Progress in layered cathode and anode nanoarchitectures for charge storage devices: Challenges and future perspective

The morphological and structural characteristics of material always play pivotal roles to be applied in energy storage and conversion applications. The conventional electrode materials are facing severe challenges, including (i) high commercial cost, inadequate recyclability and charge storage capacity, (ii) technical, mechanical, and thermal instabilities, and (iii) safety issues due to oxygen release which lead to lifetime and performance declining of electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices. Owing to superior electrochemical characteristics, large surface area, and flexible stacking nature, the layered nanoarchitectures (2D or 3D) based electrodes have attained special consideration to design the next-generation EES devices. The layered materials provide slit-shaped channels for ion diffusion that enable fast movement of individual ions. We argue that stacking or pillaring of layered architectures opens an opportunity to construct desired cathodes and anodes with improved energy storage characteristics. We have discussed the recent progress (2015-2020) in the utilization of layered materials, particularly layered metal oxides (LMOs), layered carbon-based materials (LCMs), layered metal chalcogenides (LMCs) with supporting tables for each category. Additionally, we have provided an overview of advanced and newly explored layered materials, i.e. layered metal-organic frameworks (LMOFs), layered perovskites, and MXenes. We have also provided a comparative summary of the challenges associated with conventional morphologies such as structural instabilities and technical challenges. The final section of the review is comprehensively proposing useful strategies, which could be helpful to improve the energy storage and conversion performance of respective electrodes in EES devices.