Zinc‐ion batteries (ZIBs) have been regarded as one of the most promising aqueous energy storage devices due to their low‐cost, high capacity, and intrinsic safety. However, the relatively low Coulombic efficiency caused by the dendrite formation and side reactions greatly hinders the rejuvenation of ZIBs. Here, an utterly simple approach by pencil drawing is employed to improve the poor performance of normal Zn anode and hinders the formation of passivated byproduct as well as serious dendrite growth. Significantly, the functional graphite layer can not only act as ions buffer, but also guide the uniform nucleation of Zn2+ in graphite voids. With such synergy effect, the graphite‐coated Zn anode (Zn–G) displays low overpotential, high reversibility, and dendrite‐free durability compared with the pristine Zn. Consequently, a low voltage hysteresis of ≈28 mV can be achieved and maintained over 200 h. Furthermore, the Zn–G anode is paired with a V2O5·xH2O cathode to construct a rechargeable ZIB. As‐assembled device can output high energy/power density of 324.3 Wh kg−1/3269.8 W kg−1 (based on the active mass loading in cathode) together with a capacity retention of ≈84% over 1500 cycles at a current density of 5 A g−1.

A novel and green aqueous ADIB with high cell voltage based on organic polymers.

Spinel LiNi 0.45 Cr 0.1 Mn 1.45 O 4 synthesized by a scalable solution route combined by high temperature calcination is investigated as cathode for ultralong-life lithium-ion batteries in a wide operating temperature range. Scanning electron microscopy reveals homogeneous microsized polyhedral morphology with highly exposed {100} and {111} surfaces. The most highlighted result is that LiNi 0.45 Cr 0.1 Mn 1.45 O 4 has extremely long cycle performance and high capacity retention at various temperatures (0, 25, 50 °C), indicating that Cr doping is a prospective approach to enable 5 V LiNi 0.5 Mn 1.5 O 4 (LNMO)-based cathode materials with excellent cycling performances for commercial applications. After 1000 cycles, the capacity retention of LiNi 0.45 Cr 0.1 Mn 1.45 O 4 is 100.30% and 82.75% at 0 °C and 25 °C at 1 C rate, respectively. Notably, over 350 cycles at 50 °C, the capacity retention of LiNi 0.45 Cr 0.1 Mn 1.45 O 4 can maintain up to 91.49% at 1 C. All the values are comparable to pristine LNMO, which can be attributed to the elimination of Li y Ni 1−y O impurity phase, highly exposed {100} surfaces, less Mn 3+ ions, and enhancement of ion and electron conductivity by Cr doping. Furthermore, an assembled LiNi 0.45 Cr 0.1 Mn 1.45 O 4 /Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 full cell delivers an initial discharge capacity of 101 mA h g −1 , meanwhile the capacity retention is 82.07% after 100 cycles.

The silicon anode holds great potential for next-generation lithium-ion batteries in view of its high gravimetric capacity and natural abundance. The main challenges associated with silicon are the structural degradation and instability caused by huge volume change upon cycling. We report herein polybenzimidazole (PBI) derived pyrrolic N-enriched carbon as an ideal encapsulation onto microsized silicon spheres, which is achieved by an aerosol-assisted assembly combined with a simple physisorption process. The new polymer derived carbon endows silicon with the structural and compositional characteristics of intrinsic high electronic conductivity, abundant pyrrolic nitrogen, and structure robustness. The resulting mesoporous Si-PBI carbon composite exhibits excellent lithium storage performance in terms of high reversible specific capacity of 2172 mAh g −1 , superior rate capability (1186 mAh g −1 at 5 A g −1 ), and prolonged cycling life. As a result, a fabricated Si/LiCoO 2 full battery demonstrates high energy density of 367 Wh kg −1 as well as good cycling stability for 100 cycles.

Sodium‐ion capacitors (SICs), designed to attain high energy density, rapid energy delivery, and long lifespan, have attracted much attention because of their comparable performance to lithium‐ion capacitors (LICs), alongside abundant sodium resources. Conventional SIC design is based on battery‐like anodes and capacitive cathodes, in which the battery‐like anode materials involve various reactions, such as insertion, alloying, and conversion reactions, and the capacitive cathode materials usually depend on activated carbon (AC). However, researchers have attempted to construct SICs based on battery‐like cathodes and capacitive anodes or a combination of both in recent years. In this Minireview, charge storage mechanisms and material design strategies for SICs are summarized, with a focus on the battery‐like anode materials from both inorganic and organic sources. Additionally, the challenges in the fabrication of SICs and future research directions are discussed.

Wearable electronic devices are the new darling of consumer electronics, and energy storage devices are an important part of them. Here, a wearable lithium‐sulfur (Li‐S) bracelet battery using three‐dimensional (3D) printing technology (additive manufacturing) is designed and manufactured for the first time. The bracelet battery can be easily worn to power the wearable device. The “additive” manufacturing characteristic of 3D printing provides excellent controllability of the electrode thickness with much simplified process in a cost‐effective manner. Due to the conductive 3D skeleton providing interpenetrating transmission paths and channels for electrons and ions, the 3D Li‐S battery can provide 505.4 mAh g−1 specific capacity after 500 cycles with an active material loading as high as 10.2 mg cm−1. The practicality is illustrated by wearing the bracelet battery on the wrist and illuminating the red light‐emitting diode. Therefore, the bracelet battery manufactured by 3D printing technology can address the needs of the wearable power supply.

Lithium‐ion capacitors (LICs) are emerging as one of the most advanced energy storage devices by combining the virtues of both supercapacitor and lithium‐ion battery. The key point of constructing high‐performance LICs is to balance the electrochemical kinetics and capacity mismatch between battery‐type anode and capacitive‐type cathode materials. Herein, a strategy is presented for simultaneous manipulation of a MoS2/N‐doped carbon microspheres anode and hierarchical porous carbon cathode by using polyimide precursor. Owing to the fast lithium diffusion rate, high pseudocapacitive behavior, and expanding the interlayer of the MoS2 composite network architecture, the material can achieve excellent rate capacity and cyclic stability. Hierarchical porous carbon has an ultrahigh specific surface area and superior capacitive behavior. A high‐performance LIC is successfully constructed by using the superior anode and cathode materials. The device can deliver a maximum energy density of 120 Wh kg−1 and keep the capacity retention of 85.5% after 4000 cycles, revealing the competition in advanced energy storage devices. Accordingly, the simultaneous manipulation of metal sulfide and hierarchical porous carbon by the same precursor can be used toward fabricating other ideal electrode structures for energy storage.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries for large-scale energy storage applications. The intriguing 2D transition-metal carbides/carbonitrides, also called MXenes, are increasingly being investigated as anodes as for SIB applications, owing to the merits of their metallic conductivity, low diffusion barrier for Na + , and good mechanical properties. However, the issue of low specific capacity has proven to be a difficult challenge to overcome. Herein, we synthesize a composite of MoS 2 /Ti 3 C 2 T x to improve the ion accessibility of MXene layers by increasing the interlayer space and boost its specific capacity, where the MoS 2 nanosheets are intercalated between Ti 3 C 2 T x layers through a hydrothermal route. When tested as a SIB anode, the MoS 2 /Ti 3 C 2 T x composite yielded a high specific capacity of 250.9 mAh g À1 over 100 cycles. More remarkably, the MoS 2 /Ti 3 C 2 T x electrode displayed an exceeding rate performance with a capacity of 162.7 mAh g À1 at 1 A g À1 .