Selenium cathodes have attracted considerable attention due to high electronic conductivity and volumetric capacity comparable to sulphur cathodes. However, practical development of lithium-selenium ...batteries has been hindered by the low selenium reaction activity with lithium, high volume changes and rapid capacity fading caused by the shuttle effect of polyselenides. Recently, single atom catalysts have attracted extensive interests in electrochemical energy conversion and storage because of unique electronic and structural properties, maximum atom-utilization efficiency, and outstanding catalytic performances. In this work, we developed a facile route to synthesize cobalt single atoms/nitrogen-doped hollow porous carbon (Co
-HC). The cobalt single atoms can activate selenium reactivity and immobilize selenium and polyselenides. The as-prepared selenium-carbon (Se@Co
-HC) cathodes deliver a high discharge capacity, a superior rate capability, and excellent cycling stability with a Coulombic efficiency of ~100%. This work could open an avenue for achieving long cycle life and high-power lithium-selenium batteries.
Lithium‐ion batteries, which have revolutionized portable electronics over the past three decades, were eventually recognized with the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry. As the energy density of current ...lithium‐ion batteries is approaching its limit, developing new battery technologies beyond lithium‐ion chemistry is significant for next‐generation high energy storage. Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, which rely on the reversible redox reactions between lithium and sulfur, appears to be a promising energy storage system to take over from the conventional lithium‐ion batteries for next‐generation energy storage owing to their overwhelming energy density compared to the existing lithium‐ion batteries today. Over the past 60 years, especially the past decade, significant academic and commercial progress has been made on Li–S batteries. From the concept of the sulfur cathode first proposed in the 1960s to the current commercial Li–S batteries used in unmanned aircraft, the story of Li–S batteries is full of breakthroughs and back tracing steps. Herein, the development and advancement of Li–S batteries in terms of sulfur‐based composite cathode design, separator modification, binder improvement, electrolyte optimization, and lithium metal protection is summarized. An outlook on the future directions and prospects for Li–S batteries is also offered.
The major developments and advancements of lithium–sulfur batteries over the past 60 years are presented. The prospects and an outlook on the future development of lithium–sulfur batteries for large‐scale practical applications are also discussed and presented.
Metal anode instability, including dendrite growth, metal corrosion, and hetero-ions interference, occurring at the electrolyte/electrode interface of aqueous batteries, are among the most critical ...issues hindering their widespread use in energy storage. Herein, a universal strategy is proposed to overcome the anode instability issues by rationally designing alloyed materials, using Zn-M alloys as model systems (M = Mn and other transition metals). An in-situ optical visualization coupled with finite element analysis is utilized to mimic actual electrochemical environments analogous to the actual aqueous batteries and analyze the complex electrochemical behaviors. The Zn-Mn alloy anodes achieved stability over thousands of cycles even under harsh electrochemical conditions, including testing in seawater-based aqueous electrolytes and using a high current density of 80 mA cm
. The proposed design strategy and the in-situ visualization protocol for the observation of dendrite growth set up a new milestone in developing durable electrodes for aqueous batteries and beyond.
Clean and sustainable electrochemical energy storage has attracted extensive attention. It remains a great challenge to achieve next-generation rechargeable battery systems with high energy density, ...good rate capability, excellent cycling stability, efficient active material utilization, and high coulombic efficiency. Many catalysts have been explored to promote electrochemical reactions during the charge and discharge process. Among reported catalysts, single-atom catalysts (SACs) have attracted extensive attention due to their maximum atom utilization efficiency, homogenous active centres, and unique reaction mechanisms. In this perspective, we summarize the recent advances of the synthesis methods for SACs and highlight the recent progress of SACs for a new generation of rechargeable batteries, including lithium/sodium metal batteries, lithium/sodium-sulfur batteries, lithium-oxygen batteries, and zinc-air batteries. The challenges and perspectives for the future development of SACs are discussed to shed light on the future research of SACs for boosting the performances of rechargeable batteries.
Single-atom catalysts are reviewed, aiming to achieve optimized properties to boost electrochemical performances of high-energy batteries.
Rechargeable magnesium batteries have attracted considerable attention because of their potential high energy density and low cost. However, their development has been severely hindered because of ...the lack of appropriate cathode materials. Here we report a rechargeable magnesium/iodine battery, in which the soluble iodine reacts with Mg
to form a soluble intermediate and then an insoluble final product magnesium iodide. The liquid-solid two-phase reaction pathway circumvents solid-state Mg
diffusion and ensures a large interfacial reaction area, leading to fast reaction kinetics and high reaction reversibility. As a result, the rechargeable magnesium/iodine battery shows a better rate capability (180 mAh g
at 0.5 C and 140 mAh g
at 1 C) and a higher energy density (∼400 Wh kg
) than all other reported rechargeable magnesium batteries using intercalation cathodes. This study demonstrates that the liquid-solid two-phase reaction mechanism is promising in addressing the kinetic limitation of rechargeable magnesium batteries.
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries, in terms of integration with high safety, environmental benignity, and low cost, have attracted much attention for powering electronic devices and storage systems. ...However, the interface instability issues at the Zn anode caused by detrimental side reactions such as dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution, and metal corrosion at the solid (anode)/liquid (electrolyte) interface impede their practical applications in the fields requiring long-term performance persistence. Despite the rapid progress in suppressing the side reactions at the materials interface, the mechanism of ion storage and dendrite formation in practical aqueous zinc-ion batteries with dual-cation aqueous electrolytes is still unclear. Herein, we design an interface material consisting of forest-like three-dimensional zinc-copper alloy with engineered surfaces to explore the Zn plating/stripping mode in dual-cation electrolytes. The three-dimensional nanostructured surface of zinc-copper alloy is demonstrated to be in favor of effectively regulating the reaction kinetics of Zn plating/stripping processes. The developed interface materials suppress the dendrite growth on the anode surface towards high-performance persistent aqueous zinc-ion batteries in the aqueous electrolytes containing single and dual cations. This work remarkably enhances the fundamental understanding of dual-cation intercalation chemistry in aqueous electrochemical systems and provides a guide for exploring high-performance aqueous zinc-ion batteries and beyond.
Cation-deficient two-dimensional (2D) materials, especially atomically thin nanosheets, are highly promising electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage that undergo metal ion insertion ...reactions, yet they have rarely been achieved thus far. Here, we report a Ti-deficient 2D unilamellar lepidocrocite-type titanium oxide (Ti0.87O2) nanosheet superlattice for sodium storage. The superlattice composed of alternately restacked defective Ti0.87O2 and nitrogen-doped graphene monolayers exhibits an outstanding capacity of ∼490 mA h g–1 at 0.1 A g–1, an ultralong cycle life of more than 10000 cycles with ∼0.00058% capacity decay per cycle, and especially superior low-temperature performance (100 mA h g–1 at 12.8 A g–1 and −5 °C), presenting the best reported performance to date. A reversible Na+ ion intercalation mechanism without phase and structural change is verified by first-principles calculations and kinetics analysis. These results herald a promising strategy to utilize defective 2D materials for advanced energy storage applications.
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