A battery electrode comprises an electrically conductive substrate having an electrochemically active electrode composition supported thereupon. The composition includes an active material capable of reversibly alloying with lithium, which material shows a volume change upon such reversible alloying. The composition includes a buffering agent which accommodates the volume change in the active material and minimizes mechanical strain in the composition. The active composition may further include materials such as carbon. The active material may comprise silicon, aluminum, antimony, antimony oxides, bismuth, bismuth oxides, tin, tin oxides, chromium, chromium oxides, tungsten, and tungsten oxides or lithium alloys of the foregoing. The buffering agent may comprise a metal or a metal oxide or lithium alloys of the foregoing. Also disclosed are batteries which incorporate these electrodes, methods for the fabrication of the electrodes and methods for the fabrication and operation of the batteries.