Zinc‐ion batteries are a promising technology due to their high safety, low cost, and environmental friendliness. The dendrite growth and hydrogen evolution on the Zn surface causes unsatisfying durability and efficiency. In article number 2003065, Feng Hou, Liqun Wang, Ji Liang and co‐workers review anodic stabilization strategies with the expectation that this summary will shed light on the future development of novel Zn anodes.
Encapsulating metal‐based catalysts inside carbon sheaths is a frequently‐adopted strategy to enhance their durability under various harsh situations and improve their catalytic activity simultaneously. Such carbon encapsulation, however, imposes significant complications for directly modifying materials’ surface atomic/electronic configurations, fundamentally impeding the accurate tuning of their catalytic capabilities. Herein, a universal single‐atom alloy (SAA) strategy is reported to indirectly yet precisely manipulate the surface electronic structure of carbon‐encapsulated electrocatalysts. By versatilely constructing a SAA core inside an N‐doped carbon sheath, material's electrocatalytic capability can be flexibly tuned. The one with Ru‐SAA cores serves as an excellent bifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen/hydrogen evolution, exhibiting minimal cell voltage of 1.55 V (10 mA cm−2) and outstanding mass activity of 1251 mA mgRu−1${\rm{g}}_{{\rm{Ru}}}^{ - 1}$ for overall water splitting, while the one with Ir‐SAA cores possesses superior oxygen reduction activity with a half‐wave potential of 919 mV. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the doped atoms can simultaneously optimize the adsorption of protons (H*) and oxygenated intermediates (OH*, O*, and OOH*) to achieve the remarkable thermoneutral hydrogen evolution and enhanced oxygen evolution. This work thus demonstrates a versatile strategy to precisely modify the surface electronic properties of carbon‐shielded materials for optimized performances.
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