(Invited) Atomic Layer Deposition of Nanophase Materials for Electrical Energy Storage

Abstract

Batteries as electrical energy storage (EES) devices hold great promise to accelerate the implementation of renewable clean energies such as wind and solar power. More broadly, EES have a major impact on three domains: portable electronics, transportation, and stationary storage in smart grids. Despite their dominance in portable electronics, batteries are still not sufficient in energy density, and are too expensive for wide-scale deployment in transportation and smart grids. In this context, current research efforts are pursuing cost-effective and high-energy batteries as next-generation EES devices. Recently, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has emerged as a new thrust for these goals and enabled to provide multiple technical solutions with high flexibility. Benefited from its unique mechanism, ALD in the first place demonstrated exceptional capabilities in developing atomic-precisely controlled nanostructures for battery electrodes (anodes and cathodes) with improved performance. In addition, ALD exclusively enables accurate sub-nano to nanoscale conformal films to finely tailor battery interfaces between electrodes and electrolytes for improved stability and safety. This article summarized some of the recent advances in ALD technology for batteries.