Tao Wang（汪涛）

Two-dimensional (2D) metallic transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are attracting increasing attention as promising electrode materials with fast ion/electron transport due to their ultrahigh electrical conductivities and layered structures. However, their further development is hindered by the inadequate understanding of energy storage mechanisms and electrochemistry upon charging/discharging processes. Herein, 2D metallic niobium diselenide (NbSe2) flakes are targeted to understand the underlying electrochemical reaction mechanism during sodiation/de-sodiation. The complementary characterizations, including operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and electron microscopy, are performed to investigate the structural evolution of 2D metallic NbSe2 under electrochemical conditions. Different from conventional wisdom that believes reversible …

The book titled “Recent Advances in Functional Materials and Devices” unveils the carefully curated proceedings from the 2nd International Conference on “Advanced Functional Materials and Devices”(AFMD-2023). The conference, AFMD-2023, was held online from 13–15 March 2023 and was organized by the Department of Physics and Internal Quality Assurance Cell of Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India. This publication showcases papers that highlight the remarkable progress made in the field of functional materials, encompassing electronic, magnetic, optical, adaptive, and dielectric materials, among others. These materials are crucial in developing new functionalities and enhancing performance in the current technological era. The book explores a wide range of topics, including materials for energy harvesting, biomedical applications, environmental monitoring, photonics and optoelectronic devices, strategic applications, and high-energy physics.With its comprehensive coverage, this book provides a valuable reference for beginners, researchers, and academicians interested in the latest functional materials for device applications. The conference comprised invited and technical sessions, facilitating discussions with respected speakers who shared their expertise in various subjects such as multifunctional materials, biomaterials, materials for environmental studies, Theoretical simulations based on density functional theory and solar simulation of materials, 2D materials, perovskite and double perovskite materials, smart materials, materials for energy conversion and storage, advanced functional …

Like other aqueous batteries, aqueous rechargeable Al‐ion batteries (ARAIBs) have attracted much attention due to their high safety and low cost. However, the low energy density of ARAIBs limits its popularization and application. In order to solve this problem, in addition to choosing Al metal as the negative electrode, it is also necessary to choose a suitable positive electrode material. Here, a cubic phase cobalt hexacyanoferrate (CoHCF) with excellent rate and cycling performance is used as the positive electrode material. Due to the reversible catalysis of the Cl−/Cl0 reaction at high potential in saturated AlCl3 solution, it has the characteristics of high capacity up to 103.5 mAh g−1. Combined with the Al metal as negative electrode, an ARAIB with an average discharge voltage of 1.56 V and an energy density of 155 Wh kg−1 is constructed, which shows outstanding cycling and rate performances.

Safe batteries are the basis for next-generation application scenarios such as portable energy storage devices and electric vehicles, which are crucial to achieving carbon neutralization. Electrolytes, separators, and electrodes as main components of lithium batteries strongly affect the occurrence of safety accidents. Responsive materials, which can respond to external stimuli or environmental change, have triggered extensive attentions recently, holding great promise in facilitating safe and smart batteries. This review thoroughly discusses recent advances regarding the construction of high-safety lithium batteries based on internal thermal-responsive strategies, together with the corresponding changes in electrochemical performance under external stimulus. Furthermore, the existing challenges and outlook for the design of safe batteries are presented, creating valuable insights and proposing directions for the …

All-solid state lithium metal batteries (ASSLMBs) with high energy density using lithium metal anodes (LMAs) and high safety all-solid-state electrolytes (ASSEs) are considered as a good choice for the next generation electrochemical energy storage devices. However, there are many challenges for their practical applications, especially the issues of the ASSE-LMA interface. In this review, the problems arising from the combination of LMAs and ASSEs and their modification strategies are summarized. We first introduce the current characterization techniques for the interface. Then the existing problems at the interface and analysis of the causes of these problems are presented. In addition, strategies to regulate the interface based on these problems are summarized. Finally, some further research directions for the interfaces of ASSLMBs are pointed out. In this review, the problems of the interface between lithium …

Zinc-air batteries have attracted more attentions due to their high energy density, high safety, low cost, and environmental friendliness. Nevertheless, sluggish oxygen reaction kinetics at the air electrode seriously compromises their power density and cyclic stability. As one of the main components, the catalyst significately impacts the performance of zinc-air batteries. Finding high-performance bifunctional catalysts for both oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction is of great importance to the practical application of zinc-air batteries. In this review, the history, merits and challenges of zinc-air batteries are introduced, the working principle of zinc-air batteries and the mechanism of ORR and OER in air electrodes are analyzed deeply, and the research status of bifunctional catalysts that promotes both ORR and OER kinetics are systematically reviewed. Finally, the pending problems that need to be …

With the increasing development of digital devices and electric vehicles, high energy-density rechargeable batteries are strongly required. As one of the most promising anode materials with an ultrahigh specific capacity and extremely low electrode potential, lithium metal is greatly considered an ideal candidate for next-generation battery systems. Nevertheless, limited Coulombic efficiency and potential safety risks severely hinder the practical applications of lithium metal batteries due to the inevitable growth of lithium dendrites and poor interface stability. Tremendous efforts have been explored to address these challenges, mainly focusing on the design of novel electrolytes. Here, we provide an overview of the recent developments of localized high-concentration electrolytes in lithium metal batteries. Firstly, the solvation structures and physicochemical properties of localized high-concentration electrolytes are …

Lithium metal batteries have been attracting an abundance of attention recently as a powerful competitor of the next-generation advanced energy storage technologies. However, lithium dendrite formation can result in decreased battery lifespan and even safety issues, inhibiting the widespread application of lithium metal batteries. The conductive hosts of lithium metal anode are proven to be an effective method to prevent lithium dendrite formation and achieve outstanding electrochemical performance of lithium metal batteries. However, the surface deposition of Li ions decreases the utilization of the conductive host. Therefore, this Review introduces the design principle and recent advances to render the bottom-up deposition of a lithium metal anode. On one hand, conductivity and lithiophilicity gradient hosts are summarized to realize the “bottom-up” lithium deposition and efficiently limit the growth of lithium …

Aqueous rechargeable Zn batteries have been studied as promising energy storage devices because of their low cost, high safety, and environmental friendliness. However, due to the problems faced by Zn anodes, such as dendrites and parasitic reactions (hydrogen evolution reaction and corrosion), commercialization still has a long way to go. In this perspective, a discussion of Zn anodes' current challenges is presented. Starting from this overview Zn anode modification strategies are discussed, which include surface modification, structure optimization, and electrolyte modification. Finally, prospects of future research on Zn anode are outlined.

Stable and accurate prediction of the remaining useful life (RUL) of supercapacitors is of great significance for the safe operation and economic maximization of the energy storage system based on supercapacitors. For the phenomenon of unstable discharge capacity of supercapacitor during the cycling, a multi-stage (MS) prediction model based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and gated recurrent unit (GRU) neural network is proposed. The prediction model is based on multi-feature inputs with high correlation, and the final output is obtained through EMD reconstruction. The modification process ensures the stability of the model to predict the discharge capacity during the cycling of the supercapacitor. Compared with the traditional seven prediction models, the root mean square error is reduced by 80 %, and the goodness of fit is increased by 6 %. Our method has higher stability and prediction accuracy …

The market demand for energy pushes researchers to pay a lot of attention to Li‐S batteries. However, the ‘shuttle effect’, the corrosion of lithium anodes, and the formation of lithium dendrites make the poor cycling performances (especially under high current densities and high sulfur loading) of Li‐S batteries, which limit their commercial applications. Here, a separator is prepared and modified with Super P and LTO (abbreviation SPLTOPD) through a simple coating method. The LTO can improve the transport ability of Li+ cations, and the Super P can reduce the charge transfer resistance. The prepared SPLTOPD can effectively barrier the pass‐through of polysulfides, catalyze the reactions of polysulfides into S2−, and increase the ionic conductivity of the Li‐S batteries. The SPLTOPD can also prevent the aggregation of insulating sulfur species on the surface of the cathode. The assembled Li‐S batteries with the …

The Li metal anode emerges as a formidable competitor among anode materials for lithium–sulfur (Li‐S) batteries; nevertheless, safety issues pose a significant hurdle in its path toward commercial viability. This review enumerates three historical challenges inherent to the Li metal anode: unavoidable volume expansion, multifunctional solid electrolyte interface formation, and uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth. In particular, when paired with a sulfur cathode, the Li anode presents an additional unique hurdle: the shuttle effect. To address these issues, this article offers a thorough examination of the latest innovations aimed at stabilizing the Li metal anode within Li‐S batteries. We categorize these approaches into five classifications: liquid electrolyte optimization, enhancement of non‐liquid‐state electrolytes, Li metal surface modification, Li anode architecture design, and Li alloy improvement. For several …

Prediction of state of health (SOH) and remaining useful life (RUL) of lithium batteries (LIBs) are of great significance to the safety management of new energy systems. In this paper, time series features highly related to the RUL are mined from easily available battery parameters of voltage, current and temperature. By combining Savitzky-Golay (SG) filter with gated recurrent unit (GRU) neural networks, we developed a prediction model for the SOH and RUL of LIBs. The SG filter is used to denoise the aging features and the GRU model is used to predict RUL of LIBs with different charging strategies. Experiments and verification show that the proposed SG-GRU prediction model is an effective method for different applications, which could give out accurate prediction results under various charging strategies and different batteries with fast prediction response. The prediction model can accurately track the nonlinear …

Sluggish reaction kinetics and severe shuttling effect of lithium polysulfides seriously hinder the development of lithium‐sulfur batteries. Heterostructures, due to unique properties, have congenital advantages that are difficult to be achieved by single‐component materials in regulating lithium polysulfides by efficient catalysis and strong adsorption to solve the problems of poor reaction kinetics and serious shuttling effect of lithium‐sulfur batteries. In this review, the principles of heterostructures expediting lithium polysulfides conversion and anchoring lithium polysulfides are detailedly analyzed, and the application of heterostructures as sulfur host, interlayer, and separator modifier to improve the performance of lithium‐sulfur batteries is systematically reviewed. Finally, the problems that need to be solved in the future study and application of heterostructures in lithium‐sulfur batteries are prospected. This review will …

Lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) with extremely‐high theoretical energy density (2600 Wh kg−1) are deemed to be the most likely energy storage system to be commercialized. However, the polysulfides shuttling and lithium (Li) metal anode failure in LSBs limit its further commercialization. Herein, a versatile asymmetric separator and a Li‐rich lithium–magnesium (Li–Mg) alloy anode are applied in LSBs. The asymmetric separator is consisted of lithiated‐sulfonated porous organic polymer (SPOP‐Li) and Li6.75La3Zr1.75Nb0.25O12 (LLZNO) layers toward the cathode and anode, respectively. SPOP‐Li serves as a polysulfides barrier and Li‐ion conductor, while the LLZNO functions as an “ion redistributor”. Combining with a stable Li–Mg alloy anode, the symmetric cell achieves 5300 h of Li stripping/plating and the modified LSBs exhibit a long lifespan with an ultralow fading rate of 0.03% per cycle for over 1000 …

Lithium metal battery has been considered as one of the potential candidates for next‐generation energy storage systems. However, the dendrite growth issue in Li anodes results in low practical energy density, short lifespan, and poor safety performance. The strategies in suppressing Li dendrite growth are mostly conducted in materials‐level coin cells, while their validity in device‐level pouch cells is still under debate. It is imperative to address dendrite issues in pouch cells to realize the practical application of Li metal batteries. This review presents a comprehensive overview of the failure mechanism and regulation strategies of Li metal anodes in practical pouch cells. First, the gaps between the scientific findings in materials‐level coin cells and device‐level pouch cells are underscored. Specific attention is paid to the mechanistic understanding and quantitative discussion on the failure mechanisms of pouch …

Commercial Cu and Al current collectors for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) possess high electrical conductivity, suitable chemical and electrochemical stability. However, the relatively flat surface of traditional current collectors causes weak bonding strength and poor electrochemical contact between current collectors and electrode materials, resulting in potential detachment of active materials and rapid capacity degradation during extended cycling. Here, we report an ultrafast femtosecond laser strategy to manufacture hierarchical micro/nanostructures on commercial Al and Cu foils as current collectors for high‐performance LIBs. The hierarchically micro/nanostructured current collectors (HMNCCs) with high surface area and roughness offer strong adhesion to active materials, fast electronic delivery of entire electrodes, significantly improving reversible capacities and cyclic stability of HMNCCs based LIBs …

The commercialization of Li–S batteries is hindered by their bottlenecks especially the ‘shuttle effect’ and the corrosion of the lithium anodes. To alleviate the two important problems simultaneously and improve the service life of Li–S batteries, we modified commercial separators with Co3O4@MWCNT (carboxylate-terminated multi-walled carbon nanotube)(nano Co3O4@MWCNT modified DKJ-14 abbreviation NMD) for the batteries to improve the electrochemical performance of the unmodified batteries. The nano Co3O4 can catalyze the conversion of polysulfides, and MWCNT can reduce the charge transfer resistance of Li–S batteries. The NMD separators can physically barrier and catalytically convert polysulfides into Li2S, prevent the corrosion of anode, and suppress the ‘shuttle effect’ in the batteries. In addition, the charge transfer resistance of the modified separators is low. The Li–S battery with a NMD …

Cost-efficient, potassium–organic batteries with high stability are a high-profile technology for grid-scale energy storage. However, their development has been limited by the lack of stable cathode materials, which must be cost-effective without compromising performance. Here we present a commercially available organic cathode (BR-rGO) constructed by utilizing covalent bonding and intercalation strategies toward high energy density potassium storage. In our design, covalent bonds between BR and rGO effectively stabilize the structure of the electrode, thereby limiting the dissolution of organic materials in the electrolyte. Furthermore, intercalation of organic molecules into rGO layers provides more accessible active sites and K+/electron diffusion channels, leading to enhanced reaction kinetics. The resulting cathode delivered an excellent specific capacity of 127 mAh g−1 after 150 cycles at 0.2 A g−1 and …

Silicon monoxide (SiO) is an attractive anode material for next-generation lithium-ion batteries for its ultra-high theoretical capacity of 2680 mAh g−1. The studies to date have been limited to electrodes with a relatively low mass loading (< 3.5 mg cm−2), which has seriously restricted the areal capacity and its potential in practical devices. Maximizing areal capacity with such high-capacity materials is critical for capitalizing their potential in practical technologies. Herein, we report a monolithic three-dimensional (3D) large-sheet holey graphene framework/SiO (LHGF/SiO) composite for high-mass-loading electrode. By specifically using large-sheet holey graphene building blocks, we construct LHGF with super-elasticity and exceptional mechanical robustness, which is essential for accommodating the large volume change of SiO and ensuring the structure integrity even at ultrahigh mass loading. Additionally, the 3D …