Research Progress and Perspective on Lithium/Sodium Metal Anode for Next-Generation Rechargeable Batteries: a Review

With the development of consumer electronic devices and electric vehicles, the lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are vital component for high energy storage with great impact on our modern life. However, LIBs still cannot meet all the essential demands of rapidly growing new industries. In pursuance of higher energy requirement, metal batteries (MBs) are the next-generation high energy density devices. Li/Na metals are considered as an ideal anode for high energy batteries due to extremely high theoretical specific capacity (3860 and 1165 mAh g -1 for Li and Na respectively) and low electrochemical potential (- 3.04 V for Li and - 2.71 V for Na vs S.H.E.). Unfortunately, uncontrolled dendrite growth, high reactivity and infinite volume change induce severe safety concerns and poor cycle efficiency during its application. Consequently, MBs are far from commercialization stage. This review represents a comprehensive overview of failure mechanism of lithium/sodium metal anode and its progress for rechargeable batteries through (i) electrolyte optimization, (ii) artificial solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer formation and (iii) nanoengineering at materials level in current collector, anode and the host. The challenges in current MBs research and potential applications of lithium/sodium metal anode are also outlined and summarized.