Due to the safety, high energy density, and rapid charging feature, aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted great attention in large-scale energy storage systems. Although excellent electrochemical performances have been achieved, the cycling stabilities of AZIBs are still unsatisfactory, especially at low current densities, because the cathode materials are prone to being dissolved into electrolytes. Here we develop a unique zincophilic and hydrophobic amorphous additive of ZnSnO₃ (ZSO), which effectively prevents the irreversible dissolution and deamination of NH₄V₄O₁₀ (NVO) cathode. Benefiting from the ingenious design, NVO@ZSO cathode delivers the best cycling stability at a low current density (0.1 A·g⁻¹), with an ultrahigh capacity retention of 98.8% after 300 cycles. Besides, at a high current density of 5 A·g⁻¹, the NVO@ZSO cathode still possesses excellent cycling performance, and a reversible capacity of 284.6 mAh·g⁻¹ is achieved even after 7000 cycles. The mechanism is clarified with the aid of density function theory calculations and molecular dynamics simulations. These findings provide a new paradigm for designing stable cathodes by introducing amorphous additive, which should promote further application exploration of AZIBs at low current densities.

Bilayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are promising channel materials for state-of-the-art transistors, due to their smaller bandgap, higher carrier mobility, and better electrostatic control than those of the monolayer counterparts. Epitaxial growth and controllable doping of wafer-scale bilayer TMDCs single crystals are two pivotal tasks to meet the practical applications of high-performance electronic devices. Despite considerable efforts have been made, addressing such fundamental issues simultaneously has yet to be realized. Here we design an ingenious Fe-assisted epitaxial strategy to synthesize centimeter-size uniform bilayer tungsten disulfide (WS₂) with unidirectional alignment on industry-compatible c-plane sapphire. The introduction of Fe promotes the formation of parallel steps on sapphire surfaces to induce the edge-nucleation of unidirectionally aligned bilayer WS₂ and the evolution of centimeter-size uniform films. The ionic liquid gated transistors with ultrahigh electron mobility (169 cm²·V⁻¹·s⁻¹) and remarkable on/off current ratio (10⁸) are constructed based on the centimeter-size bilayer Fe-WS₂, due to the reduction of Schottky barrier width induced by Fe doping. This work provides a simple and general approach for synthesizing and doping of wafer-scale bilayer TMDCs, which should accelerate the further device downscaling to extend Moore’s law.

Carbon materials are considered as promising anodes of sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to their low cost, high conductivity, and tunable interlayer spacing. However, the low specific capacity, inferior rate capability, and poor initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE) limit the practical applications. Heteroatom doping is a feasible strategy to address such issues, and the synergistic effect enables dual-element co-doping to further enhance SIBs performances. Here, we synthesize a unique nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) co-doped mesoporous carbon (SNC) using mesoporous silica as the hard stencil. The ingenious S doping enlarges interlayer spacings, increases defect densities, and enriches active sites. In parallel, the presence of S anions readjusts the center of p-band position in pyridinic-N and the electronic configuration of isolated N atom. Outstanding sodium-ion storage performance is achieved in SNC featured with remarkable ICE (83.8%), high-rate capability (150.0 mAh·g⁻¹ at 40 A·g⁻¹), and long-cycle stability (241.6 mAh·g⁻¹ at 5 A·g⁻¹ after 1600 cycles). The sodium-ion storage mechanism is clarified by combining theory calculations and in-situ/ex-situ experimental characterizations. This work provides a new approach to synthesising dual-element co-doped carbon anodes for enhancing SIBs performances.