Freestanding carbon nanofoam papers with tunable porosity as lithium-sulfur battery cathodes.

To reach energy density demands greater than 3 mA h cm-2 for practical applications, the electrode structure of lithium-sulfur batteries must undergo an architectural redesign. Freestanding carbon nanofoam papers derived from resorcinol-formaldehyde aerogels provide a three-dimensional conductive mesoporous network while facilitating electrolyte transport. Vapor-phase sulfur infiltration fully penetrates >100 µm thick electrodes and conformally coats the carbon aerogel surface providing areal capacities up to 4.1 mA h cm-2 at sulfur loadings of 6.4 mg cm-2. Electrode performance can be optimized for energy density or power density by tuning sulfur loading, pore size, and electrode thickness.

Interphases, Interfaces, and Surfaces of Active Materials in Rechargeable Batteries and Perovskite Solar Cells.

The ever-increasing demand for clean sustainable energy has driven tremendous worldwide investment in the design and exploration of new active materials for energy conversion and energy-storage devices. Tailoring the surfaces of and interfaces between different materials is one of the surest and best studied paths to enable high-energy-density batteries and high-efficiency solar cells. Metal-halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are one of the most promising photovoltaic materials due to their unprecedented development, with their record power conversion efficiency (PCE) rocketing beyond 25% in less than 10 years. Such progress is achieved largely through the control of crystallinity and surface/interface defects. Rechargeable batteries (RBs) reversibly convert electrical and chemical potential energy through redox reactions at the interfaces between the electrodes and electrolyte. The (electro)chemical and optoelectronic compatibility between active components are essential design considerations to optimize power conversion and energy storage performance. A focused discussion and critical analysis on the formation and functions of the interfaces and interphases of the active materials in these devices is provided, and prospective strategies used to overcome current challenges are described. These strategies revolve around manipulating the chemical compositions, defects, stability, and passivation of the various interfaces of RBs and PSCs.

Active Materials for Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries: Synthesis, Crystal Structure, Morphology, and Electrochemistry.

Aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) are truly promising contenders for the future large-scale electrical energy storage applications due to their cost-effectiveness, environmental friendliness, intrinsic safety, and competitive gravimetric energy density. In light of this, massive research efforts have been devoted to the design and development of high-performance aqueous ZIBs; however, there are still obstacles to overcome before realizing their full potentials. Here, the current advances, existing limitations, along with the possible solutions in the pursuit of cathode materials with high voltage, fast kinetics, and long cycling stability are comprehensively covered and evaluated, together with an analysis of their structures, electrochemical performance, and zinc ion storage mechanisms. Key issues and research directions related to the design of highly reversible zinc anodes, the exploration of electrolytes satisfying both low cost and good performance, as well as the selection of compatible current collectors are also discussed, to guide the future design of aqueous ZIBs with a combination of high gravimetric energy density, good reversibility, and a long cycle life.

Chemically Bonding NiFe-LDH Nanosheets on rGO for Superior Lithium-Ion Capacitors.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have attracted tremendous interest for applications in energy harvest and storage. However, the aggregation of nanosheets compromises the accessible active sites and limits their electrochemical performance, especially at high rates. The present study reports the synthesis of highly dispersed NiFe-LDH nanosheets anchored on reduced graphene oxide (NiFe-LDH/rGO) composites chemically bonded via a facile one-step hydrothermal method. Defect-riched rGO provides abundant active sites for heterogeneous nucleation of NiFe-LDH nanosheets, achieving the much efficient charge transfer between rGO and NiFe-LDH as compared to physically mixed NiFe-LDH + rGO. The crystallite size can effectively reduce to 5.5 nm smaller than 15.1 nm of NiFe-LDH without rGO, beneficial to expose more active surface for fast ion diffusion and redox reactions. NiFe-LDH/rGO as an anode material in lithium-ion batteries shows superior lithium storage capacity with 1202 mAh g-1 after 100 cycles at 100 mA g-1 and high-rate performance with 543 mAh g-1 even at 2000 mA g-1. The corresponding lithium-ion capacitor with NiFe-LDH/rGO anode and mesoporous carbon microsphere cathode exhibits high energy density and power density simultaneously, with 133 Wh kg-1 at 25 W kg-1 and 4016 W kg-1 at 58 Wh kg-1, showing the great potential for high-performance hybrid energy storage systems.