Advanced Materials Prepared via Metallic Reduction Reactions for Electrochemical Energy Storage

Abstract

Advanced materials with various micro-/nanostructures have attracted plenty of attention in energy storage field over the past decades. Metallic reduction reactions (MRRs) possess the merits of low energy consumption, flexibility, convenience, and scalability, which have been considered as potential methods to acquire diverse micro-/nanostructured materials. In this review, the latest progress of MRRs is systematically summed up, featuring the usage of metallic reductants (e.g., magnesium, aluminum, zinc, lithium) on synthesizing of advanced micro-/nanostructured materials and their applications in various energy storage systems. The as-obtained materials (e.g., carbon-, silicon-, germanium-, antimony-, and titanium-based materials) can deliver various architectures, including solid spherical structures, hollow porous structures, core-shell structures, yolk-shell structures, core-satellite structures, and many kinds of 1D, 2D, 3D micro-/nanostructures. Besides, the defect properties of materials can be well tuned via MRRs. The application progress of these materials as active electrodes, host materials, or functional interlayers for lithium ion batteries, lithium sulfur batteries, sodium ion batteries, or supercapacitors is reviewed. In the end, the strengths and insufficiencies of MRRs are discussed and the probable future research directions of MRRs are proposed. 1. Introduction With the rapid development of nowadays' modern society, people's demand for energy is increasingly growing. At present, the traditional fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum, are the dominant energy sources. However, their

Preparation of Hollow Nanostructured Si Spheres by Zincothermic Reduction of SiO2 to Si for Lithium-Ion Batteries

“…The various SiO 2 precursors were respectively mixed with the Zn powder and AlCl 3 in an autoclave and the reaction took place at 300 °C. Unlike traditional metallothermic reduction methods directly reducing SiO 2 to Si, , the molten AlCl 3 -assisted zincothermic reduction involves two reaction processes: chlorination of SiO 2 to generate SiCl 4 and then reduction of the generated SiCl 4 by Zn to produce Si . Concretely, during the reaction, SiO 2 first reacted with AlCl 3 to form gaseous SiCl 4 , and then the generated SiCl 4 gas was reduced to Si by Zn (Figure ).…”

“…Unlike the traditional high-temperature carbothermic reduction method that produces Si ingot, zincothermic reduction can reduce SiO 2 at a relatively low temperature to obtain Si powder. In addition, zincothermic reduction involves liquid–solid and gas–solid reactions in the AlCl 3 reaction medium, which can provide a higher reaction rate than the solid–solid reaction involved in the metallothermic reduction and molten salt electrolysis. , Nevertheless, there is still a lack of knowledge about the factors affecting the reaction process or reaction mechanism of zincohermic reduction and the applicability of this method to different silicon sources. Herein, to reveal the influence of SiO 2 precursors on the zincothermic reduction process, different kinds of SiO 2 precursors were employed.…”

Lithium reduction reaction for interfacial regulation of lithium metal anode

“…23 These regulation strategies belong to the category of lithium reduction reactions (LRRs), one type of metallic reduction reaction (MRR) which have huge advantages in fabricating diverse functional interface materials. 24,25 Due to the high activity of metallic lithium, LRRs are a quite special and highly efficient class among MRRs in material synthesis and interface regulation. They have been widely applied in the interface optimization of LMAs.…”

Inducing Conductive Surface Layer on Nb2O5 via Ar-ion Bombardment: Enhanced Electrochemical Performance for Li-ion Batteries

“…Moreover, the present methodological strategy provides a simple and competitive way to improve low-conductivity active materials compared to other reduction methods. 37…”