Multi-shelled hollow micro-/nanostructures: promising platforms for lithium-ion batteries

Multi-shelled hollow micro-/nanostructures are of great interest for lithium-ion batteries due to their large surface area, short transport path length and excellent buffering capability. Although great efforts have been made in the design and synthesis of multi-shelled hollow micro-/nanostructures and exploiting their use for lithium-storage techniques, the correlations between their compositional and geometrical properties and their lithium-storage performance haven't been uncovered comprehensively. In this review, we firstly outline the principal parameters that decisively affect the lithium-storage characteristics, and introduce synthetic methodologies for the compositional and geometric manipulation of multi-shelled hollow micro-/nanostructures. Secondly, the recent developments within multi-shelled hollow micro-/nanostructures for lithium-ion batteries are summarized. By adopting these fascinating hollow structures, the capacity, stability and rate capability can be improved simultaneously and substantially. Lastly, the current challenges and future perspectives related to multi-shelled hollow micro-/nanostructures for lithium-ion batteries are further discussed.