Zn metal has been regarded as the most promising anode for aqueous batteries due to its high capacity, low cost, and environmental benignity. Zn anode still suffers, however, from low Coulombic efficiency due to the side reactions and dendrite growth in slightly acidic electrolyte. Here, the Zn plating/stripping mechanism is thoroughly investigated in 1 M ZnSO 4 electrolyte, demonstrating that the poor performance of Zn metal in mild electrolyte should be ascribed to the formation of a porous by-product (Zn 4 SO 4 (OH) 6 •xH 2 O) layer and serious dendrite growth. To suppress the side reactions and dendrite growth, a highly viscoelastic polyvinyl butyral (PVB) film, functioning as an artificial solid/electrolyte interphase (SEI), is homogeneously deposited on the Zn surface via a simple spin-coating This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.2 strategy. This dense artificial SEI film not only effectively blocks water from the Zn surface but also guides the uniform stripping/plating of Zn ions underneath the film due to its good adhesion, hydrophilicity, ionic conductivity, and mechanical strength. Consequently, this side-reaction-free and dendrite-free Zn electrode exhibits high cycling stability and enhanced Coulombic efficiency, which also contributes to enhancement of the full-cell performance when it is coupled with MnO 2 and LiFePO 4 cathodes.

A new family of single‐atom‐thick 2D germanium‐based materials with graphene‐like atomic arrangement, germanene and functionalized germanene, has attracted intensive attention due to their large bandgap and easily tailored electronic properties. Unlike carbon atoms in graphene, germanium atoms tend to adopt mixed sp2/sp3 hybridization in germanene, which makes it chemically active on the surface and allows its electronic states to be easily tuned by chemical functionalization. Impressive achievements in terms of the applications in energy storage and catalysis have been reported by using germanene and functionalized germanene. Herein, the fabrication of epitaxial germanene on different metallic substrates and its unique electronic properties are summarized. Then, the preparation strategies and the fundamental properties of hydrogen‐functionalized germanene (germanane or GeH) and other ligand‐terminated forms of germanene are presented. Finally, the progress of their applications in energy storage and catalysis, including both experimental results and theoretical predictions, is analyzed.

Gallium-based liquid metals show excellent thermal and electrical conductivities with low viscosity and non-toxicity. Their melting points are either lower than or close to room temperature, which endows them with additional advantages in comparison to the solid metals; for example, they are flexible, stretchable and reformable at room temperature. Recently, great improvements have been achieved in developing multifunctional devices by using Ga-based liquid metals, including actuators, flexible circuits, bio-devices and self-healing superconductors. Here, we review recent research progress on Gallium-based liquid metals, especially on the applications aspects. These applications are mainly based on the unique properties of liquid metals, including low melting point, flexible and stretchable mechanical properties, excellent electrical and thermal conductivities and biocompatibility.

Compared with traditional solder joint bonding, an anisotropic conductive adhesive (ACA) provides an efficient and simple method for the interconnection of small-scale electronics. The wider application of ACAs for nanoelectronics is still suppressed, however, by the lack of durable and cost-effective conductive components. Herein, a series of core−shell eutectic gallium−indium−tin liquid metal (LM) nanodroplets (NDs) with different diameters have been successfully synthesized and regulated by a combination of laser irradiation and sonication. Due to their high conductivity and good fluidity, these LM NDs were used as soft conductive filler micro/nanoparticles for fabricating ACAs. The as-prepared ND-based ACAs present satisfactory anisotropic conductivity when used to interconnect small-scale electronic circuits. Highly durable anisotropic electrical performance was also maintained in flexible packed devices, even under bending or twisting operation modes.

Functional and robust catalyst supports are vital in the catalysis field, and the development of universal and efficient catalyst support is essential but challenging. Traditional catalyst fabrication methods include the carbonization of ordered templates and high−temperature dehydration. All these methods involve complicated meso−structural disordering and allow little control over morphology. To this end, a eutectic GaInSn alloy (EGaInSn) was proposed and employed as an intermediate to fabricate low−dimensional ordered catalyst support materials. Owing to the lower Gibbs free energy of Ga2O3 compared to certain types of metals (e.g., Al, Mn, Ce, etc.), we found that a skinny layer of metal oxides could be formed and exfoliated into a two−dimensional nanosheet at the interface of liquid metal (LM) and water. As such, EGaInSn was herein employed as a reaction matrix to synthesize a range of two−dimensional catalyst supports with large specific surface areas and structural stability. As a proof−of-concept, Al2O3 and MnO were fabricated with the assistance of LM and were used as catalyst supports for loading Ru, demonstrating enhanced structural stability and overall electrocatalytic performance in the oxygen evolution reaction. This work opens an avenue for the development of functional support materials mediated by LM, which would play a substantial role in electrocatalytic reactions and beyond.