Recent Progress and Challenges of Micro‐/Nanostructured Transition Metal Carbonate Anodes for Lithium Ion Batteries

Abstract

Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) have attracted tremendous interest in electric vehicles and smart grids, due to their inherent advantages of being powerful and environmentally benign. However, their performance is presently far from meeting the continually increasing demands for long‐durance mileage and long lifespan. High‐performance anodes with high specific capacity and long cyclability are of great significance to high‐energy/high‐power lithium ion batteries; however, there are still great challenges in advancing new materials beyond commercial graphite, whose capacity is low and limited by the theoretical values (372 mAh g–1). That is why scientists are continually searching for satisfying anode alternatives to graphite. Recent progress has demonstrated that transition metal carbonates (TMCs) are very promising candidates as anode materials for LIBs due to their high specific capacity, decent energy density, and simplified synthesis procedure. In this review, recent reports on TMCs and their derivatives, formulated as MCO3 (M = Mn, Co, and/or Fe, etc.), are systematically summarized. Their corresponding Li+ storage mechanisms are briefly discussed. As concrete examples, nanocrystallization technology and structural modification are represented in detail. Finally, we discuss some challenges for TMCs in LIBs and their perspectives to push energy storage of LIBs to the next‐generation level.