Fundamentals, recent developments and prospects of lithium and non-lithium electrochemical rechargeable battery systems

The present and future energy requirements of mankind can be fulfilled with sustained research and development efforts by global scientists. The purpose of this review paper is to provide an overview of the fundamentals, recent advancements on Lithium and non-Lithium electrochemical rechargeable battery systems, and their future prospects. The initial part of this review paper is dedicated to the advancement and challenges faced by the conventional rechargeable batteries, such as lead-acid, Ni-Cd and Ni-MH batteries. The subsequent section of this review focuses on an in-depth analysis of two major categories of rechargeable batteries, namely lithium-based rechargeable battery systems and alternative non-Lithium rechargeable battery systems. The working principle, construction, and a few important research progress on Li-ion, Li-O2, Li-CO2 and Li-S batteries have been highlighted. The recent progress and challenges of the alternate batteries such as Na-ion, Na-S, Mg-ion, K-ion, Al-ion, Al-air, Zn-ion and Zn-air are also discussed in this review. The large gap between theoretical and practical electrochemical values for the alternate battery system must be filled by adopting a series of design architectures followed by modern instrumentation for developing next-generation batteries in a sustainable and efficient way.