Book excerpt: Materials Engineering for High Density Energy Storage provides first-hand knowledge about the design of safe and powerful batteries and the methods and approaches for enhancing the performance of next-generation batteries. The book explores how the innovative approaches currently employed, including thin films, nanoparticles and nanocomposites, are paving new ways to performance improvement. The topic's tremendous application potential will appeal to a broad audience, including materials scientists, physicists, electrochemists, libraries, and graduate students.