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Vanadium flow batteries (VFBs) are considered one of the most promising candidates for large-scale energy storage. However, VFBs suffer from relatively low power density due to severe electrochemical polarization. Herein, we report Bi single atoms supported by an N-doped carbon-regulated graphite felt electrode (Bi SAs/NC@GF) with high electrocatalytic activity and stability, owing to the greatly improved active sites and optimized Bi–N4configuration. Electrochemical in situ characterization and theoretical calculations elucidate the desolvation process and specific inner sphere reaction mechanism of [V(H2O)6]3+/[V(H2O)6]2+. As a result, a VFB single cell assembled with Bi SAs/NC@GF achieves a much higher energy efficiency of 81.1% at 240 mA cm–2than NC@GF (70.5%). Moreover, a 5 kW VFB stack equipped with Bi SAs/NC@GF is assembled for the first time and ran stably for over 400 cycles. This work confirms that a single-atom catalyst is efficient for scalable VFBs with high power density and low cost.

Aqueous metal-based batteries are very promising for energy storage applications, owing to their high energy density and high safety. However, the plating of metal in the anode suffers from dendrite growth, which results in low areal capacity and poor reliability of the battery. Here, we design a PbBr(H2O)n+-based anolyte with solubility up to 2.4 mol L–1, fast metal ion transport, and excellent kinetic properties to construct a lead-based flow battery that demonstrates an areal capacity far beyond the state-of-the-art, together with long cycling life and excellent power performance. The coordination between Pb2+and Br–and the specific adsorption of Br–on the anode significantly weaken the concentration gradient near the electrode interface and realize unique under-potential deposition on the anode. The flow battery achieves an ultrahigh areal capacity of 433 mAh cm–2with a Coulombic efficiency of 95.22% and an energy efficiency of 87.37% at 40 mA cm–2, and long-term stability for over 2500 cycles at 200 mA cm–2, along with energy efficiency exceeding 80%.

This study systematically investigates the flow behavior of 7050 aluminum (Al) alloy produced via spray forming and subjected to a proposed pretreatment through thermal compression tests. The experimental findings reveal that the peak stress increased with decreasing deformation temperature or increasing strain rates. The parameters in the Arrhenius constitutive model were determined and verified by experimental results for spray formed (SFed) 7050 Al alloy. Hot deformation activation energy of the SFed 7050 Al alloy (147.38 kJ/mol) is notably lower than that of cast Al–Zn–Mg–Cu–Zr alloys, which is attributed to factors such as fine grains, low segregation, pores, and dispersed Al3Zr induced by pretreatment. Furthermore, processing maps have been constructed at various strains, revealing optimal stable deformation conditions at 300–450 °C/0.001–0.15s−1and 425–450 °C/0.2–1s−1. Microstructural analysis of deformed samples highlights the critical role of dynamic recrystallization in influencing the stable and unstable areas of the alloy, which may be activated by high temperature and slow strain rate. The hot deformation mechanism of the SFed Al alloy is governed by interactions among η-Mg(Zn,Al,Cu)2precipitates, dispersed Al3Zr particles, dislocation structures, and (sub-)grain boundaries.

Na3V2(PO4)2F3is recognized as a promising cathode for high energy density sodium-ion batteries due to its high average potential of ~3.95 V (vs Na/Na+). A high-voltage-resistant electrolyte is of high importance due to the long duration of 4.2 V (vs Na/Na+) when improving cyclability. Herein, a targeted electrolyte containing additives with two –C=N groups like succinonitrile has been designed. In this design, one –C=N group is accessible to the solvation sheath and enables the other –C=N in dinitrile being exposed and subsequently squeezed into the electric double layer. Then, the squeezed –C=N group is prone to a preferential adsorption on the electrode surface prior to the exposed –CH2/–CH3in Na+-solvent and oxidized to construct a stable and electrically insulating interface enriched CN–/NCO–/Na3N. The Na3V2(PO4)2F3-based sodium-ion batteries within a high-voltage of 2–4.3 V (vs Na/Na+) can accordingly achieve an excellent cycling stability (e.g., 95.07% reversible capacity at 1 C for 1,5-dicyanopentane and 98.4% at 2 C and 93.0% reversible capacity at 5 C for succinonitrile after 1000 cycles). This work proposes a new way to design high-voltage electrolytes for high energy density sodium-ion batteries.

By generating numbers heterogeneous interfaces, oxygen vacancies with a tendency to shrink are created. The content of trivalent Nb in Nb2O5increases accordingly, achieving the reported highest specific capacity of 315 mA h g−1.

Bioconjugation chemistry has emerged as a powerful tool for the modification of diverse biomolecules under mild conditions. Tetrazole, initially proposed as a bioorthogonal photoclick handle for 1,3-dipolar cyclization with alkenes, was later demonstrated to possess broader photoreactivity with carboxylic acids, serving as a versatile bioconjugation and photoaffinity labeling probe. In this study, we unexpectedly discovered and validated the photoreactivity between tetrazole and primary amine to afford a new 1,2,4-triazole cyclization product. Given the significance of functionalized N-heterocycles in medicinal chemistry, we successfully harnessed the serendipitously discovered reaction to synthesize both pharmacologically relevant DNA-encoded chemical libraries (DELs) and small molecule compounds bearing 1,2,4-triazole scaffolds. Furthermore, the mild reaction conditions and stable 1,2,4-triazole linkage found broad application in photoinduced bioconjugation scenarios, spanning from intramolecular peptide macrocyclization and templated DNA reaction cross-linking to intermolecular photoaffinity labeling of proteins. Triazole cross-linking products on lysine side chains were identified in tetrazole-labeled proteins, refining the comprehensive understanding of the photo-cross-linking profiles of tetrazole-based probes. Altogether, this tetrazole-amine bioconjugation expands the current bioconjugation toolbox and creates new possibilities at the interface of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology.

As a programmable accelerator, SmartNIC provides more opportunities for algorithmic packet classification. Our aim in this work is to achieve both line-speed rule search and efficient rule update, two highly desired metrics for SDN data plane. We leverage the parallelism offered by the FPGA in SmartNIC following an algorithm/hardware co-design paradigm. Particularly, we first design an algorithm that constructs multiple trees for the rule set with a recursive rule sifting process. Unlike traditional space-cutting-based multi-tree construction, our rule sifting mechanism breaks the space constraints of rule-to-tree mapping and enables bounded height on each tree, thus providing the potential of bounded worst-case and line-speed performance. We then design a flexible hardware architecture with multiple systolic arrays that can be implemented in parallel on FPGA. Each systolic array works as a coarse-grained pipeline, and the multiple trees constructed earlier will be mapped onto these pipeline stages. This hardware-software mapping enables bounded worst-case rule searching. Additionally, incremental rule update is achieved simply by traversing the pipeline in one pass, with little and bounded impact on rule searching. Experimental results show that our design achieves an average classification throughput of 600.8/147.5 MPPS and an update throughput of 8.2/5.9 MUPS for 10k/100k-scale 5-tuple and OpenFlow rule sets.

Rechargeable batteries currently hold the largest share of the electrochemical energy storage market, and they play a major role in the sustainable energy transition and industrial decarbonization to respond to global climate change. Due to the increased popularity of consumer electronics and electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries have quickly become the most successful rechargeable batteries in the past three decades, yet growing demands in diversified application scenarios call for new types of rechargeable batteries. Tremendous efforts are made to developing the next-generation post-Li-ion rechargeable batteries, which include, but are not limited to solid-state batteries, lithium–sulfur batteries, sodium-/potassium-ion batteries, organic batteries, magnesium-/zinc-ion batteries, aqueous batteries and flow batteries. Despite the great achievements, challenges persist in precise understandings about the electrochemical reaction and charge transfer process, and optimal design of key materials and interfaces in a battery. This roadmap tends to provide an overview about the current research progress, key challenges and future prospects of various types of rechargeable batteries. New computational methods for materials development, and characterization techniques will also be discussed as they play an important role in battery research.

Rolling bearings are vital components of rotating machinery, and their regular operation directly affects the machine lifespan and operating status. Aimed at improving the accuracy of fault diagnosis for rolling bearings, a hierarchical gray wolf optimizer (HGWO)-tuned flexible residual neural network (FResNet) with parallel attention module (PAM) is proposed. Specifically, a CNN-based flexible residual module is designed to form the FResNet, which allows changing the numbers of convolution layers and convolution kernels as an optimizer iterates. Optimal model structure and parameters are configured by the HGWO with a nonlinear convergence factor and hierarchical position update strategy. On the other hand, the PAM with convolutional layers is designed to fuse the output weights of channel and spatial attention. As a result, the integration of HGWO, PAM, and FResNet forms an effective model for bearing fault diagnosis, named HGWO-PAM-FResNet. Finally, the viability and efficacy of the proposed HGWO-PAM-FResNet model are verified using the bearing fault dataset from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), and the higher accuracy of the proposed model compared to other intelligent models is demonstrated under different noise and variable load conditions.

To obtain the criterion of whether the optical fiber composite overhead ground wire (OPGW) is iced and to estimate the ice thickness, this letter establishes a three-dimensional temperature field model for OPGW under icing conditions and validates it through the experiments. Based on this, sine function is used to simulate the time-varying ambient temperature, and the lag characteristics of the optical fiber temperature are discovered through the simulation and also the experiment. The concept of phase difference in the curves between optical fiber temperature and ambient temperature is proposed, and the relationships between the phase difference and the mean ambient temperature, fluctuation amplitude of ambient temperature, ice thickness are investigated. It reveals that the influence of mean value and fluctuation amplitude of ambient temperature on the phase difference can be neglected, and the relationship between the phase difference and the ice thickness is obtained. The criterion for determining transmission line icing based on the phase difference is proposed, along with a formula for ice thickness estimation.

The cast Al–3Li–2Cu-0.15Zr alloy is a promising material due to its high strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness. In this work, the Sn addition and heat treatment were employed to regulate its microstructure and mechanical properties. The results indicate that Sn exists in the matrix as Sn solute atoms and Sn-rich particles including Li5Sn2, Li13Sn5, Li7Sn2, and Li22Sn5. The number of these particles increases as the Sn content rises. The addition of Sn significantly enhances the grain refinement, reducing the average grain size to 50.2 μm when 0.3 wt% Sn is incorporated. During the aging process, the δ′ and δ'/β′ precipitates gradually grow and coarsen, while the T1and θ′ precipitates nucleate and grow. Some δ′ precipitates attach to the board of θ′ to form sandwich-like phases, such as δ'/θ'/δ'. The addition of Sn promotes the nucleation of θ′ and T1precipitates. This is achieved by leveraging the Sn-rich particles as nucleation sites and utilizing Sn solute atoms to decrease the interface energy between these precipitates and α-Al. Moreover, the addition of Sn with a high vacancy binding energy and the reduction of aging temperature can effectively decrease the diffusion rate of Li atoms and vacancies, thereby inhibiting the broadening of the δ′-PFZ. After a suitable heat treatment, the Sn-modified Al–Li alloy exhibits a microstructure characterized by fine and equiaxed grain, fine and uniform δ′ precipitates, and a narrow δ′-PFZ, contributing to excellent mechanical properties of the alloy. Significantly, the underlying mechanisms behind the aforementioned observations were discussed analytically.

Microwave (MW) thermal therapy has been widely used for the treatment of cancer in clinics, but it still shows limited efficacy and a high recurrence rate owing to non-selective heat delivery and thermo-resistance. Regulating glycolysis shows great promise to improve MW thermal therapy since glycolysis plays an important role in thermo-resistance, progression, metabolism, and recurrence. Herein, we developed a delivery nanosystem of shikonin (SK)-loaded and hyaluronic acid (HA)-modified hollow Fe-MOF (HFM), HFM@SK@HA, as an efficient glycolysis-meditated agent to improve the efficacy of MW thermal therapy. The HFM@SK@HA nanosystem shows a high SK loading capacity of 31.7 wt %. The loaded SK can be effectively released from the HFM@SK@HA under the stimulation of an acidic tumor microenvironment and MW irradiation, overcoming the intrinsically low solubility and severe toxicity of SK. We also find that the HFM@SK@HA can not only greatly improve the heating effect of MW in the tumor site but also mediate MW-enhancing dynamic therapy efficiency by catalyzing the endogenous H2O2to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). As such, the MW irradiation treatment in the presence of HFM@SK@HA in vitro enables a highly improved anti-tumor efficacy due to the combined effect of released SK and generated ROS on inhibiting glycolysis in cancer cells. Our in vivo experiments show that the tumor inhibition rate is up to 94.75% ± 3.63% with no obvious recurrence during the 2 weeks after treatment. This work provides a new strategy for improving the efficacy of MW thermal therapy.

• Semi-coherent τ(Al4MgGd) phase was designed and evaluated by cluster expansion method. • The atomic structure of τ(Al4MgGd) was confirmed by advanced characterizations. • Based on multiple semi-coherent τ phases and TiB2 particles, the underlying strengthening and ductilizing mechanisms were revealed. • Utilizing interface manipulation, the composite exhibited comprehensive properties to break the trade-off among shielding, strength and ductility for neutron shielding materials. Neutron shielding materials face imbalanced behaviors among shielding, strength, and ductility properties. Based on the requirement of the high property shielding particles, a superior semi-coherent τ(Al 4 MgGd) phase was designed and predicted by cluster expansion (CE) method using density functional theory calculations. To realize its shielding property, the Powder Metallurgy-based routines (i.e., powder fabrication, spark plasma sintering, and hot extrusion techniques) are used to fabricate 6TiB 2 /Al-6Mg-5Gd (wt.%) composite with dispersed refined τ phases and homogenized TiB 2 distribution. The atomic structure of ternary phase τ is examined by aberration-corrected high-angle annual dark-field (HAADF) scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) STEM experiments, which is well complied with the calculated compound (Al 4 MgGd). In detail, the τ(Al 4 MgGd) phase has a semi-coherent interface both with α-Al and TiB 2 , which is consistent with the prediction of interface relationships. With the optimized interfaces, the TiB 2 and τ phases can effectively promote recrystallization and suppress grain growth, leading to the formation of ultra-fine grain structure. Then, the composite exhibits advanced shielding properties (Macroscopic transmission cross section ∼24.1 /cm, higher than 30 %B 4 C/Al) and optimized synergic mechanical properties (Ultimate tensile strength ∼506 MPa, elongation ∼12.9 %), which are far higher than available Al-based neutron shielding materials. Finally, the underlying strength-ductility mechanisms are discussed. Critically, the design and optimization of shielding particle interfaces are reliable strategies for developing novel structural-functional integrated materials. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IMPORTANCE: DL-3-n-butylphthalide (NBP) is a drug for treating acute ischemic stroke and may play a neuroprotective role by acting on multiple active targets. The efficacy of NBP in patients with acute ischemic stroke receiving reperfusion therapy remains unknown. OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of NBP in patients with acute ischemic stroke receiving reperfusion therapy of intravenous thrombolysis and/or endovascular treatment. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel randomized clinical trial was conducted in 59 centers in China with 90-day follow-up. Of 1236 patients with acute ischemic stroke, 1216 patients 18 years and older diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke with a National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score ranging from 4 to 25 who could start the trial drug within 6 hours from symptom onset and received either intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) or endovascular treatment or intravenous rt-PA bridging to endovascular treatment were enrolled, after excluding 20 patients who declined to participate or did not meet eligibility criteria. Data were collected from July 1, 2018, to May 22, 2022. INTERVENTIONS: Within 6 hours after symptom onset, patients were randomized to receive NBP or placebo in a 1:1 ratio. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary efficacy outcome was the proportion of patients with a favorable outcome based on 90-day modified Rankin Scale score (a global stroke disability scale ranging from 0 [no symptoms or completely recovered] to 6 [death]) thresholds of 0 to 2 points, depending on baseline stroke severity. RESULTS: Of 1216 enrolled patients, 827 (68.0%) were men, and the median (IQR) age was 66 (56-72) years. A total of 607 were randomly assigned to the butylphthalide group and 609 to the placebo group. A favorable functional outcome at 90 days occurred in 344 patients (56.7%) in the butylphthalide group and 268 patients (44.0%) in the placebo group (odds ratio, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.35-2.14; P < .001). Serious adverse events within 90 days occurred in 61 patients (10.1%) in the butylphthalide group and 73 patients (12.0%) in the placebo group. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Among patients with acute ischemic stroke receiving intravenous thrombolysis and/or endovascular treatment, NBP was associated with a higher proportion of patients achieving a favorable functional outcome at 90 days compared with placebo. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03539445

As an important part of the additive manufacturing technology, wire arc additive manufacture (WAAM) is outstanding with high deposition efficiency, large size of deposited parts, short periodic time, and low costs. WAAM also shows potential in in-situ composite manufacturing and gradient material preparation. Given the potential in wire arc manufacturing of double-alloy gradient structured materials, the walls were deposited using alternating feeds (depositing a layer of A wire and then depositing a layer of B wire) of high-strength-low-plasticity ZL205 and low-strength-high-plasticity 4043 welding wire. In this process, the liquid phases of the two types of wire were efficiently mixed, which showed a regular distribution of molten pool track and avoided evident defects. Generally, through such gradient structure design, high-strength low-toughness materials and high-toughness low-strength materials can be effectively combined, which achieves the regulation of mechanical properties. Specifically, the overall structural and mechanical properties can be improved by adjusting the proportion of a certain component. As an extension from the wire arc printing technology, WAAM shows extremely high application potential and industrial values. Moreover, the addition of a dissimilar alloy can decrease the formation of columnar grains during additive manufacturing. Such compositional gradient can destroy the columnar extensive growth during the deposition in WAAM.

The electrolyte coordination structure-dependent intercalation chemistry has been directly observed over an Al/graphite model battery using operando X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements which suggest a new method to investigate the electrolyte-dependent intercalation and interface chemistry.

The incorporation of N-containing heterocycles with potential bioactivity into DNA-encoded chemical libraries (DELs) represents an important approach to synthesizing medicinally useful compound collections for high-throughput screening. Herein, we reported a synthetic methodology to afford a benzotriazinone core as a drug-like scaffold in a DNA-compatible manner through aryl diazonium intermediates. Starting from DNA-conjugated amines, anthranilic acid or isatoic anhydride building blocks were coupled to form chemically diversified anthranilamides, which were subsequently transformed into 1,2,3-benzotriazin-4(3H)-one via tert-butyl nitrite-triggered cyclization. This methodology features DEL synthesis compatibility through a mild diazonium intermediate mechanism, allowing late-stage decoration of the bioactive benzotriazinone cap on DNA-conjugated amines. The broad substrate scope and high conversion render this methodology a promising approach to diversifying and decorating DNA-encoded combinatorial peptide-like libraries with medicinally relevant heterocyclic moieties.

Antiscalants are widely used to control scaling in applications of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. However, whether charged antiscalants can enhance the rejection of oppositely charged contaminants by RO membranes remains unclear. We unexpectedly found that a negatively charged antiscalant, polyaspartic acid (PASP), can enhance the rejection of positively charged tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) by RO membranes. PASP significantly enhanced the rejection efficiency of relatively loose RO membranes more than the relatively dense ones. Using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D), Raman spectroscopy, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we unraveled that the electrostatic interaction between TMAH and PASP played a critical role in TMAH rejection enhancement. The complex of PASP and TMAH had an impact on the association of TMAH with functional groups of the RO membrane, which imposed additional energy barriers and hindered the ion diffusion. This study explores the unexpected positive role of antiscalants and provides new insights into contaminant removal by RO membranes.

A high conductivity and elasticity Si anode was fabricated via the composite-electroless-plating process. The styrene-butadiene rubber and Ni-P alloy inside and on the surface of the electrode improve the electronic transport and work as the elastic current collectors.

The effects of combined Ti and Zr addition on microstructures and mechanical properties are systematically investigated in Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy by microstructure characterizations and a physical-based model. The results show that combined addition of Ti and Zr can promote the precipitation of nano L12Al3(Ti,Zr) dispersoids, while primary D022Al3Ti and Al3(Ti,Zr) phases are formed during solidification when Ti addition is over 0.2 wt%. As compared to the 0Ti alloy, the ductility and toughness is enhanced markedly by 0.1–0.2 wt%Ti addition since the volume fraction of nano L12Al3(Ti,Zr) dispersoids is increased. Both the strength and ductility are significantly decreased when Ti addition is more than 0.35 wt%. The strain hardening behavior and fractured morphology analyses suggest that the deterioration of mechanical properties is mainly due to the localized recrystallization and cracks caused by coarse primary phases, which cause the higher dislocation dynamic recovery rate. Combined addition of minor Ti and Zr elements may provide a simple approach to improve toughness and simultaneously reduce cost in developing high-strength Al alloys.

A low-cost alkaline all iron flow battery with different discharge times for long-duration energy storage.

This study systematically investigated the effects of in-situ TiB2particles and Ti solutes on the grain structure, nanosized precipitates, precipitate-free zone (PFZ) near the grain boundaries, and the overall performance of the Al-Li-Cu-Xalloy. The TiB2particles are predominantly hexagonal or equiaxed in shape, with sizes primarily ranging from 30 to 250 nm and an average size of 126 nm. The addition of TiB2particles and Ti solutes effectively refines the grain size of the alloy. Incorporating in-situ TiB2particles significantly improves the Young's modulus and hardness of the composites. Furthermore, the presence of TiB2particles and Ti solutes accelerates the aging process, thereby reducing the time required to reach peak aging. During aging, δ′ precipitates gradually grow while decreasing in number density. TiB2particles have little effect on the size and number density of δ′ precipitates; however, TiB2particles promote the nucleation of T1-Al2CuLi precipitates, leading to more uniform and finer T1precipitates in the composites compared to the alloy without TiB2reinforcement. The half-width of δ′-PFZ in the Al-Li-Cu alloy and its composites follows the order: Ti-free composite > 1TiB2composite > 5M2S alloy. This indicates that adding TiB2particles facilitates the growth of the δ′-PFZ, while Ti solutes significantly inhibit its broadening. Moreover, lower aging temperatures enhance the inhibitory effect on the broadening of the δ′-PFZ. The addition of Ti solutes and in-situ TiB2particles leads to a significant improvement in mechanical properties. Critically, the underlying mechanisms driving the microstructural evolution and the resulting mechanical performance were thoroughly analyzed.

Future terawatt-scale deployment of flow batteries will require substantial capital cost reduction, particularly low-cost electrolytes and hydrocarbon ion exchange membranes. However, integration of hydrocarbon membranes with novel flow battery chemistries in commercial-scale stacks is yet to be demonstrated. Here, we report the pilot-scale synthesis and roll-to-roll manufacturing of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) membranes and demonstrate their high hydroxide conductivity and chemical stability in kW-scale alkaline-based flow batteries. The membrane was integrated in flow battery stacks with power up to 4,000 W, which demonstrated a high energy efficiency of 85.5% operated at 80 mA cm−2and long-term stable operation over 800 h as well as substantial cost savings relative to Nafion membranes. This work illustrates a potential pathway for manufacturing and upscaling of next-generation cost-effective flow batteries based on low-cost hydrocarbon membranes developed in the past decades to translate to large-scale applications for grid energy storage.

A novel low-cost bromine-fixed additive is proposed to relieve self-discharge in zinc bromine batteries. A solid complexed polybromide can be formed during charging, which can effectively limit the polybromide diffusion to anodic side.

Energy storage technologies have been identified as the key in constructing new electric power systems and achieving carbon neutrality, as they can absorb and smooth the renewables-generated electricity. Alkaline zinc-based flow batteries are well suitable for stationary energy storage applications, since they feature the advantages of high safety, high cell voltage and low cost. Currently, many alkaline zinc-based flow batteries have been proposed and developed, e.g., the alkaline zinc-iron flow battery and alkaline zinc—nickel flow battery. Their development and application are closely related to advanced materials and battery configurations. In this perspective, we will first provide a brief introduction and discussion of alkaline zinc-based flow batteries. Then we focus on these batteries from the perspective of their current status, challenges and prospects. The bottlenecks for these batteries are briefly analyzed. Combined with the practical requirements and development trends of alkaline zinc-based flow battery technologies, their future development and research direction will be summarized.

Inorganic halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) exhibit many excellent optical and semiconductor properties. Herein, CsPbBr3hexagonal NCs (HNCs) have been synthesized, and their photophysical behavior has been investigated in detail. The CsPbBr3cubic NCs (CNCs) act as references. The CsPbBr3HNCs exhibit apparent linear and two-photon fluorescence properties, and their two-photon absorption cross section is 4668.7 GM. In addition, the energy band, radiative channel, and carrier recombination of CsPbBr3HNCs have been analyzed compared to those of CsPbBr3NCs by changing the temperature and pressure. The photoluminescence (PL) property of CsPbBr3HNCs is always better than that of CsPbBr3CNCs since their electron–hole bimolecular recombination related to PL is much rapid. Our results provide comprehensive insights into the photophysical properties of inorganic halide perovskite nanomaterials and examine their potential in the optoelectronic field.

The construction of chemical libraries containing polysubstituted pyrazoline scaffolds is highly desirable for the discovery of novel chemical ligands for biological targets. Herein, we report a sequential DNA-encoded synthesis strategy for polysubstituted pyrazoline heterocycles, which fuses a broad panel of aldehydes, aryl amines, and alkenes as building blocks. Furthermore, mock library synthesis and selection demonstrated the ability of the method to produce DNA-encoded focused libraries with highly functionalized pyrazoline cores.

Zinc-based batteries are promising for use as energy storage devices owing to their low cost and high energy density. However, zinc chemistry commonly encounters serious dendrite issues, especially at high areal capacities and current densities, limiting their application. Herein, we propose a novel membrane featuring ordered undulating stripes called “Turing patterns”, which can effectively suppress zinc dendrites and improve ion conductivity. The crests and troughs in the Turing membrane can effectively adjust the Zn(OH)42–distribution and provide more zinc deposition space. The coordinated Cu ions during membrane formation can interact with Zn(OH)42–, further smoothing zinc deposition. Even at a high current density of 80 mA·cm–2, the Turing membrane enables an alkaline zinc–iron flow battery (AZIFB) to work stably with an ultrahigh areal capacity of 160 mA·h·cm–2for approximately 110 cycles, showing an energy efficiency of 90.10%, which is by far the highest value ever reported among zinc-based batteries with such a high current density. This paper provides valid access to zinc-based batteries with high areal capacities based on membrane design and promotes their advancement.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have gained increasing attention owing to their low cost and high safety. Although hydrated vanadium oxides exhibit rich redox chemistry and open layer architecture, the insertion of multivalent Zn2+during cycling inevitably leads to host collapse and severe vanadium dissolution. Accordingly, various ions and conducting polymers have been introduced into the interlayer to produce vanadium bronzes with a robust crystal structure. However, these pre-intercalated vanadium bronzes demonstrate limited improvement and still face the challenge of metal ion displacement and confusing reaction mechanisms. Herein, we report a novel molecular bronze with intercalated 3-phenylpropylamine for use as an AZIB cathode, which produces an ultrahigh interlayer of 18.0 Å. The cathode delivered an improved capacity of 420 mAh g−1at 0.1 A g−1, an impressive rate capability of 158 mAh g−1at 35 A g−1, and an outstanding lifespan with a capacity retention of 94% over 1200 cycles at 2A g−1. Furthermore, the reaction mechanism of H+/Zn2+co-insertion was investigated in detail. This work proves that this strategy is universal for vanadium oxide bronzes and opens a new avenue for the fabrication of novel molecular bronzes as advanced AZIB cathodes.

Vanadium flow batteries (VFBs) have drawn considerable attention as an emerging technology for large-scale energy storage systems (ESSs). One of the pivotal challenges is the availability of eligible ion exchange membranes (ICMs) that provide high ion selectivity, proton conductivity, and stability under rigorous condition. Herein, a ‘side-chain-type’ strategy has been employed to fabricate highly stable phenolphthalein-based cardo poly(arylene ether ketone)s (PAEKs) membrane with low area resistance (0.058 Ω cm2), in which flexible alkyl spacers effectively alleviated inductive withdrawing effect from terminal ion exchange groups thus enabling a stable backbone. The assembled VFBs based on PAEKs bearing pendent alkyl chain terminated with quaternary ammonium (Q-PPhEK) demonstrated an energy efficiency above 80% over 700 cycles at 160 mA/cm2. Such a remarkable results revealed that the side-chain-type strategy contributed to enhancing the ICMs stability in strong oxidizing environment, meanwhile, more interesting backbones would be woken with this design engaging in stable ICMs for VFBs.

A highly stable membrane with hierarchical core–shell structure endowing the batteries with high efficiencies and excellent cycling stability, simultaneously under a very wide pH range.

TEOS-modified Li with a lithiophilic silica layer facilitates the uniform deposition of lithium ions. In-depth study of the reaction mechanism of silicon oxide can provide a reference for the precise regulation of the structure and composition of the artificial SEI layer.

The ordered cone-structured tin (OCSn) electrocatalyst with controllable morphology and high surface area, was synthesized by Triton X-100 assisted electrodeposition. The catalyst exhibits high selectivity, activity as well as excellent stability for ERC.

Comprehensive descriptions of their crystal structure, electrochemical performance and Na+storage mechanism and reasonable improvement strategies in favor of high voltage & specific capacity operation and superior charge transfer kinetics were summarized and discussed.

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are considered as one of the most prospective candidates for electric vehicles, due to their superior theoretical energy density and low cost. However, the issues of polysulfide ion (PS) shuttling and uncontrollable Li dendrite growth hindered their further application. Herein, a multifunctional nanoporous polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane with well-controllable morphology was successfully designed and fabricated to address the aforementioned obstacles. In this design, the PBI membrane could offer strong chemical binding interaction with PS, thus applying dynamic adsorption toward PS as well as stable sulfur electrochemistry, which is further verified by experiments and density functional theory (DFT) simulation. Moreover, PBI membranes with high porosity and high electrolyte uptake capability can provide ample lithium storage space and abundant Li+supplements to facilitate Li deposition and improve Li metal batteries’ cyclic stability. Besides that, the PBI membrane has excellent mechanical and thermal stability and exclusive flame resistance, which guarantees the safety of the Li–S battery as well. As a result, Li–S batteries assembled with an as-developed PBI membrane demonstrated a remarkable rate capability of 780 mAh g–1at 2C and an impressive reversible capacity of 523 mAh g–1at 0.5C after 400 cycles, which is much higher than the commercial separators. More importantly, even with a lofty sulfur loading of 3 mg cm–2, a high discharge capacity of 744 mAh g–1(capacity retention 93.96%, at 0.1C after 100 cycles) can also be achieved. Overall, the current study highlighted a robust material platform for stable, safe, and efficient multifunctional separators for high-performance Li–S batteries.

Alkaline zinc–iron flow batteries (AZIFBs) are a very promising candidate for electrochemical energy storage. The electrolyte plays an important role in determining the energy density and reliability of a battery. The substantial water migration through a membrane during cycling is one of the critical issues that affect the reliability and performance of an AZIFB. In this work, it has been proven that the reason for water migration in AZIFBs is the synergetic effect of concentration gradient, different ionic strengths of negolyte and posolyte, and the electric field. To address the issue of water migration in AZIFBs, a series of additives are employed and the effects of additives on the water transfer behavior and electrochemical performance of AZIFBs are investigated in detail. The results indicate that all investigated additives can suppress water migration through a polybenzimidazole membrane because of the shrunken gap of osmotic pressure and ionic strength between negolyte and posolyte. Moreover, organic additives such as glucose can decrease battery performance because of the increased polarizability of the electrode, whereas inorganic additives such as Na2SO4demonstrate no distinct effect on battery performance. Specifically, an AZIFB that employs Na2SO4as an additive in the negative electrolyte can afford a Coulombic efficiency of ∼99% and a voltage efficiency of ∼88% for 120 cycles at 80 mA cm–2, together with a good effect for inhibiting water migration behavior. This paper presents an effective way to suppress water migration and increase the reliability of AZIFBs.

Aqueous organic-based flow batteries are increasingly receiving attention owing to their appealing traits of high safety and low cost. An economic and high-performance membrane is always regarded as the heart of the batteries. Here, we introduce a cost-effective, homemade porous membrane with high performance for alkaline quinone-based flow batteries. The membrane is constituted by highly stable poly(ether sulfone) (PES) and sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) that serves dual functions of (1) adjusting the membrane microstructure and (2) endowing the membrane with a charge trait. Benefiting from the well-tuned structure and charge property of the membrane, a high ion selectivity and transport of OH–with much higher mobility serving as the primary charge-balancing ion can be realized. By employing alkaline alizarin red (ARS)/ferro-ferricyanide flow battery as the platform, a battery delivers a coulombic efficiency (CE) of 98.28% and an energy efficiency (EE) of 85.81% at 40 mA cm–2, which is higher than that of the battery with a Nafion 212 membrane (CE ∼ 99.19%, EE ∼ 84.60%), however, with much lower cost. The successful application of homemade porous membrane may provide a new strategy to engineer and fabricate membranes with high efficiency for alkaline quinone-based flow batteries and further decrease the batteries’ cost.

Aqueous rechargeable metal-ion batteries (ARMBs) hold intrinsic advantages of high safety, low cost and environmental benignity for large scale energy storage technologies. However, the research on aqueous K-ion batteries (AKIBs) was hindered by limited materials. Herein, a novel AKIB was reported by employing environment-friendly 1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic dianhydride-derived polyimide (PNTCDA) as anode and Berlin green (FeHCF) as cathode. Both electrodes have high rate performance and excellent capacity retention during cycling. Kinetics researches verify the superior electrochemical property of PNTCDA in saturated KNO3solution. In-situ XRD of FeHCF demonstrates the unique shift of peak position and negligible distortion of lattice during the insertion/extraction of K+. The AKIB exhibits an attractive energy density of 46.9 Wh/kg and a high capacity retention of 74% in 300 cycles. More importantly, the battery can reach a super-high power of 2079.1 W/kg with an energy density of 24.2 Wh/kg, ranking relatively high among the ARIMs. This system extends the use of polyimide and points a way of AKIBs for grid-scale energy storage.

ZIF-8/CNF hybrid membranes were prepared through a facile layer-by-layer method with ozone treatment, which exhibit excellent electrochemical performance as electrode in supercapacitor.Image, graphical abstract

Alkali metals are ideal anodes for high-energy-density rechargeable batteries, while seriously hampered by limited cycle life and low areal capacities. To this end, rationally designed frameworks for dendrite-free and volume-changeless alkali-metal deposition at both high current densities and capacities are urgently required. Herein, a general 3D conductive Ti3C2TXMXene-melamine foam (MXene-MF) is demonstrated as an elastic scaffold for dendrite-free, high-areal-capacity alkali anodes (Li, Na, K). Owing to the lithiophilic nature of F-terminated MXene, conductive macroporous network, and excellent mechanical toughness, the constructed MXene-MF synchronously achieves a high current density of 50 mA cm–2for Li plating, high areal capacity (50 mAh cm–2) with high Coulombic efficiency (99%), and long lifetime (3800 h), surpassing the Li anodes reported recently. Meanwhile, MXene-MF shows flat voltage profiles for 720 h at 10 mA cm–2for the Na anode and 800 h at 5 mA cm–2for the K anode, indicative of the wide applicability. Notably, the high current density of 20 mA cm–2for 20 mAh cm–2for the Na anode, accompanying good recyclability was rarely achieved before. When coupled with sulfur or Na3V2(PO4)3cathodes, the assembled MXene-MF alkali (Li, Na)-based full batteries showcase enhanced rate capability and cycling stability, demonstrating the potential of MXene-MF for advanced alkali-metal batteries.

Tetragonal NaVPO4F has been regarded as an ideal cathode for sodium-ion batteries because of its high average plateau (3.8 V) and theoretical specific capacity (143 mA h g–1). However, the Na-storage performance is still hindered by unsatisfying thermal stability and poor conductivity. Herein, a stable tetragonal NaVPO4F has been synthesized by a novel solvent thermal method using a carbon coating precursor. The as-prepared NaVPO4F@C nanocomposite delivers a capacity of 133 mA h g–1at 0.2 C, corresponding to an excellent energy density of 509 W h kg–1; when coupled with an HC anode, the full cell still displays an outstanding performance of 124 mA h g–1at 0.05 C. Fast Na+diffusion kinetics (DNa+= 10–12to 10–10cm2s–1) and small volume change (4.4%) are exploited, which ensures good rate trait and cycling stability of tetragonal NaVPO4F. Further, the Na+extraction–insertion mechanism has been explored by analyzing the crystal structure change during in situ X-ray powder diffraction cycles.

This work demonstrates significant improvements in both the aging kinetics and precipitation hardening of an Al-Li-Cu alloy with the minor addition of Cd (0.06 at.%). The precipitation hardening effect of T 1 precipitates in casting Al-Li-Cu alloys has long been ignored since it is difficult to achieve a high number density of fine precipitates without a large number of dislocations. A detailed transmission electron microscopy investigation shows that the Cd addition has changed the distribution of T 1 precipitates from the conventional uneven distribution near dislocations or grain boundaries to a more homogeneous manner. Most of the Cd-rich nanoparticles were observed at the broad face and/or terminal of the T 1 platelets. It is highly likely that these nanoparticles act as heterogeneous nucleation sites, which consequently leads to a higher number density of T 1 precipitates. Moreover, Cd atoms were preferentially segregated within δ ′ precipitates, which can be attributed to the strong bonding between Li and Cd. The interactions between Cd and the T 1 (Al 2 CuLi) and δ ′ (Al 3 Li) precipitates in Al-Li-Cu alloy are first reported. The present study may propose a new mechanism to effectively improve precipitation kinetics and therefore the age-hardening effect of Al-Li-Cu alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have great potential as an electrochemical energy storage system because of the high theoretical energy density and acceptable cost of financial and environment. However, the shuttle effect leads to severe capacity fading and low coulombic efficiency. Here, graphitic carbon nitride (g–C3N4) is designed and prepared via a feasible and simple method from trithiocyanuric acid (TTCA) to anchor the polysulfides and suppress the shuttle effect. The obtained g–C3N4exhibits strong chemical interaction with polysulfides due to its high N–doping of 56.87 at%, which is beneficial to improve the cycling stability of Li–S batteries. Moreover, the novel porous framework and high specific surface area of g–C3N4also provide fast ion transport and broad reaction interface of sulfur cathode, facilitating high capacity output and superior rate performance of Li–S batteries. As a result, Li–S batteries assembled with g–C3N4can achieve high discharge capacity of 1200 mAh/g at 0.2 C and over 800 mAh/g is remained after 100 cycles with a coulombic efficiency more than 99.5%. When the C–rate rises to 5 C, the reversible capacity of Li–S batteries can still maintain at 607 mAh/g.

As one of the most promising cathodes for sodium-ion batteries, the polyanionic compounds still suffer from unsatisfactory capacity and rate performance resulting from poor electron conductivity. Furthermore, the charge-transfer kinetics, especially for Na+, becomes limiting as the mass loading increases. Herein, a robust free-standing electrode coupling optimal porous Na3V2(PO4)3@C microspheres with a bicontinuous charge transport network is designed and prepared by a simple casting method. In the design, the optimal porous carbon-coated microspheres, composed of some continuous nanorods, along with interwoven carbon nanofiber networks offer efficient electron transport and facile ion diffusion. Such an elaborate design enables impressive electron/ion conductivity, contributing to remarkable rate performance (116.1 mA h g–1at 0.2 C; 96 mA h g–1at 30 C) and outstanding cycling stability (90% capacity retention in 500 cycles at 1 C; 80% capacity retention in 5000 cycles at 10 C), which has surpassed other similar Na3V2(PO4)3-based free-standing electrodes as reported. More importantly, when mass loading extends to 8 mg cm–2, an excellent capacity retention of 75% at 10 C can be obtained. The research offers a new avenue into the rational design of porous microspheres electrode with high conductive charge transport network, indicating its superiority in practical applications.

In this work, lithium titanate (Li4Ti5O12)/N-doped carbon/stainless steel mesh (LTO/N-C/SSM) flexible electrodes for Li-ion capacitors were successfully prepared without binder via a facile method of electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) using hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as carbon source. The performances of LTO/N-C/SSM electrodes were investigated using half-cells with Li foil as counter electrode. The LTO/N-C/SSM flexible electrode exhibits an excellent rate capability and cycling stability. At a current rate of 50 C, the specific capacity of the LTO/N-C/SSM electrode reaches 94 mA h g−1. After 1000 cycles at 3 C, the discharge specific capacity of the LTO/N-C/SSM electrode remains 83%. The energy density and power density of the LICs full-cell based on the LTO/N-C/SSM electrode as anode and commercial activated carbon (AC) as cathode are 125 Wh kg−1and 3.5 kW kg−1, respectively.In this work, lithium titanate (Li4Ti5O12)/N-doped carbon/stainless steel mesh (LTO/N-C/SSM) flexible electrodes for Li-ion capacitors were successfully prepared without binder via a facile method of electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) using hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as carbon source. The LTO/N-C/SSM flexible electrode exhibits an excellent rate capability and cycling stability.

The relationship between the evolution of the active lithium consumed by solid electrolyte interface (SEI) and dead lithium during battery cycling and Coulombic efficiency (CE) is analyzed quantitatively using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. Uniform and stable SEI and self-healing electrostatic shield effects promote the uniform deposition of lithium metal, resulting in a transition of capacity decay from a dead Li-dominated model to a SEI-dominated model, improving the CE.

This review summarizes the status and prospect of oxygen vacancy-boosted thermocatalytic carbon dioxide hydrogenation, including construction methods, characterization techniques, mechanism routes, and application reactions of oxygen vacancies.

Prelithiation is a highly attractive technique to offset the irreversible lithium loss caused by the formation of the SEI film during the first charging cycle in lithium-ion batteries. Li3N is an ideal prelithiation reagent due to its high theoretical specific capacity, proper decomposing potential and no residues after decomposition. However, the chemical instability of Li3N inevitably limits its large-scale use as prelithiation additives. Here we successfully developed a facile surface passivation method to improve the stability of Li3N by immersing Li3N in both fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) and Vinylenecarbonate (VC) to in situ generate a coating layer on the Li3N surface via the spontaneous decomposition of the solvents. The coating composed of LiF, Li2CO3and lithium carbonate organics enables excellent stability of Li3N in the ambient environment. Remarkably, surface-passivated Li3N display a high prelithiation capacity of 1799 mAh/g and maintain a high capacity of 1612 mAh/g (almost 90 % of initial capacity) after exposed to humid air with 12 % relative humidity for 26 h. The effect of the compensation of lost active lithium is verified via a LiFePO4@ex-Li3N-coated//HC full cell, which exhibits not only a high capacity but also a stable cycling performance. The specific energy of LiFePO4@ex-Li3N-coated//HC full cell shows a remarkable increase compared to the LiFePO4//HC full cell, exhibiting ~29 % more specific energy after the 1st cycle, even Li3N-coated have been exposed to air with 12 % relative humidity for 26 h before use.

Zinc-based flow battery technologies are regarded as a promising solution for distributed energy storage. Nevertheless, their upscaling for practical applications is still confronted with challenges, e.g., dendritic zinc and limited areal capacity in anodes, relatively low power density, and reliability. In this perspective, we first review the development of battery components, cell stacks, and demonstration systems for zinc-based flow battery technologies from the perspectives of both fundamental research and engineering applications. The remaining challenges as well as the perspective for zinc-based flow battery technologies are also briefly discussed. We hope this perspective can help researchers and the community to recognize and understand the status of currently developed zinc-based flow batteries and their limitations as well as advancements in different perspectives, further directing future efforts to enhance their performance effectively.