Atomic scale engineering of materials and interfaces has become increasingly important in material manufacturing. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a technology that can offer many unique properties to achieve atomic-scale material manufacturing controllability. Herein, we discuss this ALD technology for its applications, attributes, technology status and challenges. We envision that the ALD technology will continue making significant contributions to various industries and technologies in the coming years.

Exploring a novel strategy for large-scale production of battery-type Ni(OH)₂-based composites, with excellent capacitive performance, is still greatly challenging. Herein, we developed a facile and cost-effective strategy to in situ grow a layer of Ni(OH)₂/Ti₃C₂T_x composite on the nickel foam (NF) collector, where Ti₃C₂T_x is not only a conductive component, but also a catalyst that accelerates the oxidation of NF to Ni(OH)₂. Detailed analysis reveals that the crystallinity, morphology, and electronic structure of the integrated electrode can be tuned via the electrochemical activation, which is beneficial for improving electrical conductivity and redox activity. As expected, the integrated electrode shows a specific capacity of 1.09 C cm⁻² at 1 mA cm⁻² after three custom activation cycles and maintains 92.4% of the initial capacity after 1500 cycles. Moreover, a hybrid supercapacitor composed of Ni(OH)₂/Ti₃C₂T_x/NF cathode and activated carbon anode provides an energy density of 0.1 mWh cm⁻² at a power density of 0.97 mW cm⁻², and excellent cycling stability with about 110% capacity retention rate after 5000 cycles. This work would afford an economical and convenient method to steer commercial Ni foam into advanced Ni(OH)₂-based composite materials as binder-free electrodes for hybrid supercapacitors.

Transition metal oxides are regarded as promising candidates of anode for next-generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to their ultrahigh theoretical capacity and low cost, but are restricted by their low conductivity and large volume expansion during Li⁺ intercalation. Herein, we designed and constructed a structurally integrated 3D carbon tube (3D-CT) grid film with Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles (Mn₃O₄-NPs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) filled in the inner cavity of CTs (denoted as Mn₃O₄-NPs/CNTs@3D-CT) as high-performance free-standing anode for LIBs. The Mn₃O₄-NPs/CNTs@3D-CT grid with Mn₃O₄-NPs filled in the inner cavity of 3D-CT not only afford sufficient space to overcome the damage caused by the volume expansion of Mn₃O₄-NPs during charge and discharge processes, but also achieves highly efficient channels for the fast transport of both electrons and Li⁺ during cycling, thus offering outstanding electrochemical performance (865 mAh g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ after 300 cycles) and excellent rate capability (418 mAh g⁻¹ at 4 A g⁻¹) based on the total mass of electrode. The unique 3D-CT framework structure would open up a new route to the highly stable, high-capacity, and excellent cycle and high-rate performance free-standing electrodes for high-performance Li-ion storage.