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The utilization of solid-polymer electrolytes (SPEs) is of great interest to construct high-performance energy storage systems, owing to the high flexibility/elasticity, high thermal properties, reduced dendrite formation, suppression of cathode dissolution, and overcoming of leakage and safety issues associated with liquid electrolytes. Herein, we propose a flexible and highly Zn2+ conductive solid-polymer electrolyte (SPE) for solid-state zinc-ion batteries. The proposed PVA-inter-PEG30%/IL70% SPE exhibits high Zn2+ ionic conductivity (2.264 mS cm−1), low glass transition temperature (Tg = −10.2 °C), good thermal stability (>200 °C), and higher oxidation stability against zinc (∼2.8 V). Moreover, PVA-inter-PEG30%/IL70% SPE provides a stable interfacial contact to the zinc anode and enables dendrite-free zinc stripping/platting over 3000 h of cycling at 0.2 mA cm−2. The solid-state Zn//V10O24·nH2O cell fabricated with PVA-inter-PEG30%/IL70% SPE delivered a discharge capacity as high as 325 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and demonstrates good rate performance (∼325/110 mA h g−1 at 0.1/10 A g−1, respectively) with reasonable cycling stability. Besides, the PVA-inter-PEG30%/IL70% SPE applied in the fabrication of a flexible pouch-cell prototype demonstrates safety performance and can serve as promising and reliable energy storage devices for flexible and wearable applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N-doped carbon materials were prepared by in situ electrochemical pre-treatment of a carbon electrode in a deaerated non-aqueous electrolyte containing lithium nitrate. Li–O2 batteries, applying the novel N-doped carbon electrode, show a significantly reduced overpotential and enhanced O2-evolution efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]