What Can be Expected from “Anode‐Free” Lithium Metal Batteries?

“Anode‐free” lithium metal batteries are cells that have no excess lithium metal. They have become a topic of tremendous attention, mostly driven by recent progress and interest in practical batteries with Li metal anodes. These cells are expected to provide improved performance. However, a deeper analysis on the potential manufacturing costs have not been weighed against the cell attributes. Specifically, the increased energy density and gravimetric energy density of anode‐free cells versus their reduced cycle life when compared with standard lithium‐ion batteries (LIB). In this perspective, a multifaceted comparison between anode‐free batteries with current LIB and future Li metal‐based batteries is shown. Furthermore, not only an overview of the research strategies on the anode‐free design is provided but also attempted to estimate the potential advantages weighed in different scenarios considering cost, performance, processing, and technology maturity.