On the Road to Stable Electrochemical Metal Deposition in Multivalent Batteries

Li, Na, and K metal anodes are the most promising anodes for post Li ion batteries because of their low redox potential and high specific capacity. However, alkali metals suffer from dendritic metal growth and high market price, which hinder the commercialization of alkali metal anode batteries. For this reason, multivalent metal anodes, such as Mg, Ca, and Al, are considered alternatives to alkali metal anodes, due to their uniform, less dendritic metal growth and abundance in the Earth’s crust. Furthermore, multivalent metal deposition/stripping reactions require two or more electrons, which enable their high volumetric capacity. Recent metal anode research has been focused on unveiling this fractal dendrite deposition mechanism and inhibiting dendritic deposition. However, most studies are fundamentally conducted based on the known dendritic Li growth mechanism, which is not yet fully understood. In this review, we focus on the metal deposition mechanism of these individual multivalent metals. Moreover, we present strategies for inhibiting dendritic growth of each metal anode. By comparing the different dendritic growth characteristics of different metal elements, we believe this review will provide a clear direction for comprehensive metal anode research.