Photoelectrochemical Engineering for Light‐Assisted Rechargeable Metal Batteries: Mechanism, Development, and Future

Abstract

Rechargeable battery devices with high energy density are highly demanded by our modern society. The use of metal anodes is extremely attractive for future rechargeable battery devices. However, the notorious metal dendritic and instability of solid electrolyte interface issues pose a series of challenges for metal anodes. Recently, considering the indigestible dynamical behavior of metal anodes, photoelectrochemical engineering of light‐assisted metal anodes have been rapidly developed since they efficiently utilize the integration and synergy of oriented crystal engineering and photocatalysis engineering, which provided a potential way to unlock the interface electrochemical mechanism and deposition reaction kinetics of metal anodes. This review starts with the fundamentals of photoelectrochemical engineering and follows with the state‐of‐art advance of photoelectrochemical engineering for light‐assisted rechargeable metal batteries where photoelectrode materials, working principles, types, and practical applications are explained. The last section summarizes the major challenges and some invigorating perspectives for future research on light‐assisted rechargeable metal batteries.

Stable Photo‐Rechargeable Al Battery for Enhancing Energy Utilization

“…[ 27 ] To overcome the challenges in designing and optimizing the photoelectrodes for substantially promoting overall efficiency, in principle, more efforts could be focused on the improvement of photo‐electrode materials and structure configurations, including material dopping, surface modification, structural optimization, and heterostructure construction, as well as matching the incident photon flux and wavelength range. [ 28–33 ]…”

Boosting Energy Storage in Metal Batteries by Light: Progress, Challenges, and Perspectives

“…Inspired by light–matter interactions that can convert solar energy into electricity or heat, provoking photoelectric and/or photothermal effects on light-responsive materials, many kinds of light-responsive metal batteries have been developed by integrating photoactive materials to convert solar into electrical (or thermal) energy for enhancing battery performance, including accelerated reaction kinetics, boosted capacities, reduced charge voltages, and increased discharge voltages . Moreover, such a light-responsive design can expand application scenarios of metal batteries in some extreme environments and provide a new option to obtain Li metal resources. , Some reviews on advances in light-responsive batteries have been introduced, − which are summarized from different aspects, such as the application of solar energy, , the integration manner of photoactive units, and the performance optimization of photoactive units . These reviews provide a comprehensive overview of light-responsive energy storage devices from different viewpoints.…”