Room-temperature sodium–sulfur (RT Na–S) batteries are highly competitive energy storage devices due to their abundant natural reserves, low cost, and excellent theoretical energy density. S cathode, as an important component of RT Na–S, has challenges during charging/discharging processes, including large fluctuations in the volume of the S species during sodiation/desodiation, severe shuttle effect, and sluggish reaction kinetics, which greatly limit the development and practical application of RT Na–S. To solve these problems, the researchers designed a variety of reactors with different morphologies to inhibit the shuttling of sodium polysulfides (NaPSs) through van der Waals forces and mitigate the volume change during charging/discharging processes. It was found that the addition of suitable catalyst materials could increase the ion/electron transport rate of S cathode and improve the electrochemical performance through adsorption-catalysis synergy. Herein, a comprehensive review is conducted for the improvement work of RT Na–S battery cathode in the last decade, including reactor design, catalyst design, and S cathode design. Finally, the major challenges facing the development of cathode materials for RT Na–S batteries are summarized, and their future directions are outlined.

Cost-effectively, eco-friendly rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have reserved widespread concerns and become outstanding candidate in energy storage systems. However, the progress pace of AZIBs suffers from limitation of suitable and affordable cathode materials. Herein, a double-effect strategy is realized in a one-step hydrothermal treatment to prepare V₂O₅ nanoribbons with intercalation of Ce and introduction of abundant oxygen defects (O_d-Ce@V₂O₅) to enhance electrochemical performance synergistically. Coupled with the theoretical calculation results, the introduction of Ce ions intercalation and oxygen vacancies in V₂O₅ structure enhances the electrical conductivity, reduces the adsorption energy of zinc ions, enlarges the interlayer distance, renders the structure more stable, and facilitates rapid diffusion kinetics. As expected, the desirable cathode delivers the reversible capacity of 444 mAh·g⁻¹ at 0.5 A·g⁻¹ and shows excellent Coulombic efficiency, as well as an extraordinary energy density of 304.9 Wh·kg⁻¹. The strategy proposed here may aid in the further development of cathode materials with stable performance for AZIBs.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have been widely investigated attributed to their advantages of high energy density and cost effectiveness. However, it is still limited by the uncontrolled shuttle effect of the sulfur cathode and the promiscuous dendrite growth over the lithium anode. To handle the above issues, the highly conductive CoTe catalyst is precisely loaded onto nitrogen-doped nanotube and graphene-like carbon (CoTe $\subset$NCGs), which is employed as a bi-functionally integrated host. On the lithium anode, the CoTe $\subset$NCGs with excellent lithiophilic property effectively regulate the uniform deposition of lithium and achieve the effect of suppressing the disorderly growth of lithium dendrites. On the sulfur cathode, the electrochemical conversion of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) is catalyzed to mitigate the notorious shuttle effect. In view of the bifunctionality of CoTe $\subset$NCGs, the assembled full cell can be steadily stable even for 800 cycles at a high rate of 2 C, and the capacity decay rate is only 0.05% per cycle. The areal capacity of 6.0 mAh·cm⁻² is well retained after 50 cycles under the conditions of high sulfur loading, poor electrolyte (a low electrolyte-to-sulfur ratio, E/S = 4.2), and low negative to positive capacity ratio (N/P=1.6:1).

Silicon-based materials has attracted attention as a promising candidate for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with high energy density. However, severe volume variation, pulverization, and poor conductivity hindered the development of Si based materials. In this study, porous Si microparticles supported by carbon nanotubes (p-Si/CNT) are fabricated through simple molten salt assisted dealloying process at low temperature followed by acid treatment. The ZnCl₂ molten salt not only provides the liquid environment to enhance the reaction, but also participates the dealloying process and works as template for porous structure when removes by acid treatment. Additionally, distribution of defect sites in CNTs also increases after molten salt process. Density function theory (DFT) calculations further prove the defects could improve the adsorption of Li⁺. The participation of CNTs can also contribute to the reaction kinetics and retain the integrity of the electrode. As expected, the p-Si/CNT anode manifests enhanced lithium-storage performance in terms of superior cycling stability and good rate capability. The p-Si/CNT//LiCoO₂ full cell assembly further demonstrates its potential as a prospective anode for high-performance LIBs.

The exploitation of new sulfiphilic and catalytic materials is considered as the promising strategy to overcome severe shuttle effect and sluggish kinetics conversion of lithium polysulfides within lithium−sulfur batteries. Herein, we design and fabricate monodisperse VN ultrafine nanocrystals immobilized on nitrogen-doped carbon hybrid nanosheets (VN@NCSs) via an one-step in-situ self- template and self-reduction strategy, which simultaneously promotes the interaction with polysulfides and the kinetics of the sulfur conversion reactions demonstrated by experimental and theoretical results. By virtue of the multifunctional structural features of VN@NCSs, the cell with ultrathin VN@NCSs (only 5 μm thickness) modified separator indicates improved electrochemical performances with long cycling stability over 1, 000 cycles at 2 C with only 0.041% capacity decay per cycle and excellent rate capability (787.6 mAh·g⁻¹ at 10 C). Importantly, it delivers an areal reversible capacity of 3.71 mAh·cm⁻² accompanied by robust cycling life.