Zinc metal anode has garnered a great deal of scientific and technological interest. Nevertheless, major bottlenecks restricting its large‐scale utilization lie in the poor electrochemical stability and unsatisfactory cycling life. Herein, a Janus separator is developed via directly growing vertical graphene (VG) carpet on one side of commercial glass fiber separator throughout chemical vapor deposition. A simple air plasma treatment further renders the successful incorporation of oxygen and nitrogen heteroatoms on bare graphene. Thus‐derived 3D VG scaffold affording large surface area and porous structure can be viewed as a continuation of planar zinc anode. In turn, the Janus separator harvests homogenous electric field distribution and lowered local current density at the interface of the anode/electrolyte, as well as harnesses favorable zincophilic feature for building‐up uniform Zn ionic flux. Such a separator engineering enables an impressive rate and cycle performance (93% over 5000 cycles at 5 A g−1) for Zn‐ion hybrid capacitors and outstanding energy density (182 Wh kg−1) for V2O5//Zn batteries, respectively. This strategy with large scalability and cost‐effectiveness represents a universal route to protect prevailing metal anodes (Zn, Na, K) in rechargeable batteries.

Electrocatalysts remain vitally important for the rational management of intermediate polysulfides (LiPSs) in the realm of Li−S batteries. In terms of transition-metal-based candidates, in situ evolution of electrocatalysts in the course of an electrochemical process has been acknowledged; nevertheless, consensus has not yet been reached on their real functional states as well as catalytic mechanisms. Herein, we report an all-chemical vapor deposition design of the defective vanadium diselenide (VSe 2 )−vertical graphene (VG) heterostructure on carbon cloth (CC) targeting a high-performance sulfur host. The electrochemistry induces the sulfurization of VSe 2 to VS 2 at Se vacancy sites, which propels the adsorption and conversion of LiPSs. Accordingly, the VSe 2 −VG@CC/S electrode harvests an excellent cycling stability at 5.0 C with a capacity decay of only 0.039% per cycle over 800 cycles, accompanied by a high areal capacity of 4.9 mAh cm −2 under an elevated sulfur loading of 9.6 mg cm −2 . Theoretical simulation combined with operando characterizations reveals the key role played by the Se vacancy with respect to the electrocatalyst evolution and LiPS regulation. This work offers insight into the rational design of heterostructure sulfur hosts throughout defect engineering.

Nonconventional poly(maleic anhydride-alt-vinyl pyrrolidone) copolymers exhibit distinct AIE characteristics, as well as molecular weight-dependent and excitation-dependent fluorescence. They can emit blue to red colours under different excitation wavelengths.

The practical application of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries is hindered by their poor cycling stabilities that primarily stem from the "shuttle" of dissolved lithium polysulfides. Here, we develop a nepenthes-like N-doped hierarchical graphene (NHG)-based separator to realize an efficient polysulfide scavenger for Li-S batteries. The 3D textural porous NHG architectures are realized by our designed biotemplating chemical vapor deposition (CVD) approach via the employment of naturally abundant diatomite as the growth substrate. Benefiting from the high surface area, devious inner-channel structure, and abundant nitrogen doping of CVD-grown NHG frameworks, the derived separator favorably synergizes bifunctionality of physical confinement and chemical immobilization toward polysulfides, accompanied by smooth lithium ion diffusions. Accordingly, the batteries with the NHG-based separator delivers an initial capacity of 868 mAh g with an average capacity decay of only 0.067% per cycle at 2 C for 800 cycles. A capacity of 805 mAh g can further be achieved at a high sulfur loading of ∼7.2 mg cm. The present study demonstrates the potential in constructing high-energy and long-life Li-S batteries upon separator modification.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are promising candidates for smart electronic devices. However, it is challenging to mediate their bandgap or chirality from a vapor-liquid-solid growth process. Here, we demonstrate rate-selected semiconducting CNT arrays based on interlocking between the atomic assembly rate and bandgap of CNTs. Rate analysis confirms the Schulz-Flory distribution which leads to various decay rates as length increases in metallic and semiconducting CNTs. Quantitatively, a nearly ten-fold faster decay rate of metallic CNTs leads to a spontaneous purification of the predicted 99.9999% semiconducting CNTs at a length of 154 mm, and the longest CNT can be 650 mm through an optimized reactor. Transistors fabricated on them deliver a high current of 14 μA μm−1 with on/off ratio around 108 and mobility over 4000 cm2 V−1 s−1. Our rate-selected strategy offers more freedom to control the CNT purity in-situ and offers a robust methodology to synthesize perfectly assembled nanotubes over a long scale.