Amorphous/Crystalline Heterostructured Nanomaterials: An Emerging Platform for Electrochemical Energy Storage

Abstract

With the expanding adoption of large-scale energy storage systems and electrical devices, batteries and supercapacitors are encountering growing demands and challenges related to their energy storage capability. Amorphous/crystalline heterostructured nanomaterials (AC-HNMs) have emerged as promising electrode materials to address these needs. AC-HNMs leverage synergistic interactions between their amorphous and crystalline phases, along with abundant interface effects, which enhance capacity output and accelerate mass and charge transfer dynamics in electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices. Motivated by these elements, this review provides a comprehensive overview of synthesis strategies and advanced EES applications explored in current research on AC-HNMs. It begins with a summary of various synthesis strategies of AC-HNMs. Diverse EES devices of AC-HNMs, such as metal-ion batteries, metal-air batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, and supercapacitors, are thoroughly elucidated, with particular focus on the underlying structure-activity relationship among amorphous/crystalline heterostructure, electrochemical performance, and mechanism. Finally, challenges and perspectives for AC-HNMs are proposed to offer insights that may guide their continued development and optimization.