Microstructure Engineering of Materials for Advanced Metal-Ion Batteries
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2027 | Viewed by 7
Editors
Interests: energy material; solid electrolyte; flexible electrode; metal-ion battery; AI for science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The rapid development of large-scale energy storage, electric transportation, and portable electronics has created an urgent demand for advanced rechargeable batteries with high energy density, long cycle life, excellent rate capability, and reliable safety. Metal-ion batteries, including lithium-ion, sodium-ion, potassium-ion, zinc-ion, magnesium-ion, aluminum-ion, and other emerging battery systems, have garnered extensive attention because of their diverse electrochemical properties and broad application prospects. However, their practical performance is strongly governed by the microstructures of the key component materials, which determine ion diffusion, electron transport, active-site accessibility, interfacial reaction kinetics, mechanical stability, and structural evolution during repeated charge–discharge processes.
Microstructure engineering provides an effective strategy for overcoming the intrinsic limitations of battery materials. Rational regulation of particle size, morphology, porosity, crystallinity, phase composition, defects, grain boundaries, heterointerfaces, and hierarchical architectures can significantly improve reaction kinetics, accommodate volume variation, suppress undesirable side reactions, and enhance structural integrity. Nanostructuring and porous architecture construction can shorten ion-transport pathways and increase the number of electrochemically active sites, while defect engineering, heteroatom doping, and interfacial modification can regulate the electronic structure and adsorption behavior of key intermediates. In addition, core–shell structures, hollow structures, gradient architectures, and three-dimensional conductive networks can facilitate charge transfer and alleviate mechanical degradation. Understanding the relationships among material microstructure, electrochemical reaction mechanisms, and battery performance is therefore essential for the development of high-performance metal-ion batteries.
This Special Issue, “Microstructure Engineering of Materials for Advanced Metal-Ion Batteries”, aims to highlight recent progress in the design, fabrication, characterization, and theoretical understanding of materials with engineered microstructures for rechargeable metal-ion batteries. The journal Materials is dedicated to publishing high-quality research on innovative materials and their applications across scientific and engineering disciplines. This Special Issue is closely aligned with the scope of the journal, focusing on the fundamental relationships among microstructure, physicochemical properties, electrochemical behavior, and practical battery performance. Original research articles, communications, and review papers addressing both fundamental and applied aspects of metal-ion battery materials are welcome.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Haoqi Yang
Dr. Zhimeng Hao
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- metal-ion batteries
- microstructure engineering
- electrode materials
- interface engineering
- defect engineering
- hierarchical structures
- ion transport kinetics
- in situ characterization
- electrochemical energy storage
- structure-property relationships
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