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Summary: Due to the increasing energy demand and to help integrate renewable energy into the energy mix, large‐scale energy storage has become essential. Among the different large‐scale secondary battery technologies, zinc‐ion batteries (ZIBs) have attracted huge attention due to their lower cost, better safety, and environmental positivity. The aqueous electrolyte in ZIBs allows the batteries to be constructed under normal atmospheric conditions and substantially reduces the assembling complexity. However, due to its low working voltage, cathode materials are often restricted, and rectifying voltage is a crucial function. Increasing the cathode voltage necessitates an increase in the electrolyte's thermodynamic stability. Additionally, the process of zinc‐ion storage should be studied in greater depth and new variants of characterization can be used to precisely understand the storage mechanism. In this regard, this article has reviewed with recent research findings addressing these issues and possible advancements made in the ZIB technology, highlighting future possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High quality of thermochromic VO2 coatings were grown onto ITO-coated quartz by thermal oxidation of ac magnetron sputtered vanadium oxide films. The thermochromic properties of VO2 coatings were investigated by means of IR transmittance and Raman scattering measurements as a function of temperature (up to 100 °C). It is observed that the IR transmittance of VO2 decreased by increasing temperature, that is the signature of the semiconductor-to-metallic transition (SMT). The associated transition temperature was found to be around 56 °C. At room temperature, the Raman analysis showed only the presence of vibrational modes of the pure VO2 phase. However, the temperature dependent Raman measurements showed that the scattered signals decreased by increasing the temperature and they disappeared completely when the VO2 switched to its metallic state. The structural phase transition from a monoclinic crystalline structure (at room temperature) to a tetragonal rutile type structure (at high temperature) appeared at relatively high temperature (~ 75 °C) compared to the SMT transition temperature (~ 56 °C). The evolution of vibrational Raman modes in the heating and cooling cycles showed relatively large hysteresis (~ 10 °C). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]