Defect physics in complex battery materials

Understanding the physics of structurally and chemically complex transition-metal oxide and polyanionic materials such as those used for battery electrodes is challenging, even at the level of pristine compounds. Yet these materials are also prone to and their properties and performance are strongly affected by crystallographic point defects. In this review, we highlight recent advances in the study of defects and doping in such materials using first-principles calculations. The emphasis is on describing a theoretical and computational approach that has the ability to predict defect landscapes under various synthesis conditions, provide guidelines for defect characterization and defect-controlled synthesis, uncover the mechanisms for electronic and ionic conduction and electrochemical extraction and (re-)insertion, and provide an understanding of the effects of doping. Though applied to battery electrode materials in this review, the approach is general and applicable to any materials in which the defect physics plays a role or drives the properties of interest. Thus, this work is intended as an in-depth review of defect physics in a particular class of materials, but also as a methodological template for the understanding and design of complex functional materials.