Key challenges include rational design of flexible cell components, exploration of novel configurations, and optimization of operation management.

The self‐catalyzed growth of nanostructures on material surfaces is one of the most time‐ and cost‐effective ways to design multifunctional catalysts for a wide range of applications. Herein, the use of this technique to develop a multicomponent composite catalyst with CoSx core encapsulated in an ultrathin porous carbon shell entangled with Co, N‐codoped carbon nanotubes is reported. The as‐prepared catalyst has a superior catalytic activity for oxygen evolution and oxygen reduction reactions, an ultralow potential gap of 0.74 V, and outstanding durability, surpassing most previous reports. Such superiority is ascribed, in part, to the unique 3D electrode architecture of the composite, which is favorable for transporting oxygen species and electrons and creates a synergy between the components with different functionalities. Moreover, the flexible solid Zn–air battery assembled with such an air electrode shows a steady discharge voltage plateau of 1.25 V and a round‐trip efficiency of 70% at 1 mA cm−2. This work presents a simple strategy to design highly efficient bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts and may pave the way for the practical application of these materials in many energy conversion/storage devices.

A cathode composed of RuO2 nanoparticle-decorated NiO nanosheets not only catalyzes the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions, but also promotes the decomposition of the side products (LiOH and Li2CO3), enabling a non-aqueous lithium–air battery to be truly operated in ambient air.

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A high internal resistance and limited triple-phase boundaries are two critical issues that limit the performance of conventional solid-state Li-O2 batteries. In this work, we propose and fabricate a novel solid-state Li-O2 battery with an integrated electrolyte and cathode structure. This design allows a thin electrolyte layer (about 10% of that in conventional batteries) and a highly porous cathode (78% in porosity), both of which contribute to a significant reduction in the internal resistance, while increasing triple-phase boundaries. As a result, the battery outputs a discharge capacity as high as 14,200 mA h g -1 carbon at 0.15 mA cm -2 , and can sustain 100 cycles at a fixed capacity of 1,000 mA h g -1 carbon. The novel integrated electrolyte and cathode structure represents a significant step toward the advancement of Li-O2 batteries.Please do not adjust margins Please do not adjust margins coated cathode after full discharge to D3 and full recharge to C3. Blank LATP and reference Li2O2 (from Ref. 39) spectra were used for comparison.

In this work, we perform a first-principles study of graphene, nitrogen-, boron-doped graphene, and codoped graphene as the potential catalysts in nonaqueous lithium− oxygen (Li−O 2 ) batteries. Among the samples studied, borondoped graphene exhibits the lowest discharge and charge overpotentials, suggesting that boron-doped graphene is the best catalyst for both the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in nonaqueous Li− O 2 batteries. Another significant finding is that codoping of nitrogen and boron atoms does not enhance the ORR/OER in the presence of lithium atoms, indicating that the synergistic effect in the presence of protons does not appear in nonaqueous Li−O 2 batteries. This behavior is attributed to the fact that the existence of lithium atoms can change the most stable adsorption sites and adsorption energies of intermediates. Finally, on the basis of our calculation results, we propose that the adsorption energy of intermediates in the rate-determining step (RDS) can be the descriptor of the overpotential, and the lower adsorption energy in RDS represents the lower overpotential. The findings reported in this work contribute to the understanding of the ORR/OER in nonaqueous Li−O 2 batteries and provide useful insight into the catalyst design.

The rapid development of electric vehicles and modern personal electronic devices is severely hindered by the limited energy and power density of the existing power sources. Here a novel hybrid Zn battery is reported which is composed of a nanostructured transition metal oxide-based positive electrode (i.e., Co O nanosheets grown on carbon cloth) and a Zn foil negative electrode in an aqueous alkaline electrolyte. The hybrid battery configuration successfully combines the unique advantages of a Zn-Co O battery and a Zn-air battery, achieving a high voltage of 1.85 V in the Zn-Co O battery region and a high capacity of 792 mAh g . In addition, the battery shows high stability while maintaining high energy efficiency (higher than 70%) for over 200 cycles and high rate capabilities. Furthermore, the high flexibility of the carbon cloth substrate allows the construction of a flexible battery with a gel electrolyte, demonstrating not only good rechargeability and stability, but also reasonable mechanical deformation without noticeable degradation in performance. This work also provides an inspiring example for further explorations of high-performance hybrid and flexible battery systems.

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