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Rare earth elements in battery materials: critical assessment of their role and challenges
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DOI：10.1080/10408436.2026.2704580.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Rare-earth elements (REEs) have emerged as versatile modifiers across multiple battery systems, yet their role remains highly system-dependent and often misunderstood. This review provides a comprehensive and critical analysis of REE incorporation in electrochemical energy-storage materials, spanning Li-ion battery cathodes (layered oxides, spinels, and olivines), anodes (titanates, conversion compounds, carbon hybrids, and coordination frameworks), Ni/MH alloys, and solid electrolytes including garnet, NASICON, and fluoride-ion conductors. Rather than focusing solely on performance metrics, emphasis is placed on mechanistic understanding, including lattice stabilization, defect engineering, interfacial passivation, electronic structure modulation, grain-boundary chemistry, and transport enhancement. Across cathode materials, REE incorporation frequently improves structural robustness, thermal stability, and high-voltage tolerance, although excessive loading may induce inactive secondary phases and compromise capacity. In anodes, benefits are more heterogeneous, ranging from enhanced Li+ diffusivity in titanates to pseudocapacitive contributions in organic-REE hybrids and conversion-type fluorides, often accompanied by activation phenomena during long-term cycling. For solid electrolytes, REEs play dual roles as lattice constituents and sintering or defect-engineering agents, enabling improved ionic conductivity, densification, dendrite resistance, and interface stability. Comparison with Ni/MH alloys further highlights tradeoffs between capacity, kinetics, and cycle durability associated with REE substitution. Overall, REEs rarely increase intrinsic capacity but consistently act as structural and interfacial stabilizers that enable operation under demanding conditions such as high voltage, fast charging, extended cycling, or solid-state configurations. To organize this evidence, we develop a unified mechanistic and design framework that links REE chemistry to electrochemical function across cathodes, anodes, and solid electrolytes, and we propose a three-regime decisional framework for choosing between REEs and abundant alternatives based on supply-chain and sustainability constraints. Future opportunities likely lie in controlled defect engineering, entropy-stabilized compositions, interface-focused design, and integration into next-generation solid-state and high-power battery technologies, with rational deployment guided by both performance and sustainability considerations.
Keywords:
Rare-earth elements
lithium-ion batteries
solid electrolytes
cathode materials
structural stabilization
interfacial engineering
Journal
C
IF:
8.9
Papers:
380
Citations:
3.2K
Organization
Cited Papers