Lithium-Ion Battery Storage: A Cross-Scale Review From the Energy Storage Ecosystem to Application-Specific Management

Abstract

Energy storage underpins the decarbonization of power systems, and lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become the dominant platform for modular, fast-response deployment in both stationary and mobile applications. However, LIB research is frequently examined in isolation from the wider storage landscape, leaving its technological positioning, applicability boundaries, and systemic role insufficiently clarified. This study establishes the linkage from field-wide storage functions through application-specific duty cycles to degradation pathways and battery management priorities, thereby translating bibliometric structures into deployment-oriented guidance. Two logically nested corpora were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection for 2021–2025, comprising 30 141 records for the field-wide layer and 8902 for the focused layer, and document co-citation networks were constructed in CiteSpace. The field-wide map resolves into a three-dimensional structure spanning technical characteristics, operational optimization and intelligent management, and application scenarios and business models. The focused map differentiates into stationary storage and electric vehicle branches, compared in duty cycles, degradation drivers, battery management priorities, and end-of-life roles. The synthesis explicitly maps stationary duty cycles to corresponding degradation pathways and emphasizes path-dependent prognostics under dynamic operating sequences, addressing the gap between laboratory testing and field deployment. The review synthesizes progress in advanced battery management, system integration, and circular life cycle strategies, with each technical direction mapped to its underlying economic mechanism across four analytical layers. Three research priorities are identified: evidence from real operation across the full life cycle, state perception coupling multiple physical domains, and intelligent coordination of diverse storage technologies.