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Batteries and electrochemical capacitors (ECs) are of critical importance for applications such as electric vehicles, electric grids, and mobile devices. However, the performance of existing battery and EC technologies falls short of meeting the requirements of high energy/high power and long durability for increasing markets such as the automotive industry, aerospace, and grid-storage utilizing renewable energies. Therefore, improving energy storage materials performance metrics is imperative. In the past two decades, radiation has emerged as a new means to modify functionalities in energy storage materials. There exists a common misconception that radiation with energetic ions and electrons will always cause radiation damage to target materials, which might potentially prevent its applications in electrochemical energy storage systems. But in this review, we summarize recent progress in radiation effects on materials for electrochemical energy storage systems to show that radiation can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on various types of energy materials. Prior work suggests that fundamental understanding toward the energy loss mechanisms that govern the resulting microstructure, defect generation, interfacial properties, mechanical properties, and eventual electrochemical properties is critical. We discuss radiation effects in the following categories: (1) defect engineering, (2) interface engineering, (3) radiation-induced degradation, and (4) radiation-assisted synthesis. We analyze the significant trends and provide our perspectives and outlook on current research and future directions in research seeking to harness radiation as a method for enhancing the synthesis and performance of battery materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tailoring heterointerfaces at atomic and molecular levels in electrode materials for superior structural stability and enhanced power/energy densities is desired yet still challenging for achieving ultrafast and stable Na-ion batteries. Herein, an MoS2/MoO2 heterointerface is designed and created, in which ultrafine MoO2 nanocrystals are tightly anchored on ultrathin MoS2 nanosheets, with the assistance of an N-doped carbon protecting layer, on flexible carbon nanotubes. The electrode exhibits a high specific capacity of ∼700 mA h g−1 at 0.2 A g−1 and an ultra-long cycling stability over 6000 cycles at 5 A g−1. Moreover, an excellent rate capability of ∼375 mA h g−1 at 10 A g−1 is retained. As evidenced by both experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the heterointerface could not only introduce an electric field to reduce the charge transport barrier, but also provide extra active sites to adsorb Na+. Meanwhile, within the designed nanoarchitecture, the MoO2 nanocrystals can effectively reduce the aggregation of MoS2 during charge/discharge processes, and adsorb polysulfide to improve the reversibility. This work provides a fundamental understanding of engineering heterointerfaces at the atomic level for enhanced Na+ storage and transport, which can be extended to other functional electrode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]