The Emerging Strategy of Symmetry Breaking for Enhancing Energy Conversion and Storage Performance

Abstract Symmetry breaking has emerged as a novel strategy to enhance energy conversion and storage performance, which refers to changes in the atomic configurations within a material reducing its internal symmetry. According to the location of the symmetry breaking, it can be classified into spontaneous symmetry breaking within the material, local symmetry breaking on the surface of the material, and symmetry breaking caused by external fields outside the material. However, there are currently few summaries in this field, so it is necessary to summarize how symmetry breaking improves energy conversion and storage performance. In this review, the fundamentals of symmetry breaking are first introduced, which allows for a deeper understanding of its meaning. Then the applications of symmetry breaking in energy conversion and storage are systematically summarized, providing various mechanisms in energy conversion and storage, as well as how to improve energy conversion performance and storage efficiency. Last but not least, the current applications of symmetry breaking are summarized and provide an outlook on its future development. It is hoped that this review can provide new insights into the applications of symmetry breaking and promote its further development.