With
the rapid expansion of electric vehicles and energy storage
markets, the rising demand for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries,
as opposed to the limited reserves of lithium resources, poses a great
challenge to the widespread penetration of this advanced battery technology.
Some monovalent metals, such as sodium and potassium, and multivalent
metals, such as magnesium, zinc, and aluminum, which are nontoxic
and relatively abundant (compared to lithium), are considered as alternative
guest ions to lithium ion, thus generating various new battery systems.
However, the major obstacle to their large-scale applications has
been a lack of suitable robust hosts to accommodate alkalis (Na+, K+) with large radius or multivalent ions (Mg2+, Zn2+, Al3+) with high electrostatic
repulsions. Conversion-type materials provide a unique route to tackle
this problem because of their special reaction mechanism, which is
different from the traditional intercalation reaction, and flexibility
for tuning operating voltage. In this Review, the superiority of conversion
electrodes for post lithium-ion batteries is discussed in detail,
and the recent progress of the newly developed ions batteries based
on the conversion mechanism is comprehensively summarized. Finally,
the remaining challenges and the perspectives on research directions
of conversion electrodes are proposed to provide guidance for future
materials engineering and battery design.