Topic: Prospects for Next-Generation Rechargeable Batteries

The advancement of sustainable and high-performance electrochemical energy-storage systems represents a critical challenge in modern energy science. Although lithium-ion batteries have achieved significant commercial maturity, their scalability is increasingly limited by resource availability, safety risks, and cost constraints. These issues have stimulated growing interest in next-generation rechargeable batteries that integrate high energy density with enhanced safety and sustainable material utilization.

Prominent candidates include sodium-ion batteries, which use abundant sodium resources for large-scale applications; metal–sulfur batteries, which exploit the high theoretical capacities and redox versatility of transition metal sulfides; and solid-state batteries, which employ solid electrolytes to improve safety, enable high-voltage operation, and accommodate advanced anodes. Despite significant progress, these newly developed systems still face challenges such as sluggish ionic transport, unstable electrode–electrolyte interfaces, and the need for scalable manufacturing and analytical methodologies.

This Special Issue provides a platform for disseminating recent advances and mechanistic insights across four major dimensions: (1) material design and interfacial engineering; (2) innovative cell configurations for improved performance and safety; (3) electrochemical studies elucidating ion transport and redox dynamics; and (4) advanced analytical tools, including operando characterization, multi-scale modeling, and failure analysis, to accelerate the realization of next-generation battery technologies.  

Next-generation batteries, sodium-ion batteries, metal–sulfide batteries, solid-state batteries, electrode materials design, solid and hybrid electrolytes, interfacial engineering, ion transport and kinetics, operando characterization, energy storage mechanisms