Chemical Reviews’ Thematic collections highlight high-quality content in a particular area published by the journal. Recently, the journal published a new thematic issue, “Beyond Li-Ion Battery Chemistry.” This issue is guest-edited by Y. Shirley Meng and features a Special Perspective Editorial highlighting their history by battery expert M. Stanley Whittingham. “It is now almost 50 […]
“It is now almost 50 years since the first Li/Li-ion batteries were first reported, and 30 years since their first successful commercialization by SONY. In that intervening period, they have come to dominate portable energy storage, and even grid storage. They have enabled the electronics revolution, electric vehicles are beginning to take off, and they are enabling renewable energy such as wind and solar. This success has been achieved mainly through quite extensive teamwork, not by individuals or even within single disciplines. The technical background can be found in two special issues of Chemical Reviews,” Whittingham writes.