Porous SnO2 submicrocubes (SMCs) are synthesized by annealing and HNO3 etching of CoSn(OH)6 SMCs. Bare SnO2 SMCs, as well as bare commercial SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs), show very high initial discharge capacity when used as anode material for lithium-ion batteries. However, during the following cycles most of the Li ions previously inserted cannot be extracted, resulting in considerable irreversibility. Porous SnO2 cubes have been proven to possess better electrochemical performance than the dense nanoparticles. After being encapsulated by carbon shell, the obtained yolk-shell SnO2 SMCs@C exhibits significantly enhanced reversibility for lithium-ions storage. The reversibility of the conversion between SnO2 and Sn, which is largely responsible for the enhanced capacity, has been discussed. The porous SnO2 SMCs@C shows much increased capacity and cycling stability, demonstrating that the porous SnO2 core is essential for better lithium-ion storage performance. The strategy introduced in this paper can be used as a versatile way to fabrication of various metal-oxide-based composites.

The lack of efficient strategies to address the intrinsic activity, site accessibility, and structural stability issues of metal‐carbon hybrid catalysts is restricting their real‐world implementation on the basis of rechargeable zinc–air batteries. Herein, a dual metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) pyrolysis strategy is developed to regulate the intrinsic activity and porous structure of the derived catalysts, where a Fe2Ni_MIL‐88@ZnCo_zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF), with a hierarchically porous structure, multifunctional components, and an integrated architecture, acts as an ideal precursor to obtain multimetal based porous nanorod (FeNiCo@NC‐P). Benefitting from the synergetic effect of the multimetal components, facilitated reactant accessibility, and the well‐retained integrated structure, the resultant FeNiCo@NC‐P catalyst exhibits an oxygen reduction reaction half‐wave potential of 0.84 V as well as an oxygen evolution reaction potential of 1.54 V at 10 mA cm–2. Furthermore, the practical application of FeNiCo@NC‐P in the zinc–air battery displays a low voltage gap and long‐term durability (over 130 h at a current density of 10 mA cm–2), which outperforms the commercial noble metal benchmarks. This work not only affords a competitive bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst for zinc–air batteries but also paves a new way to design and fabricate MOF‐derived materials with tunable catalytic properties.

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Layered TiNb2O7/graphene composites (TNO/G) are synthesized through a simple freeze drying process. Such a sandwiched structure combined advantages of graphene sheets and TiNb2O7(TNO) exhibiting much enhanced rate performance, storage capacity and cycling stability for both lithium and sodium ion insertion.

A one‐step synthesis of Li‐rich layered materials with layered/spinel heterostructure has been systematically investigated. The composites are synthesized by a polyol method followed with an annealing process at 500–900 °C for 12 h. A spinel to layer phase transition is considered to take place during the heat treatment, and the samples obtained at different temperatures show diverse phase compositions. An “Li‐rich spinel phase decomposition” phase transition mechanism is proposed to explain the formation of such a heterostructure. The electrochemical properties of the heterostructure are found to be associated with the ratio of spinel to layer phases, the leach out of rock salt phase, and the change of crystallinity and particle size. Product with improved cyclic and rate performance is achieved by annealing at 700 °C for 12 h, with a discharge capacity of 214 mA h g−1 remaining at 0.2 C after 60 cycles and discharge capacity of about 200 mA h g−1 at 1 C.

Oxygen-anion redox in lithium-rich layered oxides can boost the capacity of lithium-ion battery cathodes. However, the over-oxidation of oxygen at highly charged states aggravates irreversible structure changes and deteriorates cycle performance. Here, we investigate the mechanism of surface degradation caused by oxygen oxidation and the kinetics of surface reconstruction. Considering Li 2 MnO 3 , we show through density functional theory calculations that a high energy orbital (lO 2p') at under-coordinated surface oxygen prefers over-oxidation over bulk oxygen, and that surface oxygen release is then kinetically favored during charging. We use a simple strategy of turning under-coordinated surface oxygen into polyanionic (SO 4) 2− , and show that these groups stabilize the surface of Li 2 MnO 3 by depressing gas release and side reactions with the electrolyte. Experimental validation on Li 1.2 Ni 0.2 Mn 0.6 O 2 shows that sulfur deposition enhances stability of the cathode with 99.0% capacity remaining (194 mA h g −1) after 100 cycles at 1 C. Our work reveals a promising surface treatment to address the instability of highly charged layered cathode materials.

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Wearable and portable mobile phones play a critical role in the market, and one of the key technologies is the flexible electrode with high specific capacity and excellent mechanical flexibility. Herein, a wire-in-wire TiO2/C nanofibers (TiO2 ww/CN) film is synthesized via electrospinning with selenium as a structural inducer. The interconnected carbon network and unique wire-in-wire nanostructure cannot only improve electronic conductivity and induce effective charge transports, but also bring a superior mechanic flexibility. Ultimately, TiO2 ww/CN film shows outstanding electrochemical performance as free-standing electrodes in Li/K ion batteries. It shows a discharge capacity as high as 303 mAh g−1 at 5 A g−1 after 6000 cycles in Li half-cells, and the unique structure is well-reserved after long-term cycling. Moreover, even TiO2 has a large diffusion barrier of K+, TiO2 ww/CN film demonstrates excellent performance (259 mAh g−1 at 0.05 A g−1 after 1000 cycles) in K half-cells owing to extraordinary pseudocapacitive contribution. The Li/K full cells consisted of TiO2 ww/CN film anode and LiFePO4/Perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride cathode possess outstanding cycling stability and demonstrate practical application from lighting at least 19 LEDs. It is, therefore, expected that this material will find broad applications in portable and wearable Li/K-ion batteries.