Anodic organic upgrading offers a promising strategy to produce value-added chemicals and facilitate coupled hydrogen production but is still challenging for long-term stability and high activity of electrocatalysts at large...

The scalable production of inexpensive, efficient, and robust catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) that can deliver high current densities at low potentials is critical for the industrial implementation of water splitting technology. Herein, a series of metal oxides coupled with Fe2O3 are in situ grown on iron foam massively via an ultrafast combustion approach for a few seconds. Benefiting from the three-dimensional nanosheet array framework and the heterojunction structure, the self-supporting electrodes with abundant active centers can regulate mass transport and electronic structure for prompting OER activity at high current density. The optimized Ni(OH)2/Fe2O3 with robust structure can deliver a high current density of 1000 mA cm–2 at the overpotential as low as 271 mV in 1.0 M KOH for up to 1500 h. Theoretical calculation demonstrates that the strong electronic modulation plays a crucial part in the hybrid by optimizing the adsorption energy of the intermediate, thereby enhancing the efficiency of oxygen evolution. This work proposes a method to construct cheap and robust catalysts for practical application in energy conversion and storage.

This work provides various methods for understanding the mechanism of a novel spinel high-entropy oxide (Ni0.2Co0.2Mn0.2Fe0.2Ti0.2)3O4 in energy storage applications.

High kinetics oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts under low temperature are critical and highly desired for temperature‐tolerant energy conversion and storage devices, but remain insufficiently investigated. Herein, oxygen vacancy‐rich porous perovskite oxide (CaMnO3) nanofibers coated with reduced graphene oxide coating (V‐CMO/rGO) are developed as the air electrode catalyst for low‐temperature and knittable Zn–air batteries. V‐CMO/rGO exhibits top‐level ORR activity among perovskite oxides and shows impressive kinetics under low temperature. Experimental and theoretical calculation results reveal that the synergistic effect between metal atoms and oxygen vacancies, as well as the accelerated kinetics and enhanced electric conductivity and mass transfer over the rGO coated nanofiber 3D network contribute to the enhanced catalytic activity. The desorption of ORR intermediate is promoted by the regulated electron filling. The V‐CMO/rGO drives knittable and flexible Zn–air batteries under a low temperature of −40 °C with high peak power density of 56 mW cm−2 and long cycle life of over 80 h. This study provides insight of kinetically active catalyst and facilitates the ZABs application in harsh environment.

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Li-ion batteries are considered prospective candidates for storage systems because of their high energy density and long cycling life. However, the use of organic electrolytes increases the risk of explosion and fire. Hence, all-solid-state Li-ion batteries have attracted considerable attention because the use of solid electrolytes avoids the combustion of electrolytes and explosions, and enhances the performance of batteries. Garnet-type oxides are commonly used solid electrolytes. The common Ta-doped Li7La3Zr2O12 can react easily with CO2 and H2O in air, and its ionic conductivity decays after contact with air. In this study, a novel garnet-type, high-entropy oxide, Li6.4La3Zr0.4Ta0.4Nb0.4Y0.6W0.2O12 (LLZTNYWO), is successfully synthesized as a solid electrolyte for Li-ion batteries,using a conventional solid-state method. Ta, Nb, Y, and W are used as substitutes for Zr, which significantly increase conductivity, have high stability in air, and a lower sintering temperature. LLZTNYWO achieves higher Li-ion conductivity at 1.16 × 10−4 S cm−1 compared to mono-doped Li6.6La3Zr1.6Ta0.4O12 (6.57 × 10−5 S cm−1), Li6.6La3Zr1.6Nb0.4O12 (2.19 × 10−5 S cm−1), and Li6.2La3Zr1.6W0.4O12 (1.16 × 10−4 S cm−1). Additionally, it exhibits higher ionic conductivity compared to equimolar Li5.8La3Zr0.4Ta0.4Nb0.4Y0.4W0.4O12 (1.95 × 10−5 S cm−1). The Li-ion conductivity of LLZTNYWO remains constant for 30 days in the atmosphere without decay, thereby revealing its excellent air stability. Furthermore, LLZTNYWO exhibits a remarkable electrochemical window of up to 6 V vs Li/Li+ and excellent electrochemical stability against Li metal after cycling at 0.1 mA·cm−2 for 2 h, which indicates that it is a promising solid electrolyte for Li-ion batteries.

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