Anode-Electrolyte Interfaces in Secondary Magnesium Batteries

Secondary magnesium batteries are still in the research stage, after the first prototype of a magnesium-based battery was demonstrated almost two decades ago. Since this breakthrough, despite tremendous efforts by numerous research groups, we are not aware of any system that exhibits better performance in terms of Coulombic efficiency over prolonged cycling. The scientific community is now focusing on the basic phenomena that hinder development of practical magnesium-based rechargeable batteries. Today, we have a better understanding of the structure of electrolyte solutions relevant to rechargeable Mg batteries and its effect on the electrochemical performance. New electrolyte solutions that are not based on organometallic moieties currently surpass the performance of the first generations of complex solutions. There is even an attempt to test alternative anode materials for magnesium-based energy storage systems. In this review, we summarize recent studies conducted in the field, with a focus on the anode/electrolyte solutions side.