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A two-step doping strategy for preparing Nb-doped Ni-rich positive electrode active materials forms nanosized grains and enables reversible multiphase transitions, improving lithium-ion transport and high-power performance of Li-based batteries.

Advanced rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have potential applications in the renewable energy and sustainable road transport fields. Junget al. have developed a lithium battery that uses pre-existing concepts but has highly competitive energy densities, life span and cycling properties.

Lithium–air batteries have the possibility of having a very high energy density, but their use has been hampered by a limited number of charge–discharge cycles and a low current-rate capability. Now, exploiting a suitable, stable electrolyte allows an advanced lithium–air battery to operate with many cycles at various capacity and rate values.

Nickel-heavy battery chemistries raise concerns over cost, supply risk and environmental impact. A new design cuts nickel use by over one-third, replacing it with more abundant manganese—without sacrificing performance.

O3-type layered oxides are promising for sodium-ion batteries but suffer from rapid capacity decay. Here, the authors demonstrate that a NaCaPO₄-derived gradient Ca²⁺-doped reconstruction layer enhances stability by mitigating phase transition-induced lattice stress and homogenizing Na-ion distribution.

Long-term efficient cycling stability is of paramount importance for the development of high-energy Li-ion batteries. Here, the authors investigate the effect of transition metal dopants on the electrochemical, morphological, and structural properties of Ni-rich cathode active materials.

Using in situ environmental transmission electron microscopy, the structural and phase changes of the reaction products of an air cathode during discharging and charging can be visualized in real time.

Ni-rich cathodes in all-solid-state batteries experience capacity fading due to surface degradation, particle isolation and detachment at the cathode–electrolyte interface. This study quantifies these degradation factors, showing that detachment increases with Ni content and emphasizing the need for strategies to address these challenges.

Nickel-rich layered lithium transition metal oxides have been investigated as high-energy cathode materials for rechargeable lithium batteries because of their high specific capacity and relatively low cost. Such an oxide with high capacity (215 mA h g^-1), where the nickel concentration decreases linearly whereas the manganese concentration increases linearly from the centre to the outer layer of each particle, is now proposed.

Layered lithium nickel-rich oxides are attractive as cathodes for rechargeable lithium batteries. A concentration-gradient material based on manganese nickel cobalt oxide showing high capacity and thermal stability could prove advantageous for batteries used in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Ni-rich layered cathodes offer a high energy density but experience rapid capacity fading due to interfacial side reactions. This study proposes near-surface modifications for these Ni-rich cathodes to fulfil practical battery application requirements.

Lithium-oxygen batteries can deliver high-energy densities, but their performance suffers from large charge-discharge overpotential. Lu et al.design a cathode by integrating electrode coating and electrocatalyst in a nanostructured architecture, whereby the overpotential is reduced to 0.2 V.

Insights into active sites on cathode surfaces are important in developing lithium–oxygen batteries. Here, Lu et al.present a cathode architecture deposited with precisely controlled small metal clusters, and report a cluster size-dependence of the battery discharge product morphology.

There are intensive efforts in developing cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries. Here, the authors present a spherical particle with a radially aligned hierarchical columnar structure as a cathode material which leads to good performance of capacity, retention, rate capability and thermal stability.

Lithium manganate is an important cathode material for lithium-ion batteries; however, its capacity-fading mechanism is unclear. Zhan et al. identify the oxidation state of manganese deposited on the anode, which leads to an irreversible rising in anode resistance and consequently a shortened battery life.

Dissolution of manganese from the cathode in lithium manganate based batteries is a major cause for the capacity decay. Here, the authors show a nanoscale surface-doping approach to mitigate the problem and to improve the battery capacity and cycleability.

Cobalt-free cathodes are highly desirable for the sustainable development of rechargeable batteries. Here the authors report a high-performance cathode by introducing a small amount of Mo into a layered Li(Ni_0.9Mn_0.1)O₂ material that enables a long-term, high-voltage Li-ion battery.

Nickel-rich layered oxide cathodes are at the forefront of the development of automobile batteries. The authors report an atomic and microstructural engineering design for a Li[Ni_0.90Co_0.09Ta_0.01]O₂ cathode that exhibits outstanding long-term cyclability and high energy at full depth of discharge in full cells.

Redox mediators can enhance redox reactions in Li-O₂ batteries; however, their gradual degradation remains unclear. Here the authors show that organic redox mediators are decomposed by singlet oxygen formed during cycling, indicating a strategy for the rational design of stable redox mediators.

Confining sulfur in high-surface-area carbon is a widely adapted approach in Li–S batteries, but it often results in low sulfur utilization and low energy density. Now, controlled nucleation of discrete Li₂S particles on a network of low-surface-area carbon fibres provides a possible solution to the endemic problems of Li–S batteries.

Lithium–oxygen batteries allow oxygen to be reduced at the battery’s cathode when a current is drawn; in present-day batteries, this results in formation of Li₂O₂, but it is now shown that another high energy density material, namely LiO₂, with better electronic conduction can be used instead as the discharge product, if the electrode is decorated with iridium nanoparticles.

Metal sulfide batteries suffer from low electrical conductivity which limits their application in sodium ion batteries. Here, the authors report a manganese sulfide anode in sodium ion batteries with capacity of 340 mAh g⁻¹ maintained over more than 1000 cycles at a current density of 5.0 A g⁻¹.

Nanorod NiC₂O₄·2H₂O/rGO composite exhibits good cyclability with high capacity and reasonable rate performance. These characteristics are originated from the high electric conductivity and buffering effect of rGO that promote the reversible lithiation and delithiation processes associated with conversion reaction.

Unlike crystalline electrodes wherein ion insertion is crucially dependent on the presence of energetically equivalent sites, nanostructured amorphous iron(III) phosphate hosts prepared by room temperature strategies and possessing porous properties facilitate the insertion of alkali ions with different sizes and also higher charge carriers including divalent cations (Mg²⁺−0.72Å, Zn²⁺-0.74 Å) or trivalent cations (Al³⁺−0.53 Å). This versatile cathode stores electrical energy by a reversible amorphous to crystalline reconstitutive reaction that occurs during electrochemical reaction with monovalent sodium, potassium and lithium. The study presents opportunities to develop amorphous electrodes with similar phase behavior for energy storage applications.