Silicon, because of its high specific capacity, is intensively pursued as one of the most promising anode material for next‐generation lithium‐ion batteries. In the past decade, various nanostructures are successfully demonstrated to address major challenges for reversible Si anodes related to pulverization and solid‐electrolyte interphase. However, the electrochemical performance is still limited by challenges that stem from the use of nanomaterials. In this progress report, the focus is on the challenges and recent progress in the development of Si anodes for lithium‐ion battery, including initial Coulombic efficiency, areal capacity, and material cost, which call for more research effort and provide a bright prospect for the widespread applications of silicon anodes in the future lithium‐ion batteries.

A modified poly(dimethylsiloxane) film with nanopores, fabricated through a scalable and low-cost process, can serve as a protective layer for improving lithium-metal anodes. This film can suppress Li-dendrite formation because of its chemical inertness and mechanical properties. Stable cycling over 200 cycles with an averaged CE of 94.5% is demonstrated at 0.5 mA cm .

Aqueous rechargeable zinc–manganese dioxide batteries show great promise for large‐scale energy storage due to their use of environmentally friendly, abundant, and rechargeable Zn metal anodes and MnO2 cathodes. In the literature various intercalation and conversion reaction mechanisms in MnO2 have been reported, but it is not clear how these mechanisms can be simultaneously manipulated to improve the charge storage and transport properties. A systematical study to understand the charge storage mechanisms in a layered δ‐MnO2 cathode is reported. An electrolyte‐dependent reaction mechanism in δ‐MnO2 is identified. Nondiffusion controlled Zn2+ intercalation in bulky δ‐MnO2 and control of H+ conversion reaction pathways over a wide C‐rate charge–discharge range facilitate high rate performance of the δ‐MnO2 cathode without sacrificing the energy density in optimal electrolytes. The Zn‐δ‐MnO2 system delivers a discharge capacity of 136.9 mAh g−1 at 20 C and capacity retention of 93% over 4000 cycles with this joint charge storage mechanism. This study opens a new gateway for the design of high‐rate electrode materials by manipulating the effective redox reactions in electrode materials for rechargeable batteries.

Compared to efficient green and near‐infrared light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), less progress has been made on deep‐blue perovskite LEDs. They suffer from inefficient domain [various number of PbX6− layers (n)] control, resulting in a series of unfavorable issues such as unstable color, multipeak profile, and poor fluorescence yield. Here, a strategy involving a delicate spacer modulation for quasi‐2D perovskite films via an introduction of aromatic polyamine molecules into the perovskite precursor is reported. With low‐dimensional component engineering, the n1 domain, which shows nonradiative recombination and retarded exciton transfer, is significantly suppressed. Also, the n3 domain, which represents the population of emission species, is remarkably increased. The optimized quasi‐2D perovskite film presents blue emission from the n3 domain (peak at 465 nm) with a photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) as high as 77%. It enables the corresponding perovskite LEDs to deliver stable deep‐blue emission (CIE (0.145, 0.05)) with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 2.6%. The findings in this work provide further understanding on the structural and emission properties of quasi‐2D perovskites, which pave a new route to design deep‐blue‐emissive perovskite materials.

Zn dendrites growth and poor cycling stability are significant challenges for rechargeable aqueous Zn batteries. Zn metal deposition-dissolution in aqueous electrolytes is typically determined by Zn anode-electrolyte interfaces. In this work, the role of a long-chain polyethylene oxide (PEO) polymer as a multifunctional electrolyte additive in stabilizing Zn metal anodes is reported. PEO molecules suppress Zn 2+ ion transfer kinetics and regulate Zn 2+ ion concentration in the vicinity of Zn anodes through interactions between ether groups of PEO and Zn 2+ ions. The suppressed Zn 2+ ion transfer kinetics and homogeneous Zn 2+ ion distribution at the interface promotes dendrite-free homogeneous Zn deposition. In addition, electrochemically inert PEO molecules adsorbed onto Zn anodes can protect the anode surfaces from H 2 generation and, thereby, enhance their electrochemical stability. Stable cycling over 3000 h and high reversibility (Coulombic efficiency > 99.5%) of Zn anodes is demonstrated in 1 m ZnSO 4 electrolyte with 0.5 wt% PEO. This finding provides helpful insights into the mechanism of Zn metal anodes stabilization by low-cost multifunctional polymer electrolyte additives that stabilize interfacial reactions.

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are crucial reactions in energy conversion and storage systems including fuel cells, metal–air batteries, and electrolyzers. Developing low‐cost, high‐efficiency, and durable non‐noble bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts is the key to the commercialization of these devices. Here, based on an in‐depth understanding of ORR/OER reaction mechanisms, recent advances in the development of non‐noble electrocatalysts for ORR/OER are reviewed. In particular, rational design for enhancing the activity and stability and scalable synthesis toward the large‐scale production of bifunctional electrocatalysts are highlighted. Prospects and future challenges in the field of oxygen electrocatalysis are presented.

To fine-tune surface ligands towards high-performance devices,wedeveloped an in situ passivation process for all-inorganic cesium lead iodide (CsPbI 3)perovskite quantum dots (QDs) by using ab ifunctional ligand, L-phenylalanine (L-PHE). Through the addition of this ligand into the precursor solution during synthesis,t he in situ treated CsPbI 3 QDs displays ignificantly reduced surface states,i ncreased vacancy formation energy,higher photoluminescence quantum yields,and muchimproved stability.Consequently,the L-PHE passivated CsPbI 3 QDs enabled the realization of QD solar cells with an optimal efficiency of 14.62 %a nd red lightemitting diodes (LEDs) with ah ighest external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 10.21 %, respectively,d emonstrating the great potential of ligand bonding management in improving the optoelectronic properties of solution-processed perovskite QDs.

No abstract