The energy density of batteries can be increased by using high-load cathode material matched with sodium (Na) metal anode. However, the large polarization of the battery under such harsh conditions will promote the growth of Na dendrites and side reactions. Carbon materials are regarded as ideal modify layers on Na metal anode to regulate the Na⁺ plating/stripping behavior and inhibit the Na dendrites and side reactions due to their light weight, high stability and structural adjustability. However, commonly used carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers cannot enable these modified Na metal anodes to operate stably in full batteries with a high-load cathode (> 15 mg·cm⁻²). The most fundamental reason is that abundant polar functional groups on the surface bring serious side reactions and agglomerations lead to uneven Na⁺ flow. Here, a proof-of-concept study lies on fabrications of carbon nanospheres with small amount of polar functional groups and sodiophobic components on the surface of Na metal anode, which significantly enhances the uniformity of the Na⁺ plating/stripping. The assembled symmetric battery can cycle stability for 1300 h at 3 mA·cm⁻²/3 mAh·cm⁻². The full battery with high-load Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃ (30 mg·cm⁻²) maintains a Coulombic efficiency of 99.7% after 100 cycles.

Owing to their high volumetric capacity, low cost and high safety, rechargeable aluminum batteries have become promising candidates for energy applications. However, the high charge density of Al³⁺ leads to strong coulombic interactions between anions and the cathode, resulting in sluggish diffusion kinetics and irreversible collapse of the cathode structure. Furthermore, AlCl₃-based ionic liquids, which are commonly used as electrolytes in such batteries, corrode battery components and are prone to side reactions. The above problems lead to low capacity and poor cycling stability. Herein, we propose a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) cathode with a three-dimensional porous structure prepared using a simple and scalable method. The lamellar edges and oxygen-containing group defects of rGO synergistically provide abundant ion storage sites and enhance ion transfer kinetics. We matched the prepared rGO cathode with noncorrosive electrolyte 0.5 mol·L⁻¹ Al(OTF)₃/[BMIM]OTF and Al metal to construct a high-performance battery, Al||rGO-150, with good cycling stability for 2700 cycles. Quasi-in-situ physicochemical characterization results show that the ion storage mechanism is codominated by diffusion and capacitance. The capacity consists of the insertion of Al-based species cations as well as synergistic adsorption of Al(OTF)_x^(3−x)+ (x < 3) and [BMIM]⁺. The present study promotes the fundamental and applied research on rechargeable aluminum batteries.

Two-dimensional Bi₂O₂Se with unique crystal structure and ultrahigh carrier mobility has been catching widespread attention and demonstrated great potential in nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices. The existence of lattice oxygen ensures its ultrahigh stability at ambient environment and make it promising for high-temperature applications. Here, through systematical characterizations, the high air stability of Bi₂O₂Se nanosheets at temperatures up to 250 ℃ is evidently demonstrated. The fabricated photodetectors based on the as-grown Bi₂O₂Se nanosheets show high stability, high sensitivity (~5319 A/W at 250 ℃ with a bias of 1 V) and fast response (several milliseconds) from room temperature to 250 ℃. Besides, it was observed that the devices also show good photoresponse covering UV, visible and infrared regions at high temperatures. These results suggest their promising high-performance applications serving under harsh conditions.

β-Ga₂O₃, with ultra-wide bandgap, high absorption coefficient for high-energy ultraviolet (UV) photons, and high structural stability toward harsh-environment, has been receiving persistent attention for deep ultraviolet photodetectors applications. However, realization of devices with high tolerance toward high temperature faces great challenges due to considerable background signals mainly arising from abundant thermal excited carrier. Herein, nanowire-mediated high-quality β-Ga₂O₃ nanobelts with ultra-thin thickness and length up to several hundred micrometers were achieved via a simple catalyst-free chemical vapor deposition route. The resulted microdevice output superior optoelectric figure of merits among numerous reports about β-Ga₂O₃, i.e., ultra-low dark current (below the detection limit of 10⁻¹² A), high responsivity (1,320 A/W), and high spectral selectivity working under low voltage (~ 2 V). More importantly, the performance remains robust at elevated temperature higher than 573 K. These results indicate a large prospect for low-voltage driven deep ultraviolet photodetectors with good sensitivity and stability at harsh environments.

The sufficient utilization of Mott–Schottky effect for boosting alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) depends upon scale minimizing of interface components and exposure maximizing of Mott–Schottky interface. Here, a self-standing porous tubular Mott–Schottky electrocatalyst is constructed by a self-template etching strategy, where amorphous WO_x (a-WO_x) nano-matrix connects Co nanoparticles. This novel “Janus” electrocatalyst maximizes the Mott–Schottky effect by not only providing a highly exposed micro interface, but also simultaneously accelerating the water dissociation and optimizing the hydrogen desorption process. Experimental findings and theoretical calculations reveal that Co/a-WO_x Mott–Schottky heterointerface triggers the electron redistribution and a build-in electric field, which can not only optimize the adsorption energy of the reaction intermediates, but also facilitate the charge transfer. Thus, Co/a-WO_x requires an overpotential of only 36.3 mV at 10 mA·cm⁻² and shows a small Tafel slope of 53.9 mV·dec⁻¹ as well as an excellent 200-h long-term stability. This work provides a novel design strategy for maximizing the Mott–Schottky effect on promoting alkaline HER.

Sodium-ion batteries are considered as a promising low-cost alternative to commercial lithium-ion batteries. However, the harsh preparation conditions and unsatisfactory electrochemical performance of most sodium-ion batteries anode materials limit their commercial applications. Herein, we develop a new alloying/dealloying method for producing nano-scale tin from freezing point to room temperature. Due to the unique surface properties of tin particles, a tin/carbon composite with a compact structure is obtained. When coupled with a diglyme-based electrolyte, tin/carbon composite (contains 60 wt.% tin) exhibits a reversible capacity of 334.8 mAh·g⁻¹ after 1,000 cycles at 500 mA·g⁻¹. An as-prepared tin/carbon anode||high-load vanadium phosphate sodium full cell (N/P ratio: 1.07) shows a stable cycle life of 300 cycles at 1 A·g⁻¹. The achievement of such an excellent performance can be ascribed to the carbon conductive network and robust solid electrolyte interphase film, which facilitates the fast transportation of electrons and Na ions. This work provides a new idea to prepare other alloyed anode materials for high-performance sodium-ion batteries.

In recent years, transparent and flexible materials have been widely pursued in electronics and optoelectronics fields for usage as planar electrodes, energy conversion components and sensing units. As the most widely applied semiconductor material, the related progress in silicon is of great significance although with large difficulty. Herein, we report a one-step method to achieve flexible and transparent silicon nanowires aerogel membrane. A competitive carrier kinetics involving interfacial trapped carriers and the valence electrons transition is demonstrated, according to the photoelectric performance of a sandwiched graphene/silicon nanowires membrane/Al device, i.e., rapidly positive photoresponse dominated by laser excited free-carriers generation (~ 500 ms) and subsequent slow negative photocurrent evolution due to laser heating involved multi-levels process (> 10 s). These results contribute to fabrication of silicon nanowire self-assembly structures and also the exploration of their optoelectrical properties in flexible and transparent devices.