Caihong Feng

Aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs) are regarded as attractive candidates for safe and sustainable energy storage, but their further development remains constrained by sluggish ion/electron transport and limited structural stability of cathode materials. To overcome these limitations, we designed an acetate‐intercalated NiMn layered double hydroxide cathode (Ac‐NiMn‐LDH) using a template‐guided assembly route. This approach effectively mitigates the restacking of NiMn‐LDH nanosheets, endowing the material with a robust structure and enlarged active surface area. Serving as functional pillars, the intercalated acetate anions expand the interlayer gallery and weaken Zn ²⁺ ‐host interactions, thereby reducing ion‐migration resistance and reinforcing the layered structure. Furthermore, the strong electronic coupling between the acetate groups and the host layers triggers localized charge redistribution, promoting d‐electron delocalization at Mn/Ni sites and enhancing charge transport. Benefiting from this coupled structural and electronic regulation, the Ac‐NiMn‐LDH cathode achieves a capacity of 274.6 mAh g ⁻¹ at 0.1 A g ⁻¹ and retains stable cycling at 1 A g ⁻¹ , corresponding to a low capacity decay of 0.002% per cycle over 2200 cycles. Moreover, flexible AZIBs assembled with this cathode operate steadily under bending deformation. This work offers a synergistic strategy for modulating both the physical architecture and electronic states of layered cathodes for advanced AZIBs.

Room‐temperature sodium–sulfur (RT Na–S) batteries offer high energy density and low cost but suffer from poor conductivity, sluggish redox kinetics, and polysulfide shuttling. This study introduces a multifunctional Cu ₂ O@MXene separator with a hierarchical porous structure and a 3D MXene network for fast electron transport. The hierarchical porous structure provides physical confinement, while the polar Cu─O bonds and Cu ⁺ Lewis acid centers in Cu ₂ O provide chemical anchoring and catalytic sites for sodium polysulfides (NaPSs). Experimental evidence and theoretical calculations reveal that MXene serves as an electronic reservoir to protect Cu ⁺ catalytic active sites from reduction, enabling NaPSs anchoring through interfacial Cu─S and Ti─S bonds. Benefiting from this synergistic adsorption‐catalytic mechanism, the Cu ₂ O@MXene interlayer enhances NaPSs confinement and accelerates sulfur redox kinetics. Consequently, Cu ₂ O@MXene‐PP cells achieve 942.1 mAh g ⁻¹ after 100 cycles at 0.2 C and ultralong cycling stability of 574.9 mAh g ⁻¹ after 3500 cycles at 2 C. Under a sulfur loading of 4.65 mg cm ⁻² , the cell retains 3.1 mAh cm ⁻² after 105 cycles. Theoretical calculations further reveal that Cu ₂ O@MXene enables stronger NaPSs adsorption and improves the thermodynamical favorability of the Na ₂ S ₂ to Na ₂ S conversion. This work provides reasonable guidelines for designing Cu‐based catalytic separators in high‐performance RT Na‐S batteries.

Carbon aerogels are highly promising lightweight microwave absorbers, yet their intrinsic brittleness and disordered pore structures significantly limit both mechanical reliability and electromagnetic (EM) performance. Here, a flexible honeycomb‐like anisotropic hybrid carbon aerogel (CFMT), modified with MoS ₂ /FeS ₂ nanoparticles and toughened by a polyurethane network, is developed to overcome these limitations. Benefiting from the aligned quasi‐periodic pore architecture, CFMT exhibits a distinct anisotropic electromagnetic response. When incident waves propagate parallel to the honeycomb channels, strong dielectric relaxation is induced, and localized electromagnetic resonance (LEMR) is generated within the pore structure, enabling efficient capture and dissipation of centimeter‐wavelength electromagnetic energy. Consequently, the CFMT aerogel delivers an ultrawide effective absorption bandwidth of 11.84 GHz, accompanied by a minimum reflection loss of −50 dB. In addition to excellent microwave absorption, the aerogel also demonstrates robust mechanical flexibility and superior infrared stealth capability. This work explicitly elucidates the mechanism by which quasi‐periodic porous structures enhance microwave absorption performance, providing a highly effective design paradigm for next‐generation, multifunctional, and flexible electromagnetic wave absorbers.

A sandwich structure separator with polysulfide shuttle suppression and dendrite puncture resistance for room-temperature sodium–sulfur batteries.

Since the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels have been the driving force behind rapid socio-economic development. However, their non-renewable nature, environmental pollution, and energy scarcity now pose a significant threat to human sustainability. Hydrogen energy, recognized for its cleanliness and renewability, offers significant potential in tackling these challenges. In recent years, water electrolysis for hydrogen production has garnered considerable attention due to its potential, but its high energy consumption has limited its widespread application. In this study, we developed cobalt-based catalysts doped with various cations for high-current water electrolysis hydrogen production and investigated the impact of different valence ion doping. The findings indicated that doping with high-valence metals notably boosted the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance relative to low-valence metals. This enhancement is ascribed to the elevated charge density that boosts the adsorption rate of hydroxide ions and, in turn, escalates catalytic activity. Among the catalysts evaluated, the (Mo, Mn)-Co-LDH/NF catalyst stood out, delivering a current density of 1000 mA/cm² at an overpotential of merely 480 mV. This discovery offers crucial guidance for the development of catalysts in hydrogen evolution reactions, paving a potential way for the progress of sustainable energy solutions.

Mo, P co-doping can reduce the insertion energy of H ⁺ , which is beneficial to the intercalation of H ⁺ , and explains the increase in the contribution of H ⁺ intercalation. The capacity of Mo, P–MnO ₂ is 216 mA h g ⁻¹ after 1100 cycles.

Commercial battery separators (Celgard) have poor wettability, limited heat resistance, and low needle-punching strength, and the growth of sodium dendrites can easily pierce the separators, posing significant risks to the cycle life and safety of room-temperature sodium–sulfur batteries (RT Na–S). In this work, a polyimide copolymerized with polyether (PI–PEO) membrane was prepared using an electrospinning method. By incorporating polyether segments into the polyimide molecular chain and constructing a nanofiber structure, the polarity and fiber structure of the material improved the wettability of the electrolyte. The toughness of the membrane was improved while maintaining its size stability, effectively resisting the puncture of sodium dendrites. As a result, the battery assembled with the PI–PEO separator exhibited excellent cycle stability, with a capacity maintained at 450 mA h g⁻¹ after 2000 cycles at 3 A g⁻¹. Additionally, the PI–PEO separator demonstrated higher ionic conductivity (1.48 mS cm⁻¹), better size stability and improved electrolyte wettability than Celgard. This work provides a novel and effective method for developing durable room temperature sodium–sulfur batteries.