5068 Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012, 41, 5068–5080 This journal is c The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012 Cite this: Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012, 41, 5068–5080 Developments in nanostructured LiMPO 4 (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Mn) composites based on three dimensional carbon architecturew L. Dimesso,* a C. Fo¨rster, a W. Jaegermann, ae J. P. Khanderi, b H. Tempel, b A. Popp, b J. Engstler, b J. J. Schneider, b A. Sarapulova, ac D. Mikhailova, ac L. A. Schmitt, a S. Oswald c and H. Ehrenberg d Received 29th November 2011 DOI: 10.1039/c2cs15320c Nanostructured materials lie at the heart of fundamental advances in efficient energy storage and/or conversion, in which surface processes and transport kinetics play determining roles. This review describes recent developments in the synthesis and characterization of composites which consist of lithium metal phosphates (LiMPO 4 , M = Fe, Co, Ni, Mn) coated on nanostructured carbon architectures (unordered and ordered carbon nanotubes, amorphous carbon, carbon foams). The major goal of this review is to highlight new progress in using different three dimensional nanostructured carbon architectures as support for the phosphate based cathode materials (e.g.: LiFePO 4 , LiCoPO 4 ) of high electronic conductivity to develop lithium batteries with high energy density, high rate capability and excellent cycling stability resulting from their huge surface area and short distance for mass and charge transport. 1. Introduction and scope Recent increase in demand for oil, associated price increases, and environmental issues are continuing to exert pressure on an already stretched world energy infrastructure. Significant progress has been made in the development of renewable energy technologies such as solar cells, fuel cells and biofuels. In the past, these types of energy sources have been margin- alized, but as new technology makes alternative energy more practical and price competitive with fossil fuels, it is expected that the coming decades will usher in a long-expected transi- tion away from oil and gasoline as our primary fuel. Although a variety of renewable energy technologies have been developed, they have not reached widespread use. One of the main challenges in using renewable energies is the need for an efficient, cheap and reliable storage device. Solar radiation, wind and waves represent energy sources producing electrical power that are variable in time and diffuse in space. Nuclear reactors provide a constant energy source with associated problems of radioactive waste disposal. Geothermal energy is restricted in location. All these energy sources would benefit from electrical energy storage. The energy carriers are the electricity grids and chemical energy. The most convenient form of energy storage is portable chemical energy, which is the reason for our addiction to fossil fuels for heat, propulsion, lighting, and communication. The battery provides the portability of stored chemical energy with the ability to deliver this energy as electrical energy with a high conversion efficiency and no gaseous exhaust. Whereas alter- native energy sources are stationary, which allows other means of energy storage to be competitive with a battery, electrical vehicles require the portable stored energy of a fuel fed to a fuel cell or of a battery. Therefore, of particular interest is a low-cost, safe, rechargeable (secondary) battery of high voltage, capacity and rate capability. The lithium-ion battery is a representative system for such electrochemical energy storage and conversion. At present, lithium-ion batteries are efficient, light-weight, and rechargeable power sources for consumer electronics. 1 For most consumer devices, energy storage and operating time should be maximized, so the more the better, as, for example, in cell phones, laptop computers, and MP3 players. For some larger applications, such as the battery in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), power is most important as the materials must be able to charge sufficiently a Technische Universita ¨t Darmstadt, Materials Science Department, Petersenstrasse 23, D-64287 Darmstadt, Germany. E-mail: ldimesso@surface.tu-darmstadt.de, jaegermann@surface.tu-darmstadt.de; Fax: +49 6151 16-6308; Tel: +49 6151 16-69667 b Eduard-Zintl-Institut fu ¨r Anorganische und Physikalische Chemie Anorganische Chemie I, Technische Universita ¨t Darmstadt, Petersenstr. 18, D-64287 Darmstadt, Germany. E-mail: joerg.schneider@ac.chemie.tu-darmstadt.de c Institut fu ¨r Komplexe Materialien IFW Dresden, Helmoltzstrasse 20, D-01069 Dresden, Germany. E-mail: a.e.sarapulova@ifw-dresden.de d Karlsruher Institut fu ¨r Technologie (KIT)—Institut fu ¨r Angewandte Materialien (IAM), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, D-76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany. E-mail: helmut.ehrenberg@kit.edu e Center of Smart Intelligence, Darmstadt University of Technology, Petersenstrasse 32, D-64287 Darmstadt, Germany w Part of a web theme on the topic of nanomaterials (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft SPP1181/Nanomaterials program). Chem Soc Rev Dynamic Article Links www.rsc.org/csr TUTORIAL REVIEW Downloaded by RSC Internal on 10 July 2012 Published on 10 April 2012 on http://pubs.rsc.org | doi:10.1039/C2CS15320C View Online / Journal Homepage / Table of Contents for this issue