Nanostructured materials: A progressive assessment and future direction for energy device applications

Nanostructured materials (NMs) are acknowledged as a viable energy storage alternative to effectively replace conventional materials. With this regard, the development of NMs (nanostructured inorganic materials, metal-based nanomaterials, carbon nanomaterials, coordination polymers, etc.) as energy materials has experienced exceptional progress, especially in the area of high-performance energy storage devices (e.g., supercapacitors, thin film batteries, rechargeable Li/Na batteries, redox flow batteries, and other NM-based batteries). In this review, we critically assess the progress made toward the research and development of NMs for energy device applications. Furthermore, this review is also structured to cover the technical advantages and challenges of NMs in order to outline the future opportunities/direction in this emerging field with the goal of upgrading their feasibility, especially with regard to Li-ion batteries (LIBs), supercapacitors, and solar cell applications.