Aqueous zinc batteries are promising candidates for energy storage and conversion devices in the “post‐lithium” era due to their high energy density, high safety, and low cost. The electrolyte plays an important role in zinc batteries by conducting and separating the positive and negative electrodes. However, the issues of zinc dendrites growth, corrosion, by‐product formation, hydrogen evolution and leakage, and evaporation of the aqueous electrolytes affect the commercialization of the batteries. Moreover, the widely used aqueous electrolytes result in large battery sizes, which are not conducive to the emerging smart devices. The intrinsic properties of gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) can solve the above problems. In order to promote the wider application of GPEs‐based zinc batteries, in this review, the working principle and the current problems of zinc batteries are first introduced, andthe merits of GPEs compared to aqueous electrolytes are then summarized. Subsequently, a series of challenges and corresponding strategies faced by GPE is discussed, and an outlook for its future development is finally proposed.
Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) have become very promising next-generation energy-storage technologies owing to their high energy densities and cost-effectiveness. However, the poor electrical conductivity of the active material, volume changes that occur during cycling, the "shuttle effect" involving lithium polysulfides (LiPSs), and lithium dendrite growth limit their commercializability. Herein, the preparation of a CC@VS 2 -VO 2 @Li 2 S@C electrode prepared by the in situ growth of a VS 2 -VO 2 heterostructure on carbon cloth (CC), loaded with Li 2 S, and finally coated with a carbon shell, is reported. The cell with the CC@VS 2 -VO 2 @Li 2 S@C cathode exhibits superior cycling stability and rate performance owing to synergy between its various components. The cell delivers a high discharge specific capacity of 919.8 mA g −1 at 0.2 C, with a capacity of 588.9 mAh g −1 retained after 500 cycles with an average capacity attenuation of 0.072% per cycle. The cell exhibits discharge capacities of 937.6, 780.2, 641.9, 541, and 462.8 mAh g −1 at current densities of 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 C, respectively. This study provides a new approach for catalyzing LiPS conversion and promoting LSB applications.
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