Characteristics and properties of anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Lithium-ion secondary batteries (LIBs) are battery systems with high energy densities. They are essential components of todays information-rich, mobile societys portable, entertainment, computing, and telecommunications technology. After 1981, most of the research on anode materials mainly focused on the anode containing Li, such as LiAl alloy, LiC alloy, etc. These materials have high prices, unstable cycling performance, and are difficult to be commercialized. The successful commercialization of LIBs began in 1991 with SONYs manufacturing of petroleum coke-based anode materials. Among them, anode plays a crucial role in LIBs. Anode materials that have been commercialized include carbon, alloys, and lithium titanate. Lithium-ion batteries using carbon anode materials and lithium titanate anode materials can meet the needs of electric vehicles (EVs) and large-scale energy storage applications to a certain extent, and alloy anode materials can promote the energy density of LIBs. The properties of the commercialized anode materials are covered in this paper. Next generation anode materials such as silicon anode materials are also introduced.