Aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted considerable attention as promising next‐generation power sources because of the abundance, low cost, eco‐friendliness, and high security of Zn resources. Recently, vanadium‐based materials as cathodes in AZIBs have gained interest owing to their rich electrochemical interaction with Zn2+ and high theoretical capacity. However, existing AZIBs are still far from meeting commercial requirements. This article summarizes recent advances in the rational design of vanadium‐based materials toward AZIBs. In particular, it highlights various tactics that have been reported to increase the intercalation space, structural stability, and the diffusion ability of the guest Zn2+, as well as explores the structure‐dependent electrochemical performance and the corresponding energy storage mechanism. Furthermore, this article summarizes recent achievements in the optimization of aqueous electrolytes and Zn anodes to resolve the issues that remain with Zn anodes, including dendrite formation, passivation, corrosion, and the low coulombic efficiency of plating/stripping. The rationalization of these research findings can guide further investigations in the design of cathode/anode materials and electrolytes for next‐generation AZIBs.

Inverse photoresponse is discovered from phototransistors based on molybdenum disulfide (MoS ). The devices are capable of detecting photons with energy below the bandgap of MoS . Under the illumination of near-infrared (NIR) light at 980 and 1550 nm, negative photoresponses with short response time (50 ms) are observed for the first time. Upon visible-light illumination, the phototransistors exhibit positive photoresponse with ultrahigh responsivity on the order of 10 -10 A W owing to the photogating effect and charge trapping mechanism. Besides, the phototransistors can detect a weak visible-light signal with effective optical power as low as 17 picowatts (pW). A thermally induced photoresponse mechanism, the bolometric effect, is proposed as the cause of the negative photocurrent in the NIR regime. The thermal energy of the NIR radiation is transferred to the MoS crystal lattice, inducing lattice heating and resistance increase. This model is experimentally confirmed by low-temperature electrical measurements. The bolometric coefficient calculated from the measured transport current change with temperature is -33 nA K . These findings offer a new approach to develop sub-bandgap photodetectors and other novel optoelectronic devices based on 2D layered materials.

fast charge/discharge capability, and high power density. [2] Specifically, solid-state supercapacitors are gaining increased attention because they avoid the electrolyte leakage that occurs in traditional aqueous electrolyte-based ones. [3] However, the attained energy density of most developed flexible solid-state supercapacitors remains lower than that of lithium-ion batteries, [1a,4] severely hindering the application potential of these supercapacitors for powering flexible energy-consuming systems. Generally, supercapacitors with battery-type materials have high specific capacity but still suffer from inferior rate performance and poor cyclic stability due to the slow ionic diffusion and sluggish electron transfer kinetics of the electrode materials upon cycling. [5] Accordingly, reduction of their particle size, increase of their electroactive surface area, combination with conductive carbon and/or development of surface defect engineering have been well-recognized to potentially transform battery-type materials into "extrinsic" pseudocapacitive materials. Consequently, more charge storage can occur at or near the surface region of the electrodes for pseudocapacitance, [6] ensuring the large charge proportions for the capacitive process of such electrode materials.In this regard, some strategies to develop intriguing structures have been proposed. As shown in Figure 1, for strategy 1, the bulk structured electroactive species are deposited Battery-type materials are promising candidates for achieving high specific capacity for supercapacitors. However, their slow reaction kinetics hinders the improvement in electrochemical performance. Herein, a hybrid structure of P-doped Co 3 O 4 (P-Co 3 O 4 ) ultrafine nanoparticles in situ encapsulated into P, N co-doped carbon (P, N-C) nanowires by a pyrolysis-oxidation-phosphorization of 1D metal-organic frameworks derived from Co-layered double hydroxide as self-template and reactant is reported. This hybrid structure prevents active material agglomeration and maintains a 1D oriented arrangement, which exhibits a large accessible surface area and hierarchically porous feature, enabling sufficient permeation and transfer of electrolyte ions. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that the P dopants in P-Co 3 O 4 @P, N-C could reduce the adsorption energy of OH − and regulate the electrical properties. Accordingly, the P-Co 3 O 4 @P, N-C delivers a high specific capacity of 669 mC cm −2 at 1 mA cm −2 and an ultralong cycle life with only 4.8% loss over 5000 cycles at 30 mA cm −2 . During the fabrication of P-Co 3 O 4 @P, N-C, Co@P, N-C is simultaneously developed, which can be integrated with P-Co 3 O 4 @P, N-C for the assembly of asymmetric supercapacitors. These devices achieve a high energy density of 47.6 W h kg −1 at 750 W kg −1 and impressive flexibility, exhibiting a great potential in practical applications.

An optically addressed spatial light modulator (OASLM) can modulate the wavefront of a read light by displaying a phase pattern or a hologram configured by the intensity distribution of a write light. Using ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) as a novel photoconductor, a high-resolution OASLM was fabricated. A ZnO NP suspension was spin-coated on an indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrate and annealed to form a photosensitive layer. The device was characterized electrically and optically. The device was operated at low driving voltages in the transmission mode. Updatable recording of a diffraction grating up to 825 lp mm 21 with a diffraction efficiency (DE) of 0.05% and binary holograms with pixel sizes from 2 mm down to 0.72 mm were demonstrated using a 405 nm wavelength write laser and a 635 nm wavelength read laser.

Electronics based on solution-processable materials are promising for applications in many fields which stimulated enormous research interest in liquid-drying and pattern formation. However, assembling of structure with submicrometre/nanometre resolution through liquid process is very challenging. We show a simple method to rapidly generate polymer structures with deep-submicrometre-sized features over large areas. In this method, a solution film is dried on a substrate under a suspended flexible template with groove/ridge surface topography. Upon solvent evaporation, the solution splits in the grooves and forms capillary bridges between the template and substrate, which are firmly pinned by the edges of the template grooves. This groove pinning stabilizes the contact lines, thereby allowing the formation of fine patterned structures with high aspect ratios which were used to fabricate various functional materials and electronic devices. We also produced secondary self-assembled nano-stripe patterns with resolutions of about 50 nm on the primary lines.