Room-temperature liquid metals (LMs) have emerged as distinctive functional materials for electrochemical energy storage, owing to their metallic conductivity, fluidic deformability, self-healing capability, and adaptive electrochemical behavior. Local electric-field regulation, enhanced ion transport, volume-change accommodation, and dendrite suppression are enabled by these intrinsic properties, thereby offering opportunities to overcome interfacial instability and limited cycling durability in conventional systems. In this review, recent advances in LM-enabled energy storage are summarized from the perspectives of physicochemical properties, micro-/macroscopic structural regulations, and performance-oriented applications. To clarify their roles in electrochemical stabilization, the fundamental properties, alloy design, surface modification, and composite construction of LMs are discussed, while emerging structural engineering strategies, including porous structures, patterning, and 3D printing, are briefly introduced to tailor LM architectures and functionalities. Particular emphasis is placed on multiphysics coupling modeling, density functional theory (DFT), and molecular dynamics simulations, which provide mechanistic insights into the evolution of the electric field, ion migration, interfacial reaction, alloying behavior, stress redistribution, and dendrite suppression. Representative applications in electrodes, electrolytes, and interfacial engineering are surveyed. Finally, challenges and potential solutions in chemical stability, structural controllability, interfacial compatibility, and scalable device integration are discussed.
Anode-free lithium metal batteries are promising toward high-energy-density power sources with low-cost, but their practical applications are challenged by poor cycling stability and low rate capability. Herein, a shape change-free and lithium-free anode that well controls the reversible Li plating-stripping is reported, which is composed of a highly-ordered hollow ZnO matrix with a surface-coated lithium-phosphorus-oxynitride (LiPON) layer. The ZnO matrix supplies sufficient cavities and lithiophilic sites to facilitate uniform Li plating/stripping within the hollow cavity, while the LiPON layer maintains stable solid-electrolyte interphase from mechanical and electrochemical damage. As a result, lithium is constrained within the cavity and the overall anode shape is effectively controlled during long-term and high-rate cycling. The assembled half-cell stably works at 1.2 mA cm-2 for 335 cycles with Coulombic efficiency of 98.8%. Without Li pre-deposition, full-cells using modified-LiFePO4 and LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 cathodes demonstrate 150-cycles lifespan and high energy density of 617 Wh kg-1 at 2C rate.