The Promising Potential of Gallium Based Liquid Metals for Energy Storage

Waheed Ur Rehman; Rana Zafar Abbas Manj; Yuanyuan Ma; Jianping Yang

doi:10.1002/cplu.202300767

The Promising Potential of Gallium Based Liquid Metals for Energy Storage

Chempluschem. 2024 May 2:e202300767. doi: 10.1002/cplu.202300767. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Waheed Ur Rehman¹, Rana Zafar Abbas Manj¹, Yuanyuan Ma², Jianping Yang²

Affiliations

¹ Donghua University, State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, No. 2999 North Renmin Rd., Songjiang district, CHINA.
² Donghua University, State Key Laboratory for ModificatCollege of Materials Science and Engineering, No. 2999 North Renmin Rd., Songjiang district, Shanghai, CHINA.

PMID: 38696273
DOI: 10.1002/cplu.202300767

Abstract

Energy storage devices play a crucial role in various applications, such as powering electronics, power backup for homes and businesses, and support for the integration of renewable energy sources into electrical grid applications. Electrode materials for energy storage devices are preferred to have a flexible nature, conductive, better capacity, and low-toxicity. Currently, using Gallium based liquid metal alloys, such as Eutectic Gallium-Indium (EGaIn), Eutectic Gallium-Tin (EGaSn), and Eutectic Gallium-Indium-Tin (EGaInSn), as electrode materials play very important role in energy storage devices. These liquid metals have some interesting properties with a self-healing nature, high mechanical stability, compatibility with various materials, fluidity, low young's modulus, high electrical and thermal conductivity. Those properties have made it suitable to be used in various energy storage devices. In this mini review, we have concisely described the advantages and challenges of using liquid metal as electrode materials for various energy storage devices.

Keywords: Batteries, Supercapacitors, Liquid metal, Energy storage, Gallium alloy.