Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book includes the general introduction, especially for the whole developments in the theoretical and experimental researches on emergent energy storage and conversion materials, namely rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors, solar cells, and fuel cells. It focuses on promising anode material, including amorphous and crystalline silicon, graphite magnesium compounds, and Na-intercalation compounds. The book explains the machine learning method plays an important role in screening and accelerating novel battery materials. It discusses open issues and potential applications. The book explains reason for the higher critical size of amorphous silicon and the origin of the critical size issue. It describes a brief history and recent development of Na-ion batteries. The book focuses on supervised learning as it is the main method applied in the field of Li-ion batteries.