To significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a decisive shift in favour of renewable energy is needed. The development of increasingly efficient batteries is one of the most important factors in facilitating this transition. The applications in which batteries can be applied vary widely from the transport sector to energy storage technologies to support the electricity grid.

Materials and manufacturing technologies vary according to the application. Batteries with a high energy density are necessary to favour electric mobility while a significant reduction in costs is necessary for the development of devices serving the electricity grid. This presupposes the study of potentially more performing and / or lower cost materials and the development of highly efficient manufacturing processes. Furthermore, to make the process sustainable and for the implementation of an integrated product policy, appropriate recycling of the components and a correct assessment of the battery life cycle are required. In this short section, both advanced materials for lithium-ion batteries, such as cathodes rich in lithium, and new processes for transforming these materials into battery components will be presented. Finally, battery recycling techniques will be illustrated to make the entire production process sustainable.

At the end of the section, the application of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology for the environmental energy assessment of batteries will be illustrated.