Electrochemical energy storage has been regarded as one of the most promising strategies for next‐generation energy consumption. To meet the increasing demands of urban electric vehicles, development of green and efficient charging technologies by exploitation of solar energy should be considered for outdoor charging in the future. Herein, a light‐sensitive material (copper foam‐supported copper oxide/nickel copper oxides nanosheets arrays, namely CF@CuOx@NiCuOx NAs) with hierarchical nanostructures to promote electrochemical charge storage is specifically fabricated. The as‐fabricated NAs have demonstrated a high areal specific capacity of 1.452 C cm−2 under light irradiation with a light power of 1.76 W, which is 44.8% higher than the capacity obtained without light. Such areal specific capacity (1.452 C cm−2) is much higher than that of the conventional supercapacitor structure using a similar active redox component reported recently (NiO nanosheets array@Co3O4‐NiO FTNs: maximum areal capacity of 623.5 mF cm−2 at 2 mA cm−2). This photo‐enhancement for charge storage can be attributed to the combination of photo‐sensitive Cu2O and pseudo‐active NiO components. Hence, this work may provide new possibilities for direct utilization of sustainable solar energy to realize enhanced capability for energy storage devices.

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Copper foam (CF)‐supported 3D nanosheets array composed of ternary Ni−Co−Cu chalcogenides are prepared by a simple in situ formation process. Specifically, a highly electroactive Ni−Co binary sulfide in nanosheets is synthesized against the CF backbone, whereas the copper species migrate from the CF to the Ni−Co nanosheets, leading to the in situ formation of the ternary metallic sulfide (Ni−Co−Cu−S, NCCS). Due to the synergistic interaction of Ni, Co, and Cu sulfides confined in nanosheets, this NCCS material demonstrates good mechanical robustness, a large surface area, and enhanced electric conductivity. As a result, the NCCS exhibits a high specific capacitance (750 mF cm−2 at 100 mA cm−2) with good cycling performance (97.14% after 10 000 cycles) when used as supercapacitor electrodes. In addition, the 3D porous hierarchical nanostructure of NCCS provides nanoconfined water molecule channels to achieve high‐yield solar steam generation, delivering an enhanced evaporation rate of 2.48 kg m−2 h−1 under 1 sun irradiation.

Defects engineering is an effective strategy to promote electrocatalytic performance. Herein, cobalt binary chalcogenide hollow spheres (CBC HSs) with sulfur (S) defects were prepared by selenium (Se) heteroatom substitution to enhance electrocatalytic water reduction. The Se atoms were intentionally introduced into the crystalline lattices of hexagonal CoS HSs, forming an anion solid solution with S vacancies. Due to enhanced intrinsic electroactivity and enlarged surface area, this CBC HS electrocatalyst exhibited low overpotentials of 108 and 372 mV to realize current densities of 10 and 100 mA cm–2, respectively, for hydrogen evolution reaction.

Copper‐doped ZnS/ZnO (CSO) hexahedrons in egg tart‐like morphology were fabricated by an in‐situ synthetic strategy to promote photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) production. Hexahedral CuO/ZnO precursors in micro sizes were prepared by a solvothermal method. A subsequent moderate sulfurization of the precursor led to the formation of ZnS/ZnO heterostructures without alteration of the hexahedral morphology. In addition, the in‐situ methodology ensured the homogeneous doping of copper species with ZnS/ZnO heterostructures, which significantly improved the electric conductivity of these hybrid materials. Because of the structural and compositional features of the hybrid materials, a maximum H2 production rate of 1.044 mmol g−1 h−1 with high recycling stability (even after 12 h) has been delivered based on an interfacial catalysis. Thus, this study may provide an efficient strategy to optimize the physical and chemical properties of photocatalysts in microsize scale.