Research Advances of Amorphous Metal Oxides in Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion

Amorphous metal oxides (AMOs) have aroused great enthusiasm across multiple energy areas over recent years due to their unique properties, such as the intrinsic isotropy, versatility in compositions, absence of grain boundaries, defect distribution, flexible nature, etc. Here, the materials engineering of AMOs is systematically reviewed in different electrochemical applications and recent advances in understanding and developing AMO-based high-performance electrodes are highlighted. Attention is focused on the important roles that AMOs play in various energy storage and conversion technologies, such as active materials in metal-ion batteries and supercapacitors as well as active catalysts in water splitting, metal-air batteries, and fuel cells. The improvements of electrochemical performance in metal-ion batteries and supercapacitors are reviewed regarding the enhancement in active sites, mechanical strength, and defect distribution of amorphous structures. Furthermore, the high electrochemical activities boosted by AMOs in various fundamental reactions are elaborated on and they are related to the electrocatalytic behaviors in water splitting, metal-air batteries, and fuel cells. The applications in electrochromism and high-conducting sensors are also briefly discussed. Finally, perspectives on the existing challenges of AMOs for electrochemical applications are proposed, together with several promising future research directions.