Freestanding carbon nanofoam papers with tunable porosity as lithium-sulfur battery cathodes.

To reach energy density demands greater than 3 mA h cm for practical applications, the electrode structure of lithium-sulfur batteries must undergo an architectural redesign. Freestanding carbon nanofoam papers derived from resorcinol-formaldehyde aerogels provide a three-dimensional conductive mesoporous network while facilitating electrolyte transport. Vapor-phase sulfur infiltration fully penetrates >100 μm thick electrodes and conformally coats the carbon aerogel surface providing areal capacities up to 4.

Active Materials for Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries: Synthesis, Crystal Structure, Morphology, and Electrochemistry.

Aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) are truly promising contenders for the future large-scale electrical energy storage applications due to their cost-effectiveness, environmental friendliness, intrinsic safety, and competitive gravimetric energy density. In light of this, massive research efforts have been devoted to the design and development of high-performance aqueous ZIBs; however, there are still obstacles to overcome before realizing their full potentials. Here, the current advances, existing limitations, along with the possible solutions in the pursuit of cathode materials with high voltage, fast kinetics, and long cycling stability are comprehensively covered and evaluated, together with an analysis of their structures, electrochemical performance, and zinc ion storage mechanisms.

Chemically Bonding NiFe-LDH Nanosheets on rGO for Superior Lithium-Ion Capacitors.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have attracted tremendous interest for applications in energy harvest and storage. However, the aggregation of nanosheets compromises the accessible active sites and limits their electrochemical performance, especially at high rates. The present study reports the synthesis of highly dispersed NiFe-LDH nanosheets anchored on reduced graphene oxide (NiFe-LDH/rGO) composites chemically bonded via a facile one-step hydrothermal method.