Sulfur-doped disordered carbon exhibits high capacity and excellent cyclability as an anode for sodium ion batteries.

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Rechargeable aqueous Zn‐based batteries are attractive candidates as energy storage technology, but the uncontrollable Zn dendrites, low stripping/plating coulombic efficiency, and inefficient utilization of Zn metal limit the battery reliability and energy density. Herein, for the first time, a novel presodiated TiS2 (Na0.14TiS2) is proposed and investigated as an intercalated anode for aqueous Zn‐ion batteries, showing a capacity of 140 mAh g−1 with a suitable potential of 0.3 V (vs Zn2+/Zn) at 0.05 A g−1 and superior cyclability of 77% retention over 5000 cycles at 0.5 A g−1. The remarkable performance originates from the buffer phase formation of Na0.14TiS2 after chemically presodiating TiS2, which not only improves the structural reversibility and stability but also enhances the diffusion coefficient and electronic conductivity, and lowers cation migration barrier, as evidenced by a series of experimental and theoretical studies. Moreover, an aqueous “rocking‐chair” Zn‐ion full battery is successfully demonstrated by this Na0.14TiS2 anode and ZnMn2O4 cathode, which delivers a capacity of 105 mAh g−1 (for anode) with an average voltage of 0.95 V at 0.05 A g−1 and preserves 74% retention after 100 cycles at 0.2 A g−1, demonstrating the feasibility of Zn‐ion full batteries for energy storage applications.

Aqueous batteries are promising energy storage systems but are hindered by the limited selection of anodes and narrow electrochemical window to achieve satisfactory cyclability and decent energy density. Here, we design aqueous hybrid Na-Zn batteries by using a carbon-coated Zn (Zn@C) anode, 8 M NaClO + 0.4 M Zn(CFSO) concentrated electrolyte coupled with NASICON-structured cathodes. The Zn@C anode achieves stable Zn stripping/plating and improved kinetics without Zn dendrite formation due to the porous carbon film facilitating homogeneous current distribution and Zn deposition. Furthermore, the concentrated electrolyte offers a large electrochemical window (∼2.5 V) and permits stable cycling of cathodes. As a result, the hybrid batteries exhibit extraordinary performance including high voltage, high energy density (100-150 Wh kg for half battery and 71 Wh kg for full battery), and excellent cycling stability of 1000 cycles.

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Recently, Sun et al. [ 28 ] reported the Na + insertion into spinel Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 (LTO) with an average operating voltage of ≈0.9 V and reversible capacity of ≈155 mA h g −1 at 0.1 C. A mechanism of three-phase separation is disclosed as 2 Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 + 6 Na + 6 e ↔ Li 7 Ti 5 O 12 + Na 6 LiTi 5 O 12 , with a theoretical Sodium storage in both solid-liquid and solid-solid interfaces is expected to extend the horizon of sodium-ion batteries, leading to a new strategy for developing high-performance energy-storage materials. Here, a novel composite aerogel with porous Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 (PLTO) nanofi bers confi ned in a highly conductive 3D-interconnected graphene framework (G-PLTO) is designed and fabricated for Na storage. A high capacity of 195 mA h g −1 at 0.2 C and super-long cycle life up to 12 000 cycles are attained. Electrochemical analysis shows that the intercalation-based and interfacial Na storage behaviors take effect simultaneously in the G-PLTO composite aerogel. An integrated Na storage mechanism is proposed. This study ascribes the excellent performance to the unique structure, which not only offers short pathways for Na + diffusion and conductive networks for electron transport, but also guarantees plenty of PLTO-electrolyte and PLTO-graphene interfacial sites for Na + adsorption.

The increasing demands for integration of renewable energy into the grid and urgently needed devices for peak shaving and power rating of the grid both call for low‐cost and large‐scale energy storage technologies. The use of secondary batteries is considered one of the most effective approaches to solving the intermittency of renewables and smoothing the power fluctuations of the grid. In these batteries, the states of the electrode highly affect the performance and manufacturing process of the battery, and therefore leverage the price of the battery. A battery with liquid metal electrodes is easy to scale up and has a low cost and long cycle life. In this progress report, the state‐of‐the‐art overview of liquid metal electrodes (LMEs) in batteries is reviewed, including the LMEs in liquid metal batteries (LMBs) and the liquid sodium electrode in sodium‐sulfur (Na–S) and ZEBRA (Na–NiCl2) batteries. Besides the LMEs, the development of electrolytes for LMEs and the challenge of using LMEs in the batteries, and the future prospects of using LMEs are also discussed.

A Pt/W–SBA-15 catalyst with an extremely low W/Si atomic ratio of 1/640 affords 1,3-PDO with high selectivity and yield in the hydrogenolysis of glycerol.