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To significantly improve the electrochemical performance of tin-based materials as anodes for lithium ion batteries, hybridizing tin-based nanomaterials with carbon is an effective way. This is due to carbon materials serving not only as conductive networks to increase the electrical conductivity, but also as construct void to buffer volume expansion. However, the use of excess carbon in hybrids and the low lithium storage ability of the carbon could lead to the reduced total capacity of the electrode. Herein, we develop a simple and effective approach to the synthesis of EG/SnO2-x in which SnO2 nanoparticles are tightly anchored on the surface of expanded graphite (EG) with well-defined expanded structures and highly conductive frameworks. Benefiting from the rational mass loading of SnO2, as well as the high conductivity and strong lithium storage characteristic of EG, the EG/SnO2-3 hybrid displays outstanding electrochemical performance with excellent rate capability (e.g., 406.3 mAh g–1 at 1 A g−1) and long cycling stability (e.g., 262.7 mAh g−1 over 500 cycles). In particular, the large proportion of capacity secured from a narrow voltage range of 0.01–0.3 V, corresponding to a low average working potential, is vital for the hybrids applied in high voltage full-cell LIBs.

The development of zinc-air batteries with high-rate capability and long lifespan is critically important for their practical use, especially in smart grid and electric vehicle application. The formation of isolated zinc (i-Zn) on the zinc anode surface, however, could easily lead to deteriorated performance, such as rapid capacity decay. In particular, under the fast charging/discharging conditions, the electrochemical activities on the anode surface are complicated and severely suppressed. Thus, it is highly desirable to deeply understand the formation mechanism of i-Zn and its relationship with the electrochemical performance during extremely high-rate cycling. Herein, we employed a super-resolution dark-field microscope to

A three-dimensional (3D) holey graphene (hG) cross-linked with PEO solid electrolyte endows lithium metal batteries with the increased transfer number and rapid diffusion of Li+.

Rational design of carbon materials for electrochemical devices has attracted great attentions over the past decades. Doping carbon with heteroatoms has been widely proven to be an effective way to improve the physical and electrochemical properties of carbon. The selective types and doping level of heteroatoms, as well as simple and green doping routes, are keys to the development of heteroatoms doped carbon. Due to a strong synergistic effect generated by the co-doping of boron (B) and nitrogen (N), B, N co-doped carbon materials have been demonstrated to be promising catalysts for multiple electrochemical devices. Herein, we report an eco-friendly and one-step approach to synthesis of B, N co-doped graphene (B, N-G) using BN as B and N doping resources. The decomposition of BN under a controlled flow of water steam at high temperature not only enables a high-level B and N co-doping into carbon but also facilitates the formation of highly active catalytic sites. Benefiting from high co-doping level of heteroatoms and highly active catalytic sites (e.g., BC2O), the B, N-G as cathode for rechargeable lithium oxygen batteries displays outstanding lithium storage properties with an ultrahigh specific capacity of 18222 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 and good cycling stability with a limited specific capacity of 1000 mAh g−1 over 120 cycles at 1 A g−1.

The big challenge for practical lithium metal batteries is how to make full and reversible utilization of lithium anode. The preformed three-dimensional (3D) porous framework with numerous lithium nucleation sites is able to guide the lithium deposition in the cavity of 3D framework, suppressing the dendrite growth and dimensional change. Herein, we design a nanocapsule structure for lithium metal anodes consisting of 3D graphene with MgxLiy seeds inside. The 3D composite anode not only can be prepared in a simple and scalable process, but also can meet the requirements for both high energy density and long cycle life in the practical cells. During the observation of lithium deposition by transmission electron microscope, it was found that lithium metal was mainly deposited around the MgxLiy seeds within 3D graphene. Thereafter, when the composite anodes are well paired with the commercial LiFePO4 cathodes in coil cells and NCM811 (LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2) cathodes in pouch batteries, they are able to deliver the energy density exceeding 350 ​Wh·kg−1 and long cycle life (>150 cycles) with high energy retention (>85%). The 3D lithium metal/graphene composite anode in the present work provides a promising new avenue for the fabrication of high energy density Li-metal batteries.

Rechargeable aqueous Zn ion batteries have been regarded as one of the most promising candidates for next-generation energy storage devices due to their low cost, non-toxicity and high safety. However, the dendrite growth of Zn anode and severe undesired side-reactions largely limited their practical application. Here, we developed a bismuth (Bi)-PVDF layer with unique 3D cross-linked and branch-liked structures as a protective layer on the Zn surface (Zn@Bi-PVDF) to suppress the formation of Zn dendrites and side-reactions, leading to the uniform plating and stripping of Zn during the cycles. Consequently, the symmetric cell with Zn@Bi-PVDF electrodes exhibits long cycling life over 2400 h at a current density of 1 mA cm

The development of high-performance solid-polymer electrolytes (SPEs) is a key to the practical application of lithium metal batteries (LMBs). The use of two-dimensional (2D) inorganic nanofiller is an efficient way to build poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based SPEs with high ionic conductivity and stability. Herein, a series of 2D oxygen vacancy-rich Co3O4-y−x (x = 1, 2 and 3) with well-defined 2D nanostructures, a high surface area and controllable oxygen vacancy contents (Co3O4-y) was synthesized via a facile self-assembly method and NaBH4 reduction. When the 2D Co3O4-y−x (x = 1, 2 and 3) nanosheets are introduced as nanofillers in PEO-based SPEs, they can interact with the PEO to form a three-dimensional (3D) PEO/Co3O4-y film with uniform Li+ distribution and vertical diffusion channels, as well as strong adsorption of NO3− from LiNO3 electrolyte salt at the defective sites. As a result, the PEO/Co3O4-y−2 film reached a high ionic conductivity of 4.9 × 10−5 S cm−1, high Li+ a transference number of 0.51 and a wide electrochemical window over 4.6 V at 80 °C. The PEO/Co3O4-y−2 film enables the Li||PEO/Co3O4-y−2||LiFePO4 cell to deliver a high reversible capacity of 117.7 mAh g−1 at 2 C and to maintain 126.7 mAh g−1 at 1 C after 250 cycles with an initial capacity retention of 87.9%.

Although lithium ion batteries (LIBs) hold great promise as a next generation power supply, the poor rate capability of the graphite that is mainly used as the battery anode limits high-performance LIBs. Compared to other reported carbon-based materials, however, its relatively low average working voltage still makes it attractive. Herein, we were able to introduce carbon disulfide (CS2) at the edges of graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs) with rich –C=S/-C-S bonds via ball-milling graphite in the presence of CS2. The resultant edge-thionic acid-functionalized GnPs (TAGnPs) exhibited a larger accessible surface area and smaller particle size than pristine graphite. Importantly, the TAGnPs retained a long-range-ordered layered structure similar to pristine graphite. When the TAGnPs were used as anode materials for LIBs, they displayed superior rate capability (e.g., high average reversible capacities of 228.3, 208.1, 141.0 and 80.6 mAh g−1 at 0.5, 1, 2 and 5 A g−1, respectively) compared to pristine graphite and the reference edge-hydrogenated GnPs (HGnPs), which mainly have -C-H bonds at their edges. Theoretical calculations also indicated that the presence of –C=S/-C-S bonds at the edges of TAGnPs enabled stronger Li+ adsorption capability.

Power line corridor inspection plays a vital role in power system safe opera-tion, traditional human inspection’s low efficiency makes the novel inspectionmethod requiring high precision and high efficiency. Combined with thecurrent deep learning target detection algorithm based on high accuracy andstrong real-time performance, this paper proposes a YOLOV4-Tiny baseddrone real-time power line inspection method. The 5G and edge computingtechnology are combined properly forming a complete edge computing archi-tecture. The UAV is treated as an edge device with a YOLOV4-Tiny deep-learning-based object detection model and AI chip on board. Extensive exper-iments on real data demonstrate the 5G and Edge computing architecturecould satisfy the demands of real-time power inspection, and the intelligenceof the whole inspection improved significantly.

Summary: The 3d transition metals have been investigated as active centers in NiOOH to catalyze oxygen evolution reaction (OER); however, questions about the mechanism remain. Here, we study how cobalt (Co) and iron (Fe) doping and CoFe codoping determine the OER activity of NiOOH via experiments and theoretical calculations. The results show that both Co and Fe, with enhanced density of states near the Fermi level, decrease the overpotential by increasing the binding energy of O∗ and consequently exhibit higher activities than nickel. In particular, Fe, with nearly optimal O∗ binding energy, exhibits the lowest overpotential of 181 mV to reach 50 mA cm−2. In the case of CoFe codoping, Co alters the electronic states of Fe, which weakens the Fe-OOH bond and slightly increases the overpotential. Based on the calculated activities, an overpotential contour plot is constructed, providing guidance for catalyst design via modulating electronic structures and intermediate binding energies.

This paper reports the rational design and synthesis of a novel electron-withdrawing building block, thiazole flanked naphthalene diimide (TzNDI), which offers a coplanar conformation and deep-lying highest-occupied molecular orbitals energy level in resulting conjugated polymers. A series of conjugated polymers (PTzNDI-2FT, PTzNDI-T, PTzNDI-Se, and PTzNDI-2T) consisting of TzNDI and different donor units were synthesized and characterized. The polymers all possess a high molecular weight and excellent thermal property. Their intense light absorption in low energy bands suggests an enhanced intramolecular charge transfer. The organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on these polymers exhibit unipolar n-type transport characteristics with low off current and high on–off current ratio. More importantly, all the devices exhibit near ideal transfer curves with kink-free transfer characteristics. Among these polymers, PTzNDI-2FT exhibits the highest electron mobility (μe) of 0.57 cm2 V–1 s–1, outperformi...

A (MoS2/carbon fiber (CF))@MoS2@C hybrid has been prepared by an efficient method combining the electrospinning, hydrothermal and annealing techniques. Coupled with graphite as cathode, the hybrid enables the full cell (i.e., dual ion batteries) to deliver a high initial discharge capacity of 112.3 mAh g−1 at 0.2 A g−1 and maintain a high reversible capacity of 90.5 mAh g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 after 500 cycles. These remarkable sodium storage properties of (MoS2/CF)@MoS2@C are mainly attributed to its three-dimensional framework with its highly conductive, cross-linked structure, which effectively increases the conductivity of the hybrid and the mass loading of MoS2. Moreover, the MoS2 nanoplates embedded inside CF, as well as being sandwiched between the CF/MoS2 and a thin carbon layer, also can effectively buffer the pulverization and aggregation of the electrode, and thus maintain the structural integrity of (MoS2/CF)@MoS2@C during the charge-discharge process.

Heteroatoms doped carbon based materials with enhanced catalytic properties hold great potential in energy storage applications, including rechargeable lithium oxygen batteries (LOBs). However, large-scale production of heteroatoms co-doped carbon with high-level dopants as well as the precise control of uniformly distributed dopant location remain challenges. Holey graphene as an emerging carbon based material has attracted increased attention as cathode for LOBs due to its nanoholes through the graphene nanosheet basal plane. Apart from the given rapid diffusion channels for mass (e.g., O2 and Li+ ), the nanoholes also provide rich egdes for the mass adsorption and storage as well as the heteroatoms doping. Herein, we report an environment-friendly and simple approach to mass production of hG with abundant in-plane nanoholes via direct oxidation of reduced graphene oxides (rG) by a controlled flow gas of H2O. Based on the obtained hG, 3.0 at.% B and 2.1 at.% N atoms are further co-doped into the hG to form B, N-hG. Benefiting from its holey structures and the synergistic effect of B and N, the B, N-hG as cathode for LOBs displays promising properties with a maximum discharge capacity of 15340 mAh g−1 and long cycling stability over 117 cycles.

Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted increasing attention as one of the most promising candidates for cost-effective, high-energy rechargeable batteries. Owing to their high theoretical capacity and energy density, and rich electrochemical interaction with Na+ (V2+–V5+), a large number of vanadium(V)-based cathode materials, including vanadium oxides (e.g., V2O5 and VO2), vanadium bronzes (e.g., NaxVO2, NaV3O8, NaV6O15 and δ-NH4V4O10), V-based phosphates (e.g., Na3V2(PO4)3, VOPO4, NaVOPO4, Na7V3(P2O7)4 and Na2(VO)P2O7) and F-containing V-based polyanions (e.g., NaVPO4F, Na3V2(PO4)2F3 and Na3(VOx)2(PO4)2F3−2x), have been explored for SIBs. In this review, we mainly summarize the basic structures, modified/optimized structures, synthetic methods and morphology control of V-based cathode materials for SIBs. Additionally, major drawbacks, emerging challenges and some perspectives on the development of V-based cathode materials for SIBs are also discussed.

Lithium iodide (LiI) as cathode for lithium-iodine (Li-I 2 ) batteries hold great promise compared to I 2 mainly owing to its greater merits, including its potential pairing with a lithium-metal-free anode and only ~5% decrease in theoretical capacity. LiI confined within the meso-micro porous carbon polyhedrons (LiI@MCP) as cathode for Li-I 2 batteries has been studied for the first time. Benefiting from the rich meso-/micro-porous structures and highly conductive frameworks of MCP, the LiI@MCP with uniform distribution of LiI displays high reversible capacity, good rate abilities and superior long cycling life at 2C over 800 cycles with a low capacity decaying rate (0.021% per cycle). This work will open a new paradigm for the use of LiI as cathode for high-performance Li-I 2 batteries.

Solar-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a clean and powerful approach for renewable hydrogen production. The PEC performance of hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) is largely limited by its short hole diffusion length, which imposes restrictions on increasing the thickness for enough light absorption. In this work, we report a well-engineered three-dimensional (3D) Fe 2 O 3 /NTO (Nb-doped SnO 2 ) nanobowl heterojunction for PEC electrode, driven by a high-photovoltage perovskite solar cell (PSC), has boosted the efficiency greatly. The 3D heterojunction is made of an ultrathin Ti-doped hematite layer deposited on a periodic NTO nanobowl array. This PEC electrode, not only significantly improves the light absorption of the ultrathin hematite, but also enhances the interface contact. As a result, it exhibits ∼3.16 mA cm −2 photocurrent at 1.23 V vs the reversible hydrogen electrode with the Co–Pi cocatalyst. The tandem cell self-biased with a high-photovoltage PSC delivers up to 3.25% solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency, higher than those of state-of-the-art hematite-based PEC cells.

Metal-air batteries, especially Li-air batteries, have attracted significant research attention in the past decade. However, the electrochemical reactions between CO2 (0.04 % in ambient air) with Li anode may lead to the irreversible formation of insulating Li2CO3, making the battery less rechargeable. To make the Li-CO2 batteries usable under ambient conditions, it is critical to develop highly efficient catalysts for the CO2 reduction and evolution reactions and investigate the electrochemical behavior of Li-CO2 batteries. Here, we demonstrate a rechargeable Li-CO2 battery with a high reversibility by using B,N-codoped holey graphene as a highly efficient catalyst for CO2 reduction and evolution reactions. Benefiting from the unique porous holey nanostructure and high catalytic activity of the cathode, the as-prepared Li-CO2 batteries exhibit high reversibility, low polarization, excellent rate performance, and superior long-term cycling stability over 200 cycles at a high current density of 1.0 A g−1. Our results open up new possibilities for the development of long-term Li-air batteries reusable under ambient conditions, and the utilization and storage of CO2.

A highly efficient and continuous high-pressure homogenization (HPH) approach is developed for scalable production of graphene sheets and sandwich-structured α-Fe2O3/graphene hybrids by liquid-phase exfoliation of stage-1 FeCl3-based graphite intercalation compounds (GICs). The enlarged interlayer spacing of FeCl3-GICs facilitates their efficient exfoliation to produce high-quality graphene sheets. Moreover, sandwich-structured α-Fe2O3/few-layer graphene (FLG) hybrids are readily fabricated by thermally annealing the FeCl3 intercalated FLG sheets. As an anode material of Li-ion battery, α-Fe2O3/FLG hybrid shows a satisfactory long-term cycling performance with an excellent specific capacity of 1100.5 mA h g–1 after 350 cycles at 200 mA g–1. A high reversible capacity of 658.5 mA h g–1 is achieved after 200 cycles at 1 A g–1 and maintained without notable decay. The satisfactory cycling stability and the outstanding capability of α-Fe2O3/FLG hybrid are attributed to its unique sandwiched structure consisti...

Phosphorus has recently received extensive attention as a promising anode for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) due to its high theoretical capacity of 2,596 mAh·g–1. To develop high-performance phosphorus anodes for LIBs, carbon materials have been hybridized with phosphorus (P-C) to improve dispersion and conductivity. However, the specific capacity, rate capability, and cycling stability of P-C anodes are still less than satisfactory for practical applications. Furthermore, the exact effects of the carbon support on the electrochemical performance of the P-C anodes are not fully understood. Herein, a series of xP-yC anode materials for LIBs were prepared by a simple and efficient ball-milling method. 6P-4C and 3P-7C were found to be optimum mass ratios of x/y, and delivered initial discharge capacities of 1,803.5 and 1,585.3·mAh·g–1, respectively, at 0.1 C in the voltage range 0.02–2 V, with an initial capacity retention of 68.3% over 200 cycles (more than 4 months cycling life) and 40.8% over 450 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance of the 6P-4C and 3P-7C samples was attributed to a synergistic effect from both the adsorbed P and carbon.

Li–air batteries represent cutting edge electrochemical energy storage devices, but their practical applications have been precluded by the high cathode cost, the low discharge/charge efficiency, and/or the short battery lifetime. Here, we developed a low-cost, but very efficient, air electrode from porous nitrogen-doped holey graphene for rechargeable nonaqueous Li–O2 cells. The resultant Li–O2 cell can deliver a high round-trip efficiency (85%) and a long cycling life (>100 cycles) under controlled discharge/charge depths or a high capacity of 17 000 mAh/g under the full discharge/charge condition, superior to most other carbonaceous air cathodes. The observed superb performance for the air electrode based on the nitrogen-doped holey graphene can be attributed to its efficient metal-free catalytic activity and three-dimensional mass transport pathway. Therefore, this work represents a new approach to low-cost, efficient, metal-free, binder-free, and hierarchically porous air electrodes useful for energy...

Three-dimensional heterostructured NiCo2O4@MnMoO4 nanocolumn arrays (NCAs) on Ni foam were first fabricated through an improved two-step hydrothermal process associated with a successive annealing treatment. The hybrid NiCo2O4@MnMoO4 electrode exhibited remarkable pseudocapacitor property with high initial mass specific capacitance of 1705.3 F g(-1) at 5 mA cm(-2), and retained 92.6% after 5000 cycles, compared to the bare NiCo2O4 electrode with 839.1 F g(-1) and 90.9%. The excellent capacitive property of the NiCo2O4@MnMoO4 hydrid was attributed to its high-electron/ion-transfer rate, large electrolyte infiltrate area, and more electroactive reaction sites.

Electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) play a crucial role in renewable-energy technologies, including metal-air batteries and fuel cells. However, development of novel catalysts with high activity and low cost remains a great challenge. Here, we present hierarchical MnO 2 /reduced graphene oxide (MnO 2 /rGO) hybrid nanosheets by using a facile method and study its electrocatalytic performance. Cyclic voltammograms, and rotating disk electrode and rotating ring/disk electrode measurements demonstrate that the hierarchical MnO 2 /rGO hybrid nanosheets exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity for the ORR in an alkaline medium, as evidenced by their higher cathodic current density, more positive onset potential, lower H 2 O 2 yield, and higher electron transfer number compared to pure rGO. The excellent catalytic activity of the MnO 2 /rGO hybrid nanosheets highlights the importance of the synergetic chemical coupling effect between the ultrathin MnO 2 nanosheets and the graphene layer.

Carbon materials as promising anodes for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) have attracted great attentions owing to their high theoretical capacities and rich natural resources. To improve anode performance of carbon, several common strategies have been developed, such as the fabrication of carbon with various nanostructures and modification of carbon frameworks by heteroatoms doping. Besides, the introduction of transition metal single atom or atom clusters embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon frameworks is also a feasible route. Herein, we report a simple and effective approach for synthesis of Con@N-C hybrids (i.e., Co@N-C-0, Con@N-C-1 and Con@N-C-2) with interconnected porous carbon nanostructures and numerous active sites (e.g., Co-N-C). When it was measured as anode for LIBs, the Con@N-C-1 hybrid displayed outstanding lithium storage properties with a high initial reversible capacity of 1587 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C and maintained a high reversible capacity of 1000 mAh g−1 at 5 C after 800 cycles. Both experimental and theoretical results reveal that Co-N-C with high specific activity along with interconnected porous carbon nanostructures synergistically promote the transportation and storage of Li+.

3d transition metals have been investigated as active centers in Ni(OH)2 to catalyze oxygen evolution reaction (OER), while conflicts of mechanism still exist. Herein, we studied how Ni, Co and Fe determine the OER activity in atomically thin Ni(OH)2 via experiments and theoretical calculations. The results show that both Co and Fe, with enhanced density of states near the Fermi level, decrease the overpotential by increasing the binding energy of O* and consequently exhibit higher catalytic activities than Ni. In particular, Fe, with nearly optimal O* binding energy, exhibits the lowest overpotential of 181 mV to reach 50 mA cm-2. In the case of CoFe co-doping, Co alters the electronic states of Fe, which weakens the Fe-OOH bond and slightly increases the overpotential. Based on the calculated activities, an overpotential contour plot is constructed, providing guidance for rational catalyst design via modulating electronic structures and intermediate binding energies.

Electrochemical and photocatalytic water splitting provide great opportunities to meet the increasing demands of energy and, also environmental concerns. Efficiency of the two systems is highly dependent on the electrocatalysts and photocatalysts. Carbon-based materials that own unique advantages including diversity of structure, good electrical conductivity, and a combination of mechanical strength and lightness have been widely investigated in water splitting. In this chapter, we review the recent development in this research field. We start with the introduction of fundamentals of electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water splitting (e.g., photoexcitation process, hydrogen evolution reaction, and oxygen evolution reaction), followed by surveying various forms of carbon-based materials and their applications in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical water splitting. In particular, we analyze the performance enhancement mechanisms to elicit fundamental insights. Additionally, we briefly outline the challenges and prospects of this research field.

Antimony- (Sb) based materials have been considered as one of promising anodes for sodium ion batteries (SIBs) owing to their high theoretical capacities and appropriate sodium inserting potentials. So far, the reported energy density and cycling stability of the Sb-based anodes for SIBs are quite limited and need to be significantly improved. Here, we develop a novel Sb/C hybrid encapsulating the Sb nanorods into highly conductive N and S codoped carbon (Sb@(N, S–C)) frameworks. As an anode for SIBs, the Sb@(N, S–C) hybrid maintains high reversible capacities of 621.1 mAh g–1 at 100 mA g–1 after 150 cycles, and 390.8 mAh g–1 at 1 A g–1 after 1000 cycles. At higher current densities of 2, 5, and 10 A g–1, the Sb@(N, S–C) hybrid also can display high reversible capacities of 534.4, 430.8, and 374.7 mAh g–1, respectively. Such impressive sodium storage properties are mainly attributed to the unique cross-linked carbon networks providing highly conductive frameworks for fast transfer of ions and electrons, a...

Amorphous nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets was synthesized through thermal decomposition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid manganese disodium salt hydrate (C 10 H 12 N 2 O 8 MnNa 2 ⿿2H 2 O). The as-synthesized nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transition electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The N content of the as-synthesized carbon nanosheets could reach as high as 11.77 at.%, with an especially high total of 7.94 at.% pyridinic N pluspyrrolic N. When tested as anode material for lithium ion batteries, the optimized carbon nanosheets exhibited high capacity, excellent rate capability, and stable cyclability over 600 cycles. The specific capacity was still as high as 465.8 mAh g ⿿1 at 0.5 C after 600 cycles,with a capacity decay from the 2nd cycle of 0.05% per cycle over 599 cycles. The excellent performance of C-600 is attributed to a synergistic effect of high surface area, numerous nanopores, high thermal stability, and low charge transfer resistance.

Sb/Cu2Sb/C composites are synthesized via a thermolysis approach with copper citrate and antimony acetate as precursors, respectively. The as-synthesized composites display an initial reversible capacity of 602 mA h g−1 and maintain 461 mA h g−1 after 60 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance of the Sb/Cu2Sb/C composites can be ascribed to the presence of Sb/Cu2Sb and amorphous carbon layers. The amorphous carbon layers could prevent the damage of electrodes that resulted from large volume expansion. The Sb/Cu2Sb improves their electronic conductivity.

Nitrogen-doped holey graphene (N-hG) as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries has delivered a maximum volumetric capacity of 384 mAh cm(-3) with an excellent long-term cycling life up to 6000 cycles, and as an electrochemical capacitor has delivered a maximum volumetric energy density of 171.2 Wh L(-1) and a volumetric capacitance of 201.6 F cm(-3) .

Graphene-like nanomaterials have received tremendous research interest due to their atomic thickness and fascinating properties. Previous studies mainly focus on the modulation of their electronic structures, which undoubtedly optimizes the electronic properties, but is not the only determinant of performance in practical applications. Herein, we propose a generalized strategy to incrementally manipulate the architectures of several atomically thin transition metal (hydr)oxides, and study their effects on catalytic water oxidation. The results demonstrate the obvious superiority of a wrinkled nanosheet architecture in both catalytic activity and durability. For instance, wrinkled Ni(OH)2 nanosheets display a low overpotential of 358.2 mV at 10 mA cm–2, a high current density of 187.2 mA cm–2 at 500 mV, a small Tafel slope of 54.4 mV dec–1, and excellent long-term durability with gradually optimized performance, significantly outperforming other nanosheet architectures and previously reported catalysts. Th...