A review on recent advances in anode materials in lithium ion batteries

The immediate compelling demand of eco-friendly and portable energy sources for various applications is increasing day by day as the world is moving towards faster technological advancements and industrial revolution. We are surrounded by many gadgets of daily usage which are either needed energy to run them continuously or something to store the energy to make it portable for later use. The invention of battery and continuous research in this field to enhance the electrochemical performance of the existing battery chemistries are hot topics for researchers. Li-ion batteries stood out as the most reliable and suitable device for storing energy. These have applications from small scale such as mobile phone to bigger applications like electric vehicles. Highest theoretical capacity, lightweight, high energy density and many other parameters of Li metal anodes make them attractive choice for the applications which shows lowest electrochemical potential of $-3.04V$ versus standard hydrogen electrode. Storage of more energy, occupying less space and able to deliver better cyclic and rate capability are some prerequisites for the advanced batteries before their usage in bigger applications. Researchers are now trying to find the alternate materials for cathode and anode. The different structural cathode materials are being tested and various anode chemistries have been tried. Silicon additive anodes have the potential to replace the regular graphite anode material because of 10 times larger specific capacity. This paper reviews the anode materials which are currently under research to enhance the performance of Li-ion battery in comparison with the currently commercialized graphite anode. The anode materials reviewed in this paper are categorized based on Li-insertion mechanism as intercalation, alloys, conversion and MOF. The synthesis methods and electrochemical performance are reported and discussed. A comparative study with other metal-ions and metal-air battery is also put forward to make an idea about the efficiency of the material along with the various challenges and future perspective in the development of the anode materials in Li-ion batteries.