Carbon materials used for aluminium-ion batteries

Aluminium-ion batteries have emerged as a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries due to the abundance, low cost, and high safety of aluminium. Focus of the research has been on the development of efficient cathode materials and electrolytes to address the full potential of aluminium’s trivalent nature. In this literature review the attention is at carbon-based cathode materials, which offer excellent electrical conductivity, structural tunability and cost-effective alternative.

This work evaluated the performance of graphite, graphene, and carbon nanofibers as cathode materials, highlighting the effects of modification techniques to make the material more suitable for cathode. For graphite, several approaches were examined, including pre-lithiation, heteroatom doping and particle size optimization. Among these, particle size reduction proved particularly effective, resulting in significant improvements in specific capacity. In the case of graphene, defect concentration and layer orientation identified as critical to performance. Graphene offers advantages also as an additive as substrate or wrapping material for active materials. Carbon nanofibers show to enhance the overall mechanical integrity and durability as an additive material in cathode.

Based on this literature review, hybrid electrode materials combining conductive carbon frameworks with active materials represent a promising alternative for commercial aluminium-ion batteries. Continued development in cathode engineering and modification technologies are needed for enabling commercial implementation of aluminium-ion batteries.