Wee Siang Vincent Lee

Aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs) are promising next‐generation energy storage systems due to their intrinsic safety, cost‐effectiveness, and environmental compatibility. Recently, molybdenum disulfide (MoS ₂ ) has attracted significant interest as a promising material in this field, owing to its large interlayer spacing, tunable electronic structure, high mechanical flexibility, and excellent electrochemical stability. These unique properties enable MoS ₂ to serve not only as a high‐capacity cathode but also as an effective interfacial modifier for anodes and a functional component in electrolytes, effectively addressing key challenges such as dendrite growth, side reactions, and sluggish kinetics. This review systematically summarizes recent advances in the application of MoS ₂ across cathodes, electrolytes, and anodes in AZIBs, with an emphasis on the underlying mechanisms by which modification strategies, such as defect engineering, interlayer expansion, and composite engineering, regulate electronic structure, accelerate ion transport, and reinforce interfacial stability. Finally, future research directions are proposed, focusing on rational design and synergistic multifunctional integration.

Solar energy is clean, green, and virtually limitless. Yet its intermittent nature necessitates the use of efficient energy storage systems to achieve effective harnessing and utilization of solar energy. Solar-to-electrochemical energy storage represents an important solar utilization pathway. Photo-rechargeable electrochemical energy storage technologies, that are directly charged by light, can offer a novel approach in addressing the unpredictable energy surpluses and deficits associated with solar energy. Recent researches in the direct use of solar light to charge batteries and supercapacitors have demonstrated significant potentials. In this review, we will provide a comprehensive overview of the direct photo-rechargeable aqueous Zn-based energy storage technologies. We will also highlight the significant research advancements in electrode design, materials chemistry, performance, application prospects in direct photo-rechargeable Zn-ion capacitors, Zn-ion batteries, and Zn-air batteries. Lastly, we will provide insights into the opportunities and future directions in achieving high-performing direct photo-rechargeable aqueous Zn-based energy storage systems.

Recently, due to its flexibility and ease of integration into wearable electronics, interest in fiber‐shaped batteries (FSBs) is burgeoning. While there is much research focused on improving the electrochemical performance of FSBs, little work is done to evaluate the safety and comfort of integrated FSBs for wearable electronics, which will significantly hinder the further development of high‐performance FSBs and their commercialization. In this review, the design, integration, and evaluation of FSBs incorporated in common textiles are fully discussed. Traditional textile characterization techniques and modern methods to evaluate its durability are also summarized. Finally, in view of developing commercial wearable battery textiles, a perspective toward improving the design of high‐performance FSB is presented.

Aqueous zinc ion batteries have gained research attention as a safer, economical and more environmentally friendly alternative to lithium‐ion batteries. Similar to lithium batteries, intercalation processes play an important role in the charge storage behaviour of aqueous zinc ion batteries, with the pre‐intercalation of guest species in the cathode being also employed as a strategy to improve battery performance. In view of this, proving hypothesized mechanisms of intercalation, as well as rigorously characterizing intercalation processes in aqueous zinc ion batteries is crucial to achieve advances in battery performance. This review aims to evaluate the range of techniques commonly used to characterize intercalation in aqueous zinc ion battery cathodes, providing a perspective on the approaches that can be utilized to rigorously understand such intercalation processes.

Although promising, the practical use of zinc‐ion batteries (ZIBs) remains plagued with uncontrollable dendrite growth, parasitic side reactions, and the high intercalation energy of divalent Zn²⁺ions. Hence, much work has been conducted to alleviate these issues to maximize the energy density and cyclic life of the cell. In this holistic review, the mechanisms and rationale for the stated challenges shall be summarized, followed by the corresponding strategies employed to mitigate them. Thereafter, a perspective on present research and the outlook of ZIBs would be put forth in hopes to enhance their electrochemical properties in a multipronged approach.

In Ni(OH)₂, a greater extent of band (3d electron states with e_gsymmetry) broadening can facilitate electron transfer from the electrocatalyst to the external circuit, leading to higher OER catalytic performance.

Realizing an efficient electron transfer process in the oxygen evolution reaction by modifying the electronic states around the Fermi level is crucial in developing high-performing and robust electrocatalysts^1,2,3. Typically, electron transfer proceeds solely through either a metal redox chemistry (an adsorbate evolution mechanism (AEM), with metal bands around the Fermi level) or an oxygen redox chemistry (a lattice oxygen oxidation mechanism (LOM), with oxygen bands around the Fermi level), without the concurrent occurrence of both metal and oxygen redox chemistries in the same electron transfer pathway^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15}. Here we report an electron transfer mechanism that involves a switchable metal and oxygen redox chemistry in nickel-oxyhydroxide-based materials with light as the trigger. In contrast to the traditional AEM and LOM, the proposed light-triggered coupled oxygen evolution mechanism requires the unit cell to undergo reversible geometric conversion between octahedron (NiO₆) and square planar (NiO₄) to achieve electronic states (around the Fermi level) with alternative metal and oxygen characters throughout the oxygen evolution process. Utilizing this electron transfer pathway can bypass the potential limiting steps, that is, oxygen–oxygen bonding in AEM and deprotonation in LOM^1,2,3,4,5,8. As a result, the electrocatalysts that operate through this route show superior activity compared with previously reported electrocatalysts. Thus, it is expected that the proposed light-triggered coupled oxygen evolution mechanism adds a layer of understanding to the oxygen evolution research scene.