Recent advances on energy storage microdevices: From materials to configurations

• This review elaborates the current challenges and future perspectives of energy storage microdevices. • Energy storage mechanism, structure-performance correlation, pros and cons of each material, configuration and advanced fabrication technique of energy storage microdevices are well demonstrated. • This review offers some guidance for the design and engineering of future energy storage microdevices. The prosperity and sustained development of microsized electronics in myriad applications stimulate the endless pursuit of matching power suppliers with higher energy storage and faster power delivery per footprint area/volume. To this end, ingesting sufficient active materials to participate in charge storage without inducing any obvious side effect on electron/ion transport in the device system is yearning and essential, which requires ingenious designs in electrode materials, device configurations and advanced fabrication techniques for the energy storage microdevices. In this review, strategies to boost the electrochemical performances of existing and emerging electrode materials, innovative device configuration designs as well as advanced fabrication techniques have been well elaborated, including the energy storage mechanism, structure-performance correlation, pros and cons of each material, configuration and fabrication technique. Finally, the current challenges and future perspectives in this flourishing field are proposed. Fast popularity of smart electronics stimulates the ever-growing demand for micron/nanometer scaled power supplies with simultaneously high energy density and fast power delivery. This review uncovers the underlying factors that affect the performance of cutting edge energy storage microdevices from the perspectives of emerging electrode materials, novel device configurations and advanced fabrication techniques. The current challenges and future perspectives in this thriving field are well elaborated.