Carbon nanomaterials for lithium-ion batteries

The use of carbon nanomaterials in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) opens a new era for the flourish of epochal energy storage devices. The use of soft carbon/graphite as the anode in LIBs has fundamentally improved the safety and stability of lithium chemistry for energy storage. Besides, the bottleneck of the current cathode for high-rate applications could be resolved by introducing a layer of conductive carbon coating. Moreover, carbon black and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are the indispensable components in electrode architectures for the current and next-generation LIBs, respectively. The recent advances suggest that the three-dimensional (3D) network made of carbon nanofibers (CNFs)/CNTs can serve as the alternatives for current metal foil current collectors. As a result, carbon nanomaterials play multi-functional roles in LIBs, and the rational combination of different carbons in energy storage devices drives their gradual performance improvements since their birth in the 1990s. In this chapter, the role of carbon nanomaterials of different structures, namely dimensionality, for LIBs is systematically summarized, where the focused attention is concentrated on their functions as electrode materials, conductive additives, current collectors, and so forth. Besides, benefits, limitations, and prospects are also discussed, aiming to promote the booming development of this area.