The metallic Na has been regarded as the most promising anode for next-generation sodium metal batteries (SMBs) owing to its high theoretical specific capacity, low redox potential, and low cost. The practical applications of Na metal, however, have still been severely hindered by the uncontrolled sodium dendrites growth during Na deposition and stripping processes, which leads to low Coulombic efficiency and poor cycling stability. In this study, sub-nano zinc oxide (ZnO) uniformly dispersed in three-dimensional (3D) porous nitrogen-doped (N-doped) carbon nanocube (ZnO@NC) was acquired as a stable host for dendrite-free Na metal anode. Benefiting from the in-situ electrochemically formed sodiophilic nucleation site (NaZn₁₃ alloy) and the enriched pore structure, rapid and uniform sodium deposition behavior can be performed. As expected, the ZnO@NC electrode delivers impressive electrochemical performance, an ultra-high areal capacity of 20 mAh·cm⁻² in the half-cell can be maintained for 2,000 h. In the symmetrical-cell, it can also exhibit up to 3,000 h at 3 mA·cm⁻² and 3 mAh·cm⁻² with low polarization potential. Furthermore, in the full-cell that matches with Prussian blue (PB) cathode, the Na@ZnO@NC anode performs the outstanding long-cycling and rate performance. Therefore, this work provides an effective strategy to inhibit the growth of Na dendrites for the development of high-safety and long-cycling SMBs.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery has attracted intensive attention in the realm of energy storage owing to its high theoretical capacity and energy density. However, the shuttle effect of soluble lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) between electrodes results in rapid capacity degradation. Herein, a strategy which combines the design of both chemical interaction and microstructure of interlayer was proposed to suppress the shuttle effect. The chemical interaction between different functionalized MOFs and LiPSs was systematically studied to find the best candidate. Furthermore, an interlayer with ordered structure was constructed via the layer-by-layer assembly of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) on graphene (UiO-66-NH₂@graphene) to create sinuous channels which can better impede the diffusion process of LiPSs by the strong adsorption of MOF toward LiPSs. Consequently, in comparison to the battery with a bare separator, the ordered interlayer increased the initial discharge capacity of battery by 28.98% at 1.0 C and lowered the capacity decay rate remarkably from 0.10% to 0.067% per cycle, indicating that the design of chemical interaction and microstructure paves the way for high-performance Li-S batteries.

Metal halide perovskite nanocrystals have attracted great attention of researchers due to their unique optoelectronic properties such as high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), narrow full width at half-maximum (FWHM), long exciton diffusion length and high carrier mobility, which have been widely used in diverse fields including solar cells, photodetectors, light-emitting diodes, and lasers. Very recently, metal halide perovskites have emerged as a new class of materials in photocatalysis due to their promising photocatalytic performance. In this review, we summarize the recent advances on synthesis, modification and functionalization, with a specific focus on the photocatalytic application of metal halide perovskite nanocrystals. Finally, a brief outlook is proposed to point out the challenges in this emerging area. The goal of this view is to introduce the photocatalytic application of the metal halide perovskites and motivate researchers from different fields to explore more potentials in catalysis.

Heterostructured bimetal nanocrystals with a component having localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) property are promising photocatalysts for a series of reactions. In this work, kinetic products of Pd-Ag with a screwdriver-like heterostructure have been successfully fabricated via the selective epitaxial growth of Ag on Pd nanowires (NWs). It was confirmed that the deposition rate (V_deposition) of Ag is much more sensitive to the temperature, compared to the surface diffusion rate (V_diffusion) which can be effectively reduced by the binding of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) molecules. Then the magnitude of V_deposition/V_diffusion has been well tailored for the formation of a kinetic growth environment. The interactions between the components of the as-prepared Pd-Ag heterostructures resulted in intensified LSPR effects. As a result, they gained better photocatalytic performance toward solvent free aerobic oxidation of toluene than Pd NWs, Ag NWs and the mixture of them. Additionally, the Pd-Ag heterostructured nanocrystals exhibited excellent catalytic stability for recycling. This work not only presents an idea for realizing kinetic growth but also supports that LSPR effect is a good tool for improving the photocatalytic activity.

Developing non-precious metal catalysts with high activity and stability for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of great significance in both science and technology. In this work, N-doped CMK-3, which was prepared with a casting method using SBA-15 as the hard template and ammonia as the nitrogen source, has been utilized to hold MoS₂ and restrict its growth to form MoS₂@N-CMK-3 composite. As a result, MoS₂ was found to have poorly crystallized and the limited space of porous N-CMK-3 made its size much small. Then there are more active sites in MoS₂. Accordingly, MoS₂@N-CMK-3 has exhibited good electrocatalytic performance toward HER in acids with a quite small Tafel slope of 32 mV·dec^-1. And more importantly, compared to MoS₂@CMK-3, its stability has been greatly improved, which can be attributed to the interaction between MoS₂ and nitrogen atoms avoiding aggregation and mass loss. This work provides an idea that doping a porous carbon support with nitrogen is an effective way to enhance the stability of the catalyst.

Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) that can be operated under extended temperature range hold significant application potentials. Here in this work, we successfully synthesized Co₂V₂O₇ electrode with rich porosity from a facile hydrothermal and combustion process. When applied as anode for LIBs, the electrode displayed excellent stability and rate performance in a wide range of temperatures. Remarkably, a stable capacity of 206 mAh·g^-1 was retained after cycling at a high current density of 10 A·g^-1 for 6,000 cycles at room temperature (25 °C). And even when tested under extreme conditions, i.e., -20 and 60 °C, the battery still maintained its remarkable stability and rate capability. For example, at -20 °C, a capacity of 633 mAh·g^-1 was retained after 50 cycles at 0.1 A·g^-1; and even after cycling at 60 °C at 10 A·g^-1 for 1,000 cycles, a reversible capacity of 885 mAh·g^-1 can be achieved. We believe the development of such electrode material will facilitate progress of the next-generation LIBs with wide operating windows.

Two-dimensional (2D) WS₂ offers great prospects for assembling next-generation optoelectronic and electronic devices due to its thickness-dependent optical and electronic properties. However, layer-number-controlled growth of WS₂ is still a challenge up to now. This work presents controlled growth of bilayer WS₂ triangular flakes by carbon-nanoparticle-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. The growth mechanism is also proposed. In addition, the field effect transistors (FETs) based on monolayer and bilayer WS₂ are also fabricated and investigated. The bilayer FET displays a mobility of 34 cm²·V^-1·s^-1, much higher than that of the monolayer FET. The high figures of merit make bilayer WS₂ a promising candidate in high-performance electronics and optoelectronics.