Chemical Expansion: Implications for Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion Devices

Many energy-related materials rely on the uptake and release of large quantities of ions, for example, Li⁺ in batteries, H⁺ in hydrogen storage materials, and O²⁻ in solid-oxide fuel cell and related materials. These compositional changes often result in large volumetric dilation of the material, commonly referred to as chemical expansion. This article reviews the current knowledge of chemical expansion and aspires to facilitate and promote future research in this field by providing a taxonomy for its sources, along with recent atomistic insights of its origin, aided by recent computational modeling and an overview of factors impacting chemical expansion. We discuss the implications of chemical expansion for mechanical stability and functionality in the energy applications above, as well as in other oxide-based systems. The use of chemical expansion as a new means to probe other materials properties, as well as its contribution to recently investigated electromechanical coupling, is also highlighted.