Composite anodes for lithium-ion batteries: status and trends

Presently, the negative electrodes of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is constituted by carbon-based materials that exhibit a limited specific capacity 372 mAh g(-1) associated with the cycle between C and LiC6. Therefore, many efforts are currently made towards the technological development nanostructured materials in which the electrochemical processes occurs as intercalation, alloying or conversion reactions with a good accommodation of dilatation/contraction during cycling. In this review, attention is focused on advanced anode composite materials based on carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, titanium and conversion anode composite based on transition-metal oxides.