Electrochemically Active MoO/TiN Sulfur Host Inducing Dynamically Reinforced Built-in Electric Field for Advanced Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Although various electrocatalysts have been developed to ameliorate the shuttle effect and sluggish Li-S conversion kinetics, their electrochemical inertness limits the sufficient performance improvement of lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). In this work, an electrochemically active MoO/TiN-based heterostructure (MOTN) is designed as an efficient sulfur host that can improve the overall electrochemical properties of LSBs via prominent lithiation behaviors. By accommodating Li ions into MoO nanoplates, the MOTN host can contribute its own capacity.

Designing Chemically Replaced Interfacial Layer via Unveiling the Influence of Zn Crystal Facets for Practical Zn-Metal Anodes.

Zn metal anodes (ZMAs) undergo irregular deposition and unfavorable side reactions, which hinders the practical application of aqueous rechargeable Zn metal batteries (ARZMBs). Chemical replacement reaction (CRR) strategies can achieve stable ZMAs, but the effect of the crystal facets of metallic Zn as reductants remains poorly understood. In this study, based on the observation that preferentially exposed Zn crystal facets affect the surface characteristics of chemically replaced layers in Sn-based CRR, a multifunctional Sn-based interfacial layer (ZnTCF@Sn) is designed on the Zn with textured crystal facets using a novel two-step CRR process.