Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have attracted great attention as the common power source in energy storage fields of large-scale applications such as electrical vehicles (EVs), industries, power plants, and grid-scale energy storage systems (ESSs). Insertion, alloying, and conversion reactions are the main electrochemical energy storage mechanisms in LIBs, which determine their electrochemical properties and performances. The electrochemical reaction mechanisms are determined by several factors including crystal structure, components, and composition of electrode materials. This article reviews a new strategy to compensate for the intrinsic shortcomings of each reaction mechanism by introducing the material systems to form a single compound with different types of reaction mechanisms and to allow the simultaneous hybrid electrochemical reaction of two different mechanisms in a single solid solution phase.

Flexible fiber- or yarn-based one-dimensional (1-D) energy storage devices are essential for developing wearable electronics and have thus attracted considerable attention in various fields including ubiquitous healthcare (U-healthcare) systems and textile platforms. 1-D supercapacitors (SCs), in particular, are recognized as one of the most promising candidates to power wearable electronics due to their unique energy storage and high adaptability for the human body. They can be woven into textiles or effectively designed into diverse architectures for practical use in day-to-day life. This review summarizes recent important development and advances in fiber-based supercapacitors, concerning the active materials, fiber configuration, and applications. Active materials intended to enhance energy storage capability including carbon nanomaterials, metal oxides, and conductive polymers, are first discussed. With their loading methods for fiber electrodes, a summary of the four main types of fiber SCs (e.g., coil, supercoil, buckle, and hybrid structures) is then provided, followed by demonstrations of some practical applications including wearability and power supplies. Finally, the current challenges and perspectives in this field are made for future works.

Microgrid, which enables the production and consumption of electricity to be done independently on a small scale, has been studied on one of the solutions of reinforcement for flexibility of electronic system. This study examined the application effect of new microgrid by applying hybrid battery in electric power storage device. We designed the system to highlight the advantage of each battery and complement the disadvantage by using hybrid system with Lithium-ion battery and interval Redox flow battery. It runs with lithium-ion battery during the initial startup while the Redox flow battery operates for a long time at the end of excessive period, and it enables a discharge of Lithium-ion and Redox flow battery at the same time when the load has a large output. We chose Maldives as a subject of this study for organizing and optimizing independent microgrid. Maldives is the country to accomplish 100% domestic electricity in South Asia, but the whole electric power is supplied through diesel generation imported fossil fuel. We organized and optimized microgrid for energy independence on Malahini island to solve Maldives energy cost problem and global energy environment matters. We analyzed the daily power supply and accumulated the power supply from September 18, 2018~February 11, 2019. The accumulated power supply was about 120.4 MWh and the daily power supply was about 800~1000 kWh. Based on the collected information, we divided the cases into three models which are only diesel generator, solar generator as well as diesel generator, and solar+ESS+diesel generator. We analyzed the amount of oil consumption compared to the cost of construction and power output. The result showed that solar+ESS+diesel generator was most economically feasible. As well, we obtained that our considering hybrid battery system reduced the fuel consumption for diesel power generation about 10~15%.

Energy storage capacitors based on dielectric ceramics with superior polarization properties and dielectric constant can provide much higher output power density due to their very fast energy charging/discharging rates, which are particularly suitable for operating pulsed-power devices. For an outstanding energy storage performance of dielectric capacitor, a large recoverable energy density could be derived by introducing a slim polarization-electric field hysteresis loop into dielectric materials by various technical approaches. Many research teams have explored various dielectric capacitor technologies to demonstrate high output power density and ultrafast charging/discharging behavior. This article reviews the recent research progress in high-performance dielectric capacitors for pulsed-power electronic applications.

A large number of lithium-ion batteries are arranged in series and parallel in battery packs, such as those in electric vehicles or energy storage systems. As battery packs age, their output power and energy density drop because of voltage deviation, constant and non-uniform exposure to abnormal environments, and increased contact resistance between batteries; this reduces application system efficiency. Despite the balancing circuit and logic of the battery management system, the output of the battery pack is concentrated in the most severely aged unit cell and the output is frequently limited by power derating. In this study, we implemented a cell imbalance detection algorithm and selected parameters to detect a sudden decrease in battery pack output. In addition, we propose a method to increase efficiency by applying the measured testing values considering the operating conditions and abnormal conditions of the battery pack.

The lithium-ion battery pack of an electric vehicle (EV) deserves to be considered for an alternative use within smart-grid infrastructure. Despite the long automotive service life, EV batteries retain over 70~80% of their initial capacity. These battery packs must be managed for their reliability and safety. Therefore, a battery management system (BMS) should use specific algorithms to measure and estimate the status of the battery. Most importantly, the BMS of a grid-connected energy storage system (ESS) must ensure that the lithium-ion battery does not catch fire or explode due to an internal short from uncontrolled dendrite growth. In other words, the BMS of a lithium-ion battery pack should be capable of detecting the battery’s status based on the electrochemical reaction continuously until the end of the battery’s lifespan. In this paper, we propose a new protection algorithm for a dendritic lithium battery. The proposed algorithm has applied a parameter from battery pack aging results and has control power managing.

High-power lithium batteries are suitable for equipment with high power output needs, such as for ESS’s initial start-up. However, their management cost is increased by the installation of air-conditioning to minimize the risk of explosion due to internal temperature rise and also by a restriction on the number of charge/discharge cycles. High-capacity flow batteries, on the other hand, have many advantages. They can be used for over 20 years due to their low management costs, resulting from no risk of explosion and a high number of charge/discharge cycles. In this paper, we propose an ESS based on hybrid batteries that uses a lithium iron phosphate battery (LiFePO) at the initial startup and a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) from the end of the transient period, with a bi-directional PCS to operate two batteries with different DC voltage levels and using an efficient energy management control algorithm.