Nanostructuring – the extreme reduction of structure – will affect the performance of Li-ion batteries

A Li-ion battery is currently the smallest and lightest way to store as much rechargeable electrical energy as possible। However, the batteries are slow to charge and discharge, and this restricts their suitability for applications such as hybrid and electric vehicles। This sluggish performance is largely determined by the relatively long distance the lithium-ions have to travel through the electrode material in the battery. The speed at which the ions make their way through the electrode material is also slow compared to that in electrolyte (the fluid between the electrode material). The current strategy is therefore to nanostructure the electrode particles; that is to say, to make them very small (measurable in nanometres), and by doing so to shorten the existing route within the electrode material.

(By researchers at Delft University of Technology's Reactor Institute Delft (RID))