Gallium-based anodes for alkali metal ion batteries

Alkali metal ion batteries (AMIBs) are playing an irreplaceable part in the energy revolution, due to their intrinsic advantages of large capacity/power density and abundance of alkali metal ions in the earth's crust. Despite their great promise, the inborn deficiencies of commercial graphite and other anodes being researched so far call for the quest of better alternatives that exhibit all-round performance with the balance of energy/power density and cycling stability. Gallium-based materials, with impressive capacity utilization and self-healing ability, provide an anticipated solution to this conundrum. In this review, an overview on the recent progress of gallium-based anodes and their storage mechanism is presented. The current strategies used as engineering solutions to meet the scientific challenges ahead are discussed, in addition to the insightful outlook for possible future study. (C) 2020 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.