Review Lithium alloys and metal oxides as high-capacity anode materials for lithium-ion batteries Chu Liang, Mingxia Gao ⇑ , Hongge Pan ⇑ , Yongfeng Liu, Mi Yan State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province & Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China article info Article history: Received 25 February 2013 Received in revised form 30 March 2013 Accepted 1 April 2013 Available online 10 April 2013 Keywords: Lithium-ion batteries Lithium alloys Metal oxides Electrochemical properties Lithium storage mechanisms abstract Lithium alloys and metal oxides have been widely recognized as the next-generation anode materials for lithium-ion batteries with high energy density and high power density. A variety of lithium alloys and metal oxides have been explored as alternatives to the commercial carbonaceous anodes. The electro- chemical characteristics of silicon, tin, tin oxide, iron oxides, cobalt oxides, copper oxides, and so on are systematically summarized. In this review, it is not the scope to retrace the overall studies, but rather to highlight the electrochemical performances, the lithium storage mechanism and the strategies in improving the electrochemical properties of lithium alloys and metal oxides. The challenges and new directions in developing lithium alloys and metal oxides as commercial anodes for the next-generation lithium-ion batteries are also discussed. Ó 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 247 2. Electrochemical characteristics .......................................................................................... 247 2.1. Lithium alloys .................................................................................................. 247 2.1.1. Silicon ................................................................................................. 248 2.1.2. Tin .................................................................................................... 248 2.2. Metal oxides ................................................................................................... 249 2.2.1. Tin oxide ............................................................................................... 249 2.2.2. Iron oxide .............................................................................................. 249 2.2.3. Cobalt oxide ............................................................................................ 250 2.2.4. Copper oxide ............................................................................................ 251 2.2.5. Other metal oxides ....................................................................................... 251 3. Electrochemical lithium storage mechanisms .............................................................................. 251 3.1. Intercalation/deintercalation mechanism ............................................................................ 251 3.2. Alloying/dealloying mechanism .................................................................................... 252 3.3. Conversion reaction mechanism.................................................................................... 252 4. Strategies in improving lithium storage properties .......................................................................... 252 4.1. Multiphase composites ........................................................................................... 253 4.2. Microstructure tuning ............................................................................................ 253 4.3. Thin films...................................................................................................... 253 4.4. Intermetallic compounds ......................................................................................... 254 4.5. Surface modification and binder selection............................................................................ 254 5. Conclusions and outlook ............................................................................................... 254 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... 255 References .......................................................................................................... 255 0925-8388/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2013.04.001 ⇑ Corresponding authors. Tel./fax: +86 571 87952615. E-mail addresses: gaomx@zju.edu.cn (M. Gao), hgpan@zju.edu.cn (H. Pan). Journal of Alloys and Compounds 575 (2013) 246–256 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Alloys and Compounds journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jalcom