Clay minerals as multifunctional architectures for lithium-ion battery anodes

With the escalating demands for higher energy storage performance, reduced costs, and environmental sustainability in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the development of advanced anode materials has become a critical research focus. Clay minerals are abundant, have unique structures with high silicon content, and offer a transformative pathway for next-generation LIB anodes. This review systematically examines two dominant application paradigms: (i) the direct utilization of clay minerals as electrode-active materials, exploiting their intrinsic structural and compositional properties; and (ii) clay-to-silicon conversion strategies to fabricate nanostructured silicon, including nanoparticles, nanosheets, and nanofibers. By elucidating the structure and property relationships underlying these approaches, this review highlights the dual role of clay minerals as cost-effective precursors and as structural templates for enhancing anode performance. Furthermore, the analysis identifies critical challenges in scalability and interface engineering, while proposing future research directions, including the development of hybrid clay-based composites and green processing techniques. These insights aim to advance the design of sustainable energy storage devices to meet growing global energy storage demands.