液态金属电极电导率高,电极界面容易构建,在充放电过程中可有效避免电极结构形变、枝晶生长等问题,在储能电池领域具有重要应用价值. 本文主要讨论了液态金属电极在液态金属电池、钠硫电池和ZEBRA电池中的应用进展,重点介绍了液态金属电池关键材料体系、充放电机制及电池构型等,评述了液态金属电极储能应用中涉及的熔盐电解质、固态陶瓷隔膜、多场影响因素等方面的重要研究进展,分析了高温密封、腐蚀防护等关键问题,明确了液态金属电极在储能电池应用中的发展方向.

Electrochemical energy storage technologies (ESTs) with low cost, long lifespan and high safety are of great importance for efficient integration of renewable energy into the grid. Liquid metal electrodes (LMEs) possessing the merits of high electronic conductivity, easy manufacture and amorphous structure is of great application value in the field of energy storage batteries. During charge-discharge processing, the LMEs could avoid the issues of structural deformation and dendrite growth in solid metal electrodes, which could effectively extend the cycle life of the LME based batteries. Moreover, LME based batteries are easy to be scaled up and less expensive, which are well-positioned to satisfy the demands of grid-scale energy storage. In this paper, the state-of-the-art overview of LMEs in batteries including liquid metal batteries (LMBs), sodium-sulfur (Na||S) and ZEBRA (Na||NiCl₂) batteries is presented. The materials systems, reaction mechanisms and novel designing in LMBs are emphatically discussed. Besides the LMEs, the developments of the molten salts electrolytes and solid state electrolytes, and the multi-field coupled flows inside LMBs are summarized. The challenges for the applications of LMEs in the batteries, such as high temperature sealing and corrosion, are discussed. Finally, the prospects of the application of LMEs in the field of the ESTs are also described.