Nanoengineering Energy Conversion and Storage Devices via Atomic Layer Deposition

Nanostructured materials show a promising future in energy conversion and storage. However, different challenges shall be addressed to take the full advantages of nanomaterials, such as excess charge recombination sites yielded from large surface area and inefficient charge carrier separation because of poor material junctions in solar cells and solar water splitting cells, as well as high risk of surface side reactions and low active material density in batteries and supercapacitors. Considering its surface self-limiting reaction mechanism, atomic layer deposition (ALD) enables the deposition of a thin film on high aspect ratio structures with a highly controllable manner (e.g., atomic accuracy and perfect conformity), which make it very suitable to overcome the key challenges associated with the size and dimension decrease of nanomaterials. In this review, the recent progress of the ALD application and processing in energy-related devices is highlighted. Particular emphasis is placed on employing ALD for improving the device performance via synthesizing, modifying, or stabilizing their corresponding components. Finally, the challenges regarding the material synthesis and scalable manufacturing of the ALD technique are also discussed.