Structural Design and Performance Optimization of Energy Storage Ceramic Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Structural design and performance optimization of energy storage ceramic materials address safety, energy density, and durability of solid-state devices. Ceramics serve as solid electrolytes and electrode components with high thermal stability, nonflammability, and wide electrochemical windows, enabling safer high-energy-density storage. By tuning grain size, porosity, grain boundaries, phase purity, and dopant distribution, structure–property relationships govern ionic conductivity, mechanical integrity, and interfacial stability that are critical for solid-state batteries, Li/Na devices, and ceramic supercapacitors. The current status shows rapid progress: garnet LLZO and sulfide/oxide ceramics achieve higher room-temperature conductivities; toughness is enhanced via composites and nanostructuring; processing advances (sintering and spark plasma sintering) yield dense materials; integrated design couples experiments with modeling (MD, DFT) and in-situ/operando methods map structure–property relations; and grain-boundary engineering and multi-phase strategies balance conductivity with stability, enabling broader applications in batteries, supercapacitors, and sensors. However, the following key challenges remain: achieving high room-temperature conductivity with low grain-boundary resistance; brittleness and crack propagation under cycling; interfacial resistance with electrodes; moisture sensitivity in sulfides; scalable, cost-effective manufacturing; and long-term performance under thermal–mechanical stress. A true multiscale, integrated design remains the bottleneck. Further progress will hinge on scalable synthesis, robust interfaces, and validated structure–property models.

Dr. Hao Li
Guest Editor

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