REVIEW

Hollow multishelled structure: A versatile platform for boosting the performance of sodium-ion batteries

¹ School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
² State Key Laboratory of Biopharmaceutical Preparation and Delivery, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
³ State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Healthy Operation and Maintenance of Deep Underground Engineering, College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518071, China
⁴ School of Chemical Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

^* Corresponding authors (emails: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Jiangyan Wang); This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Na Wang); This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Dan Wang); This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Ranbo Yu))

Received: 27 January 2026
Revised: 9 March 2026
Accepted: 19 March 2026

Abstract

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), with abundant resources and low cost, have established themselves as a core candidate for large-scale energy storage in the post-lithium-ion battery (LIB) era. However, electrode materials suffer from severe volume expansion, sluggish ion transport kinetics, and low energy density due to the larger radius and higher atomic weight of sodium. These challenges cannot be resolved by simply replicating LIB technologies and have thus become the core technical barriers hindering the industrialization of SIBs. Endowed with hierarchical shells, internal cavities, a large accessible surface area to volume ratio, and excellent loading capacity, the hollow multishelled structure (HoMS) effectively alleviates these issues. This review systematically summarizes the design strategies and optimization mechanisms of HoMS for SIB anodes (carbon-based, alloy-type, and conversion-type materials) and cathodes (metal oxides, polyanionic compounds (PCs), and Prussian blue analogues (PBAs)), focusing on addressing key performance degradation bottlenecks. It also outlines synthesis challenges and industrialization prospects, expanding SIB electrode structural portfolios and offering actionable guidance for rational HoMS-based electrode design.