A crucial requirement for most engineering materials is the excellent balance of strength and toughness. By mimicking the hybrid hierarchical structure in nacre, a kind of nacre-like paper based on binary hybrid graphene oxide (GO)/sodium alginate (SA) building blocks has been successfully fabricated. Systematic evaluation for the mechanical property in different (dry/wet) environment/after thermal annealing shows a perfect combination of high strength and toughness. Both of the parameters are nearly many-times higher than those of similar materials because of the synergistic strengthening/toughening enhancement from the binary GO/SA hybrids. The successful fabrication route offers an excellent approach to design advanced strong integrated nacre-like composite materials, which can be applied in tissue engineering, protection, aerospace, and permeable membranes for separation and delivery.

Tunable band-stop filters based on graphene with periodically modulated chemical potentials are proposed. Periodic graphene can be considered as a plasmonic crystal. Its energy band diagram is analyzed, which clearly shows a blue shift of the forbidden band with increasing chemical potential. Structural design and optimization are performed by an effective-index-based transfer matrix method, which is confirmed by numerical simulations. The center frequency of the filter can be tuned in a range from 37 to 53 THz based on the electrical tunability of graphene, while the modulation depth (−26 dB) and the bandwidth (3.1 THz) of the filter remain unchanged. Specifically, the bandwidth and modulation depth of the filters can be flexibly preset by adjusting the chemical potential ratio and the period number. The length of the filter (~750 nm) is only 1/9 of the operating wavelength in vacuum, which makes the filter a good choice for compact on-chip applications.

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Transition-metal sulfides are key cathode materials for thermal batteries used in military applications. However, it is still a big challenge to prepare sulfides with good electronic conductivity and thermal stability. Herein, we rapidly synthesized a Co-doped NiS2 micro/nanostructure using a hydrothermal method. We found that the specific capacity of the Ni1–x Co x S2 micro/nanostructure increases with the amount of Co doping. Under a current density of 100 mA cm–2, the specific capacity of Ni0.5Co0.5S2 was about 1565.2 As g–1 (434.8 mAh g–1) with a cutoff voltage of 1.5 V. Owing to the small polarization impedance (5 mΩ), the pulse voltage reaches about 1.74 V under a pulse current of 2.5 A cm–2, 30 ms. Additionally, the discharge mechanism was proposed by analyzing the discharge product according to the anionic redox chemistry. Furthermore, a 3.9 kg full thermal battery is assembled based on the synthesized Ni0.5Co0.5S2 cathode materials. Notably, the full thermal battery discharges at a current density of 100 mA cm–2, with an operating time of about 4000 s, enabling a high specific energy density of around 142.5 Wh kg–1. In summary, this work presents an effective cathode material for thermal battery with high specific energy and long operating life.

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Lithium-sulfur batteries can potentially be used as a chemical power source because of their high energy density. However, the sulfur cathode has several shortcomings, including fast capacity attenuation, poor electrochemical activity, and low Coulombic efficiency. Herein, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene oxide (GO), and manganese dioxide are introduced to the sulfur cathode. A MnO/GO/CNTs-S composite with a unique three-dimensional (3D) architecture was synthesized by a one-pot chemical method and heat treatment approach. In this structure, the innermost CNTs work as a conducting additive and backbone to form a conducting network. The MnO/GO nanosheets anchored on the sidewalls of CNTs have a dual-efficient absorption capability for polysulfide intermediates as well as afford adequate space for sulfur loading. The outmost nanosized sulfur particles are well-distributed on the surface of the MnO/GO nanosheets and provide a short transmission path for Li and the electrons. The sulfur content in the MnO/GO/CNTs-S composite is as high as 80 wt %, and the as-designed MnO/GO/CNTs-S cathode displays excellent comprehensive performance. The initial specific capacities are up to 1500, 1300, 1150, 1048, and 960 mAh g at discharging rates of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and 1 C, respectively. Moreover, the composite cathode shows a good cycle performance: the specific capacity remains at 963.5 mAh g at 0.2 C after 100 cycles when the area density of sulfur is 2.8 mg cm.

Lithium secondary batteries have attracted considerable attention due to their great potential to achieve ultrahigh energy density for future use. However, the Li metal anode suffers dendrite formation during repeated stripping/plating, hindering its practical realization. Herein, for the first time, an artificial solid electrolyte interphase layer, lithium phosphorus oxynitride (LiPON), is introduced for the lithium anode, and the viable application in highenergy lithium secondary pouch cell is probed. LiPON is stable with lithium and in the air, which can protect the lithium from the side reaction with H 2 O and O 2 effectively. In low-energy batteries, the LiPON layer can enhance the efficiency of lithium deposition/dissolution and prolong the lifespan of the batteries. Further on, the discharge capacities of the lithium secondary cells with an energy density over 350 Wh kg −1 deploying LiPON-coated Li anodes drop fast, and the batteries are prone to severe polarization leading to the termination of life. Nonuniform current density resulting from the cracks caused by the large mass of lithium stripping/plating is ascribed to being the decisive factor shortening the life of batteries. Generally speaking, more and further exploration should be focused on the modification of the large-area lithium anode to accomplish high-energy-density lithium batteries for practical applications.