Battery Books for Engineers, Recyclers and Grid Planners: 9 Essential Titles for 2026
Batteries stopped being a niche topic in 2025. BloombergNEF's annual survey put the average lithium-ion pack price at a record low of $108 per kWh, down 8% on 2024, with stationary-storage packs falling 45% to $70/kWh. The International Energy Agency counted 108 GW of new battery storage capacity deployed worldwide in 2025, about 40% more than in 2024, and its Global EV Outlook 2026 projects roughly 23 million electric cars sold this year, close to 30% of new-car sales. Regulation is catching up as well: under the EU Batteries Regulation, the digital battery passport becomes mandatory on 18 February 2027 for EV batteries, light-means-of-transport batteries and industrial batteries above 2 kWh.
That pace creates a reading problem. The professional literature on batteries is scattered across electrochemistry, materials science, power systems, recycling engineering and compliance law. This guide organises the nine battery and storage titles currently in the CLNZ Books Energy collection by the question each reader is actually trying to answer, with the author, publisher and ISBN of every book. Libraries building an engineering or energy-policy collection can use it as a shortlist; see our Library Services page for institutional ordering and invoicing.
Quick answer: which battery book should you start with?
- Screening solid-state battery materials by computation: Materials Modeling for High-Performance Solid-State Batteries (ISBN 9783527354771)
- Diagnosing degradation with synchrotron, neutron and electron techniques: Battery Materials Characterization (ISBN 9783527355785)
- Sodium-ion batteries, supercapacitors and electrode–electrolyte interfaces: Materials for Energy Storage (ISBN 9781032805764)
- Recycling and regenerating spent lithium-ion batteries: Recycling and Regeneration of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries (ISBN 9783527356669)
- EU traceability and compliance: Battery Passport (ISBN 9783527354870)
- Choosing grid-scale electrochemical technologies and managing thermal runaway: Electrochemical Energy Storage for the Grid (ISBN 9781032795256)
- Components, power electronics and grid integration: Energy Storage: Systems and Components (ISBN 9781041233190)
- A thermodynamics-based teaching text with worked examples: Energy Storage: Driving the Renewable Energy Transition (ISBN 9781032460956)
- Thermal storage as a "battery": Integrated Energy Systems with a Carnot Battery (ISBN 9781041049807)
1. Battery chemistry and materials science
Better batteries start at the materials level. These three titles cover how new chemistries are designed, how they are measured, and how device performance follows from the electrode and the interface.
Materials Modeling for High-Performance Solid-State Batteries
Authors: Junhua Hu, Hongjie Xu, Jinjin Ban, Fanfan Liu, Shilin Zhang · Publisher: Wiley-VCH · ISBN: 9783527354771 · Published: September 2026 · Format: Hardcover · Price: USD 243
Solid-state cells promise higher energy density and better safety than liquid-electrolyte designs, but only if the right electrode, electrolyte and interface materials can be found. This book applies high-throughput first-principles calculations, density functional theory, molecular dynamics and machine learning to the screening and design of lithium-ion and magnesium-ion solid-state materials, then follows the work through interface engineering, electrochemical testing and full-cell assembly.
Best for: materials scientists, computational chemists and R&D teams who want to shortlist candidate compositions before committing to lab synthesis, and to address dendrite suppression and solid–solid contact at the interface.
Battery Materials Characterization: Advanced Techniques and Applications
Editors: Ning Li, Liang Zhang · Publisher: Wiley-VCH · ISBN: 9783527355785 · Published: September 2026 · Format: Hardcover · Price: USD 268
Twelve chapters set out the toolkit used to understand how battery materials behave from the atomic scale to full-cell operation: neutron scattering and pair distribution function analysis, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron and transmission X-ray microscopy, soft and hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy, resonant inelastic X-ray scattering, electron paramagnetic resonance, Raman spectroscopy, and gas-evolution and surface-chemistry analysis by DEMS and TOF-SIMS. Each technique is explained through the physics behind it and its use on electrodes, electrolytes and interfaces.
Best for: researchers and facility scientists diagnosing capacity fade and interfacial degradation, and libraries supporting materials-characterisation and electrochemistry programmes.
Materials for Energy Storage
Editors: Niroj Kumar Sahu, Arpan Kumar Nayak, Andrews Nirmala Grace · Publisher: CRC Press (Taylor & Francis) · ISBN: 9781032805764 · Published: 21 May 2026 · Format: Paperback · Price: USD 190
This volume bridges materials science and electrochemistry rather than treating them separately. It covers the fundamentals of electrochemical storage, the electrode–electrolyte interface, transition metal oxide nanomaterials for sodium-ion batteries and hybrid capacitors, metal carbides and nitrides, ferrites, polymers and supercapacitors, and then moves to device fabrication, performance characterisation and the commercial factors that decide whether a laboratory result reaches manufacture.
Best for: graduate students and engineers who need a broad, device-oriented grounding that includes sodium-ion chemistry and supercapacitors alongside lithium systems.
2. Lifecycle, recycling and regulation
As fleets and grid assets scale up, the questions shift from "how does it work?" to "what happens at end of life, and how do we prove it?" Two 2026 titles from Wiley-VCH address exactly that.
Recycling and Regeneration of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries: Technologies, Applications, and Sustainable Futures
Editors: Peng Ge, Yue Yang · Publisher: Wiley-VCH · ISBN: 9783527356669 · Published: 19 August 2026 · Format: Hardcover · Price: USD 243
A technologies-to-policy guide to closing the loop on end-of-life lithium-ion batteries. Eight chapters follow the full chain: dismantling and classification, safe discharge, pre-treatment and component separation, cascade (second-life) utilisation, hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical extraction, and direct regeneration of cathode and anode materials, before closing with pollution prevention, full life-cycle assessment and policy outlook. Coverage extends to solid-state and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) systems, whose end-of-life challenges differ from those of conventional NMC chemistries.
Best for: recyclers, plant engineers and investors comparing hydrometallurgical, pyrometallurgical and direct regeneration routes, and anyone selecting a dismantling line for a given battery format and chemistry.
Battery Passport: Technology, Equipment, and Policies
Authors: Xiao Lin, Ilaï Bendavid, Bin Wu, Shengrui Qi, Xue Wang · Publisher: Wiley-VCH · ISBN: 9783527354870 · Published: 24 August 2026 · Format: Hardcover · Price: USD 257
The EU deadline of 18 February 2027 makes this the most time-sensitive title in the group. Written by specialists in battery recycling operations, the book covers the technical architecture of passport systems (data standards, interoperable platforms, blockchain, IoT and AI integration), the business models that traceability enables, and the policy frameworks emerging in different jurisdictions. Case studies of early-adopter programmes show the move from regulation to practice, and a closing roadmap addresses data security, interoperability and cross-border alignment.
Best for: battery manufacturers, EV and energy-storage supply chains, recyclers, compliance teams and the policymakers drafting traceability rules; also law and policy libraries that now field battery-regulation questions.
3. Grid-scale storage and systems engineering
For utilities, developers and engineering faculties, the question is which storage technology fits which job, and how it connects to the network. For related market context, see our earlier article Why Grid-Scale Battery Storage Is 2026's Fastest-Moving Energy Sector.
Electrochemical Energy Storage for the Grid
Editors: Min Yang, Wanzhong Shen, Junbo Hou · Publisher: CRC Press · ISBN: 9781032795256 · Published: 6 September 2026 · Format: Hardcover · Price: USD 324
A technology-by-technology review of the electrochemical options for grid storage: lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion thermal runaway and safety, lithium-air and lithium-sulfur batteries, metal-air batteries, hydrogen generation by water electrolysis, and fuel cells including solid oxide fuel cells. Putting them side by side helps planners match technology to application, and the chapter on thermal runaway tackles a safety-critical issue directly.
Best for: utility R&D libraries, engineering faculties and policy institutions evaluating technologies for grid-scale deployment.
Energy Storage: Systems and Components
Author: Alfred Rufer · Publisher: CRC Press · ISBN: 9781041233190 · Published: 14 June 2026 · Format: Hardcover · Price: USD 330
A component-level treatment of the technologies that turn variable renewable output into a dispatchable resource: electrochemical batteries and supercapacitors, mechanical storage such as flywheels and compressed air, and thermal storage. The book moves from device physics to the power-electronics interfaces, converter topologies, control strategies and grid-integration questions that determine how storage performs once it leaves the lab, including sizing, efficiency and lifecycle.
Best for: power-electronics and systems engineers, and courses that need one reference connecting the battery to the converter and the grid.
Energy Storage: Driving the Renewable Energy Transition
Author: Efstathios E. Michaelides · Publisher: CRC Press · ISBN: 9781032460956 · Published: 12 March 2025 · Format: Hardcover, 306 pages · Price: USD 210
Built on thermodynamics, this text explains the operation and state of the art of every energy storage method, from the device to the electricity grid. Chapters cover mechanical, electrical and magnetic storage, electrochemical storage (batteries), hydrogen and other fuels, thermal and hybrid storage, and the economics and cost of storage, with numerical examples that support feasibility studies.
Best for: undergraduate and graduate courses, and professionals who want quantitative, worked examples rather than a technology survey.
4. Beyond electrochemistry: the Carnot battery
Not every "battery" is electrochemical. A Carnot battery stores electricity as thermal energy and converts it back when needed, which makes it relevant to industrial sites that already handle heat and steam.
Integrated Energy Systems with a Carnot Battery
Editors: Xiaojie Lin, Jian Song, Wei Zhong · Publisher: CRC Press · ISBN: 9781041049807 · Published: 13 March 2026 · Format: Hardcover, 144 pages · Price: USD 182
This book examines Carnot battery technology and its integration into modern energy systems: system layouts, thermal energy storage options and round-trip efficiency improvements, plus the modelling of integrated energy systems where electricity, steam and heat interact. Case studies illustrate how Carnot batteries can improve performance, stability and cost-effectiveness in industrial environments.
Best for: energy-systems engineers and industrial energy managers looking at low-carbon alternatives to chemical batteries.
Related reading: the critical minerals behind batteries
Battery supply chains depend on lithium, cobalt and rare earths. Two companion volumes in the collection look at that dimension from the economics and policy side: Critical Minerals Supply Chains Security and Resiliency in the ASEAN, Vol. 1: Lessons from Economics and Finance (Springer Singapore, ISBN 9789819693573) and Vol. 2: Policy and Technology (Springer Singapore, ISBN 9789819693535). Our article Critical Minerals and the Energy Transition: ASEAN at the Centre of the Global Race sets out the wider context.
Which battery book should you choose?
| Title | Focus | Best for | Publisher / format | ISBN | USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Materials Modeling for High-Performance Solid-State Batteries | Computational design of solid-state materials | Materials R&D | Wiley-VCH, hardcover | 9783527354771 | 243 |
| Battery Materials Characterization | Synchrotron, neutron, electron and spectroscopic techniques | Researchers, facility scientists | Wiley-VCH, hardcover | 9783527355785 | 268 |
| Materials for Energy Storage | Sodium-ion, supercapacitors, interfaces | Graduate students, engineers | CRC Press, paperback | 9781032805764 | 190 |
| Recycling and Regeneration of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries | Recycling chain, LFP, direct regeneration | Recyclers, plant engineers | Wiley-VCH, hardcover | 9783527356669 | 243 |
| Battery Passport | EU digital passport, traceability, policy | Manufacturers, compliance, regulators | Wiley-VCH, hardcover | 9783527354870 | 257 |
| Electrochemical Energy Storage for the Grid | Grid technologies, thermal runaway, hydrogen | Utilities, planners | CRC Press, hardcover | 9781032795256 | 324 |
| Energy Storage: Systems and Components | Power electronics, grid integration | Systems engineers | CRC Press, hardcover | 9781041233190 | 330 |
| Energy Storage: Driving the Renewable Energy Transition | Thermodynamics-based survey with worked examples | Courses, feasibility studies | CRC Press, hardcover | 9781032460956 | 210 |
| Integrated Energy Systems with a Carnot Battery | Thermal storage in integrated energy systems | Industrial energy managers | CRC Press, hardcover | 9781041049807 | 182 |
For libraries, engineering faculties and corporate R&D
A balanced battery collection needs three layers: materials and characterisation (the science), lifecycle and regulation (the compliance and circular-economy side), and systems engineering (the grid). The nine titles above map onto those layers, with publication dates running from March 2025 to September 2026. CLNZ Books supplies them as a specialist academic bookseller, with institutional invoicing, quotations and acquisitions support. The price includes worldwide shipping, and you can pay by card or PayPal with a simple guest checkout, no account required. Our How to Order guide and FAQ cover payment, delivery and returns, and if a title you need is not listed you can use Request a Book.
Q&A
What are the best books on batteries published in 2026?
The CLNZ Books Energy collection lists nine battery and energy-storage titles: Battery Passport (ISBN 9783527354870), Recycling and Regeneration of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries (9783527356669), Battery Materials Characterization (9783527355785), Materials Modeling for High-Performance Solid-State Batteries (9783527354771), Electrochemical Energy Storage for the Grid (9781032795256), Materials for Energy Storage (9781032805764), Energy Storage: Systems and Components (9781041233190), Energy Storage: Driving the Renewable Energy Transition (9781032460956) and Integrated Energy Systems with a Carnot Battery (9781041049807).
Which book covers solid-state battery materials and computational design?
Materials Modeling for High-Performance Solid-State Batteries by Junhua Hu and co-authors (Wiley-VCH, ISBN 9783527354771) applies first-principles calculations, density functional theory, molecular dynamics and machine learning to lithium-ion and magnesium-ion solid-state materials, including interface engineering and full-cell assembly.
Which book explains the EU digital battery passport?
Battery Passport: Technology, Equipment, and Policies (Wiley-VCH, ISBN 9783527354870) covers passport architecture, data standards, interoperability, business models and policy frameworks. The passport becomes mandatory in the EU on 18 February 2027 for EV batteries, light-means-of-transport batteries and industrial batteries above 2 kWh.
Which book covers lithium-ion battery recycling, including LFP and direct regeneration?
Recycling and Regeneration of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries, edited by Peng Ge and Yue Yang (Wiley-VCH, ISBN 9783527356669), covers dismantling, pre-treatment, cascade use, hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical extraction, direct regeneration, life-cycle assessment and policy, with coverage of solid-state and LFP systems.
Which book covers sodium-ion batteries and supercapacitors?
Materials for Energy Storage, edited by Niroj Kumar Sahu, Arpan Kumar Nayak and Andrews Nirmala Grace (CRC Press, ISBN 9781032805764), includes transition metal oxide nanomaterials for sodium-ion batteries and hybrid capacitors, plus supercapacitors, polymers, device fabrication and commercial considerations.
Which book teaches battery materials characterization with synchrotron, neutron and electron techniques?
Battery Materials Characterization, edited by Ning Li and Liang Zhang (Wiley-VCH, ISBN 9783527355785), has twelve chapters on neutron scattering, X-ray diffraction, electron and X-ray microscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, RIXS, EPR, Raman, DEMS and TOF-SIMS.
Which book covers grid-scale battery storage and lithium-ion thermal runaway?
Electrochemical Energy Storage for the Grid, edited by Min Yang, Wanzhong Shen and Junbo Hou (CRC Press, ISBN 9781032795256), reviews lead-acid, lithium-ion safety and thermal runaway, lithium-air, lithium-sulfur and metal-air batteries, water electrolysis hydrogen and fuel cells for grid use. For converters, control and grid integration, see Alfred Rufer's Energy Storage: Systems and Components (CRC Press, ISBN 9781041233190).
What is a Carnot battery, and which book covers it?
A Carnot battery stores electricity as thermal energy and converts it back to electricity when needed. Integrated Energy Systems with a Carnot Battery, edited by Xiaojie Lin, Jian Song and Wei Zhong (CRC Press, ISBN 9781041049807), covers system layouts, thermal storage options, round-trip efficiency, integrated energy system modelling and industrial case studies.
Is there a textbook on energy storage with worked numerical examples?
Energy Storage: Driving the Renewable Energy Transition by Efstathios E. Michaelides (CRC Press, ISBN 9781032460956) uses thermodynamics to explain every storage method, including batteries, with numerical examples for quantitative analysis and feasibility studies.
Which of these books suit a university library or engineering collection?
A balanced core set is Materials for Energy Storage (materials and electrochemistry), Electrochemical Energy Storage for the Grid (technology survey) and Energy Storage: Systems and Components (systems and power electronics). Research-intensive collections can add Battery Materials Characterization and Materials Modeling for High-Performance Solid-State Batteries, while law, policy and sustainability collections benefit from Battery Passport and the recycling volume.
Where can I buy these battery books, and how does ordering work for institutions?
All nine are available at clnzbooks.com, where the price includes worldwide shipping and you can pay by card or PayPal with a simple guest checkout. Institutions can request a quotation and institutional invoicing; see the How to Order guide and Library Services page.
What are the ISBNs of the nine battery books?
Battery Passport: 9783527354870. Recycling and Regeneration of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries: 9783527356669. Battery Materials Characterization: 9783527355785. Materials Modeling for High-Performance Solid-State Batteries: 9783527354771. Electrochemical Energy Storage for the Grid: 9781032795256. Materials for Energy Storage: 9781032805764. Energy Storage: Systems and Components: 9781041233190. Energy Storage: Driving the Renewable Energy Transition: 9781032460956. Integrated Energy Systems with a Carnot Battery: 9781041049807.
Sources for market and regulatory figures: BloombergNEF, Lithium-Ion Battery Price Survey 2025; IEA, Global Energy Review 2026, battery storage; Down To Earth on the IEA Global EV Outlook 2026; European Commission, Digital Product Passport for batteries.