Xing Zhang

An emerging paradigm in all‐solid‐state batteries (ASSBs) is the integration of electrolyte and active material within a single material, a concept exemplified by Li ₆ PS ₅ Cl (LPSCl), a common sulfide solid electrolyte that can become electrochemically active through conversion reactions. Yet whether this chemistry enables high‐capacity energy storage or is ultimately limited by detrimental decomposition remains unresolved. Here, we show that particle size governs both accessible capacity and Li transport in LPSCl‐carbon cathodes. Unexpectedly, although particle refinement progressively increases the accessible conversion capacity, its effect on transport kinetics is not monotonic: rate capability first deteriorates as the particles become finer, but recovers upon further refinement into the ultrafine regime, accompanied by a similar recovery in cycling stability. Modeling and impedance measurements show that the conventional bulk ionic pathway continues to deteriorate because of decomposition‐induced blocking and loss of network connectivity, even as the overall chemical‐transport response recovers. We rationalize this divergence using an interfacial job‐sharing framework, in which increasing interfacial fraction and connectivity provide an additional coupled ion/electron transport contribution. The optimized cathode delivers 1096 Wh kg ⁻¹ and retains approximately 100% capacity after 100 cycles.

The relentless demand for energy-efficient electronics creates a critical thermal bottleneck. A long-standing paradigm holds that compressive strain universally degrades thermal transport in two-dimensional (2D) materials by inducing phonon-scattering wrinkles. Here, we overturn this in MoS2 by demonstrating that substrate-confined, wrinkle-free compression drastically enhances its in-plane thermal conductivity. This feature is achieved through a substrate confinement strategy that enables uniform, wrinkle-free compression. We experimentally measured a remarkable 40% boost in thermal conductivity with merely 1% compressive strain, an effect that starkly contrasts with the suppression observed under tension. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the substrate suppresses out-of-plane instabilities via van der Waals coupling, facilitating an unprecedented strain transfer. First-principles calculations further reveal that the compressive strain reconfigures the crystal symmetry, concurrently increasing phonon group velocities and prolonging phonon lifetimes. This work resolves a critical bottleneck in 2D thermal management and unlocks a new pathway for the atomic-scale design of high-thermal conductivity materials for next-generation electronics.

Aluminum (Al) holds great promise as an anode material for all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs), owing to its high theoretical specific capacity and intrinsically low cost. Nevertheless, its practical implementation is critically constrained by dramatic volume expansion and uneven lithiation, along with the subsequent interfacial chemo-electrochemical degradation. Here, we synthesized a net-like "expansion anchor" structure in an Al88Si12-10%Li anode via eutectic composition engineering and a targeted pre-lithiation strategy. This architecture exploits the inherent thermodynamic and kinetic disparities between Al and Si to guide the formation of a nanoscale lithium–silicon expanded network. The pre-formed network not only imposes controllable compressive pre-stress on the Al particles to accommodate the volume expansion but also constructs continuous 3D lithium-ion transport pathways to deepen the reversible (de)lithiation depth. Dual functions reduce the electrode expansion from 45.5 to 14.7% without particle pulverization. The resultant full cells deliver exceptional rate capability up to 10C and maintain stable cycling at 6C for 500 cycles with 75.6% capacity retention. Furthermore, it exhibits robust performance under high areal loading (over 4 mA h·cm–2), delivering a competitive electrode-level power density of up to 1200 W·kg–1. This designed microstructural engineering establishes a scalable pathway for the development of high-performance alloy anodes in next-generation ASSLBs.

Efficient heat dissipation across van der Waals (vdW) interfaces is a long-standing challenge in two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures, where cross-plane thermal transport is commonly regarded as an intrinsic and quasi-static interface property dictated by weak interlayer coupling and fixed interfacial geometry. As a result, vdW interfaces are typically viewed as passive thermal bottlenecks that can only be modified through direct chemical or structural engineering. Here, we demonstrate this view is incomplete. We show that in-plane lattice deformation can reversibly reshape cross-plane interfacial thermal transport without directly perturbing the interface itself. Using high-quality MoS2/WS2 heterobilayers, we experimentally observe that a modest in-plane tensile strain (∼1.6%) enhances interfacial thermal conductance by approximately 50%, with excellent reproducibility across independent samples and full reversibility over multiple strain-release cycles. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that this enhancement originates from strain-induced interfacial compliance, characterized by contraction of the vdW gap, stiffening of interlayer force constants, and strengthened elastic phonon transmission. Importantly, strain-enhanced interfacial heat transport increases the critical absorbed power density prior to thermal degradation, indicating that mechanical deformation effectively shifts the apparent thermal stability threshold by reconfiguring heat-dissipation pathways. This work establishes in-plane mechanical deformation as a noninvasive and dynamically controllable method for reshaping interfacial heat transport and associated stability limits in vdW heterostructures, providing a scalable route toward adaptive thermal management in 2D material-based electronic architectures.

The advent of interlayer twist has introduced a groundbreaking paradigm, unveiling novel physical phenomena spanning from correlated insulating states to superconductivity. This unprecedented platform facilitates the manipulation of electrons and extends its capabilities to the effective control of bosons. For phonons, a consensus has been reached that interlayer twist greatly suppresses phonon transport as it breaks the symmetry of the lattice. Here, we report a counterintuitive experimental observation in which the interlayer twist can significantly promote the transportation of phonons across an intrinsically asymmetric heterointerface. Employing the time-domain thermoreflectance mapping technique, our results show a 2.5-fold increase in interfacial thermal conductance (ITC) in twisted bilayer MoS ₂ /WS ₂ heterostructures relative to initial commensurate configurations. Combined experimental and atomic simulation results reveal the inelastic scattering-dominated nature of thermal transport at MoS ₂ /WS ₂ heterointerfaces. The introduction of interlayer twist amplifies this effect, triggering a reconstruction of nonequilibrium phonon temperature distributions at the interface. This phenomenon activates efficient optical-to-acoustic phonon conversion through inelastic scattering and creates additional transport channels that overcome the intrinsic phonon mismatch in heterostructures. Our work establishes a paradigm for enhancing ITC by strategically introducing interlayer perturbations to amplify inelastic scattering effects. This breakthrough opens broad avenues for advanced thermal management in integrated circuits.

In this article, transient flow characteristics of high-pressure hydrogen-containing mixtures during discharge were comprehensively investigated. Thermodynamic governing equations and a calculation software package are established for the transient flow of hydrogen-containing mixtures through an orifice. An experimental setup was developed for the thermodynamic processes of hydrogen-containing mixture and the software package was validated using the experimental results of (0.7 H2 + 0.3 CO2) (mole fraction) mixture in the pressure vessel flowing through a needle valve and existing experimental data of pure hydrogen. The transient temperature-time behavior for hydrogen-containing mixtures resembled that of pure hydrogen that the temperature first decreased in the discharge and then drifted back. The heat transfer coefficient has great effect on the transient temperature and relatively small effect on the transient pressure. The initial pressure affected the amplitude of temperature variation in the beginning of the discharge process. The composition of the hydrogen-containing mixture has an effect on the density and mass flow rate in the discharge process. Furthermore, the dependence of the characteristic flow time on the initial temperature, pressure, and composition was investigated, which is inspiring for the structural optimization of hydrogen-containing mixture vessels.