HIGHLIGHTS• This article reviewed the recent progress on material challenges, charge storage mechanism, and electrochemical performance evaluation of supercapatteries.• Supercapatteries bridge the gap between supercapacitors (low energy density) and batteries (low power density). Fig. 1 a Ragone plot of various electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices [43]. b Schematic illustration of charge storage mechanism of EDL capacitor in porous carbon electrode. c Representation of EDLC structures: Helmholtz model, Gouy-Chapman model and Gouy-Chapman-Stern model. Schematic representation of the charge storage mechanisms in pseudocapacitor; d Intercalation (bulk redox) and e surface redox Nano-Micro Lett.(2020) 12:85Page 5 of 46 85 Table 1 Classification of various energy storage devices according to their charge storage mechanisms NFCS non-Faradaic capacitive storage = EDLC storage, CFS capacitive Faradaic storage = pseudocapacitive storage, NCFS non-capacitive Faradaic storage = battery-type storage Device Supercapattery Battery Supercapacitor Hybrid supercapacitor EDLC Pseudocapacitors

We report the synthesis of few-layered MoSe2 nanosheets using a facile hydrothermal method and their electrochemical charge storage behavior. A systematic study of the structure and morphology of the as-synthesized MoSe2 nanosheets was performed. The downward peak shift in the Raman spectrum and the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images confirmed the formation of few-layered nanosheets. The electrochemical energy-storage behavior of MoSe2 nanosheets was also investigated for supercapacitor applications in a symmetric cell configuration. The MoSe2 nanosheet electrode exhibited a maximum specific capacitance of 198.9 F g(-1) and the symmetric device showed 49.7 F g(-1) at a scan rate of 2 mV s(-1). A capacitance retention of approximately 75% was observed even after 10 000 cycles at a high charge-discharge current density of 5 A g(-1). The two-dimensional MoSe2 nanosheets exhibited a high specific capacitance and good cyclic stability, which makes it a promising electrode material for supercapacitor applications.

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Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been extensively evolved for the past two decades in order to improve their cell performance. From the commercialization point of view, the overall solar to electrical energy conversion efficiency should compete with other solar cells. But, due to structural restrictions of DSSC using the liquid electrolyte and a space requirement between two electrodes, the direct tandem construction of DSSCs by stacking of repeating units is highly limited. In this feature article, important research trials to overcome these barriers and a recent research trend to improve the light harvesting strategies mainly panchromatic engineering, various tandem approaches such as parallel tandem, series tandem, p-n tandem etc., have been briefly reviewed.

Amorphous molybdenum sulfide (MoSx) has been identified as an excellent catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). It is still a challenge to prepare amorphous MoSx as a more active and stable catalyst for the HER. Here the amorphous MoSx catalysts are prepared on carbon fiber paper (CFP) substrates at 200 °C by a simple hydrothermal method using molybdic acid and thioacetamide. Because the CFP is intrinsically hydrophobic due to its graphene-like carbon structure, two kinds of hydrophilic pretreatment methods [plasma pretreatment (PP) and electrochemical pretreatment (EP)] are investigated to convert the hydrophobic surface of the CFP to be hydrophilic prior to the hydrothermal growth of MoSx. In the HER catalysis, the MoSx catalysts grown on the pretreated CFPs reach a cathodic current density of 10 mA/cm(2) at a much lower overpotential of 231 mV on the MoSx/EP-CFP and 205 mV on the MoSx/PP-CFP, compared to a high overpotential of 290 mV on the MoSx of the nonpretreated CFP. Turnover frequency per site is also significantly improved when the MoSx are grown on the pretreated CFPs. However, the Tafel slopes of all amorphous MoSx catalysts are in the range of 46-50 mV/dec, suggesting the Volmer-Heyrovsky mechanism as a major pathway for the HER. In addition, regardless of the presence or absence of the pretreatment, the hydrothermally grown MoSx catalyst on CFP exhibits such excellent stability that the degradation of the cathodic current density is negligible after 1000 cycles in a stability test, possibly due to the relatively high growth temperature.

Graphene-decorated V2O5 nanobelts (GVNBs) were synthesized via a low-temperature hydrothermal method in a single step. V2O5 nanobelts (VNBs) were formed in the presence of graphene oxide, a mild oxidant, which also enhanced the conductivity of GVNBs. From the electron energy loss spectroscopy analysis, the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are inserted into the layered crystal structure of V2O5 nanobelts, which further confirmed the enhanced conductivity of the nanobelts. The electrochemical energy-storage capacity of GVNBs was investigated for supercapacitor applications. The specific capacitance of GVNBs was evaluated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and charge/discharge (CD) studies. The GVNBs having V2O5-rich composite, namely, V3G1 (VO/GO = 3:1), showed superior specific capacitance in comparison to the other composites (V1G1 and V1G3) and the pure materials. Moreover, the V3G1 composite showed excellent cyclic stability and the capacitance retention of about 82% was observed even after 5000 cycles.

A step towards commercialization of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) requires more attention to engineering aspects, such as flexibility, the roll to roll fabrication process, the use of cost effective materials, etc. In this aspect, advantages of flexible DSSCs attracted many researchers to contemplate the transparent conducting oxide coated flexible plastic substrates and the thin metallic foils. In this feature article, the pros and cons of these two kinds of substrates are compared. The flexible dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated using metal substrates are briefly discussed. The working electrodes of DSSCs fabricated on various metal substrates, their fabrication methods, the effect of high temperature calcination and drawbacks of back illumination are reviewed in detail. A few reports on the flexible metal substrate based counter electrodes that could be combined with the plastic substrate based working electrodes are also covered at the end.

BACKGROUND: When direct current (DC) is used in electrocoagulation processes, an impermeable oxide layer may form on the cathode and corrosion of the anode may occur due to oxidation. This prevents effective current transfer between the anode and cathode, so the efficiency of the electrocoagulation process declines. These disadvantages of DC have been reduced by adopting alternating current (AC). The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of AC and DC on the removal of fluoride from water using an aluminum alloy as anode and cathode.