SONY achieved commercialization of lithium ion batteries (LIBs) in 1991. Compared to traditional lead-acid and nickel-cadmium secondary batteries, this novel energy storage devices have the advantages of no memory effect, longer cycle life and higher energy density. The continuous development of electrolyte, electrode structure and battery producing has led to a doubling of energy density for LIBs since 1991. As we all know, lithium resources are limited, expensive and uneven distributed. To reduce costs and save lithium resources, researchers are committed to replacing lithium with other inexpensive alkali metals such as sodium and potassium. Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium ion batteries (PIBs) have drawn more and more attention because of their relatively low cost and abundant reserves. With the rapid development of electric?automobile, battery anode materials with high energy density have drawn increasing attention. Group IV elements (Si, Ge, Sn) and Group V elements (Sb, Bi) are considered as appealing anode materials for LIBs, SIBs and PIBs due to their high energy capacity. Various methods are used to prepare anode materials, such as hydrothermal method, template method, chemical precipitation and magnetron sputtering method. Because of the scalable production, controllable structure and low cost, dealloying technique is considered as an effective way to fabricate alkali metal ion battery anode materials. Dealloying technique is a typical process that the active components in precursor alloy are selectively removed, meanwhile the residual components reorganize into a nanostructure with specific morphology and space arrangement. The size, dimension and morphology of battery anode materials act a significant part in boosting the electrochemical performance. Dealloying technique can achieve the dynamic control of structure, morphology and space arrangement by regulating dealloying and subsequent treatment processes. Dealloying technique can be divided into chemical dealloying method, electrochemical dealloying method, liquid metal dealloying and vapor phase dealloying method. Up to now, researchers have successfully synthesized a large number of nanomaterials by dealloying technique, including 3D nanoporous Si, 3D nanoporous Ge, 2D Si nanosheets, 1D Bi nanorods and 0D Sb nanoparticles etc. Compared with bulk materials, the dealloyed nanomaterials have large specific surface areas and excellent structural stability. So when used as anodes for LIBs, SIBs and PIBs, the dealloyed nanomaterial anodes usually exhibit outstanding electrochemical performance. In this review, the common classification of dealloying and the latest representative research progress are described. Emphases are placed on the preparation of dealloyed nanomaterials with different dimensions and the application of dealloyed nanomaterials in alkali metal ion batteries. The development trend of dealloying and its application prospect in energy storage are also prospected.
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