation of high-voltage cathodes, high-capacity anodes, electrolytes with improved transport and electrochemical stability, design of solid electrolyte interphases (SEI) with desired mechanical and transport characteristics, minimization of self-discharge and electrode degradation, etc. These effects, in turn, may be accomplished either via development of entirely new or modified materials, or through development of new formulations which utilize existing compounds in novel ways to enable better electrochemical performance.

This Special Issue invites manuscripts that discuss experiemental or modeling investigations of new chemical or physical formulations for cathodes, anodes, electrolytes, or solid electrolyte interphases in Li-ion based batteries. These investigations may involve new chemical compounds that show promise as major phases for Li-ion based systems (e.g., high-voltage spinels, LiPON electrolytes, “water-in-salt” electrolytes, etc.), or new methods of processing current compounds to achieve novel structures (e.g., composite graphite/Si anodes, nanostructured composite cathodes), which increase the overall capability of these compounds above their currently utilized configurations.

A potential list of topics may include, but are not limited to, the following areas of exploration:

• Solid electrolytes (polymer electrolytes, gel electrolytes, solid state ion conductors, etc.)
• New or novel electrode materials or modifications of currently utilized electrode materials
• Utilization of existing electrode materials in composite and/or nanostructured compound electrode construction
• Electrolyte formulations and additive compounds designed to increase performance of electrode passivation layers and SEIs.

Prof. Dr. Dmitry A. Bedrov
Dr. Justin B. Hooper
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. Crystals 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 2100 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.