Shuang Yuan

Engraving Copper Foil to Give Large‐Scale Binder‐Free Porous CuO Arrays for a High‐Performance Sodium‐Ion Battery Anode

S. Yuan, Dr. X.-L. Huang, D.-L. Ma, Dr. H.-G. Wang, Dr. F.-Z. Meng, Prof. X.-B. Zhang State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences Changchun, 130022 , P. R. China E-mail: xbzhang@ciac.ac.cn S. Yuan, D.-L. Ma Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials Ministry of Education, and College of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University Changchun, 130012 , P. R. China

Advances and challenges for flexible energy storage and conversion devices and systems

To meet the rapid development of flexible, portable, and wearable electronic devices, extensive efforts have been devoted to develop matchable energy storage and conversion systems as power sources, such as flexible lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), supercapacitors (SCs), solar cells, fuel cells, etc. Particularly, during recent years, exciting works have been done to explore more suitable and effective electrode/electrolyte materials as well as more preferable cell configuration and structural designs to develop flexible power sources with better electrochemical performance for integration into flexible electronics. An overview is given for these remarkable contributions made by the leading scientists in this important and promising research area. Some perspectives for the future and impacts of flexible energy storage and conversion systems are also proposed.

Electrospun materials for lithium and sodium rechargeable batteries: from structure evolution to electrochemical performance

Electrospinning has been growing increasingly versatile as a promising method to fabricate one dimensional (1D) designed architectures for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). In this review, we have summarized almost all the progress in electrospun electrode materials for LIBs, covering the structure evolution from solid nanofibers into designed 1D nanomaterials, then 1D composites with carbon nanofibers (CNFs), and finally into flexible electrode materials with CNFs. Such a development trend in electrospun electrode materials would meet the battery technology and the strong consumer market demand for portable, ultrathin/lightweight and flexible devices. Along with the avenues of research about electrospun electrode materials for LIBs, electrospun electrode materials for SIBs are a rapidly growing and enormously promising field. As a timely overview, recent studies on electrospun SIB electrode materials are also highlighted. Finally, the emerging challenges and future developments of electrospun electrode materials are concisely provided. We hope this review will provide some inspiration to researchers over a broad range of topics, especially in the fields of energy, chemistry, physics, nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Surfactant‐Free Aqueous Synthesis of Pure Single‐Crystalline SnSe Nanosheet Clusters as Anode for High Energy‐ and Power‐Density Sodium‐Ion Batteries

SnSe with 3D hierarchical nanostructure composed of interconnected single-crystal SnSe nanosheets is synthesized via a fast and effective strategy. Unexpectedly, when used as the anode material for Na-ion batteries (NIBs), the SnSe exhibits a high capacity (738 mA h g-1 ), superior rate capability (40 A g-1 ), and high energy density in a full cell. These results provide the possibility of SnSe use as NIBs anodes.

Dendritic Ni‐P‐Coated Melamine Foam for a Lightweight, Low‐Cost, and Amphipathic Three‐Dimensional Current Collector for Binder‐Free Electrodes

A highly conductive 3D current collector that is dendritic, lightweight, and robust is synthesized for binder-free electrodes in lithium-ion batteries. It has excellent chemical/electrochemical stability in a wide voltage window (0-5 V) and robust mechanical behavior even after 600 cycles of compression. When active materials are grown in situ on the as-obtained current collector, the resulting cycling stability and rate capability far exceed those of conventional electrodes and other 3D current collectors.

Pure Single-Crystalline Na1.1V3O7.9 Nanobelts as Superior Cathode Materials for Rechargeable Sodium-Ion Batteries

Pure single‐crystalline Na1.1V3O7.9 nanobelts are successfully synthesized for the first time via a facile yet effective strategy. When used as cathode materials for Na‐ion batteries, the novel nanobelts exhibit excellent electrochemical performance. Given the ease and effectiveness of the synthesis route as well as the very promising electrochemical performance, the results obtained may be extended to other next‐generation cathode materials for Na‐ion batteries.

Multi-ring aromatic carbonyl compounds enabling high capacity and stable performance of sodium-organic batteries

Herein we report that organic compounds comprising planar C6 ring structures and carboxylate groups can function as an excellent anode material for sodium-organic batteries. Systematic comparisons of different electrode materials including the multi-ring aromatic compounds with or without carboxylate groups are carried out, the Na insertion mechanism is proposed, and the factors determining the capacity and potential plateaus are also elucidated by experimental and theoretical analyses.

Decorating Waste Cloth via Industrial Wastewater for Tube‐Type Flexible and Wearable Sodium‐Ion Batteries

To turn waste into treasure, a facile and cost-effective strategy is developed to revive electroless nickel plating wastewater and cotton-textile waste toward a novel electrode substrate. Based on the substrate, a binder-free PB@GO@NTC electrode is obtained, which exhibits superior electrochemical performance. Moreover, for the first time, a novel tube-type flexible and wearable sodium-ion battery is successfully fabricated.

Integrating 3D Flower-Like Hierarchical Cu2NiSnS4 with Reduced Graphene Oxide as Advanced Anode Materials for Na-Ion Batteries

Development of an anode material with high performance and low cost is crucial for implementation of next-generation Na-ion batteries (NIBs) electrode, which is proposed to meet the challenges of large scale renewable energy storage. Metal chalcogenides are considered as promising anode materials for NIBs due to their high theoretical capacity, low cost, and abundant sources. Unfortunately, their practical application in NIBs is still hindered because of low conductivity and morphological collapse caused by their volume expansion and shrinkage during Na(+) intercalation/deintercalation. To solve the daunting challenges, herein, we fabricated novel three-dimensional (3D) Cu2NiSnS4 nanoflowers (CNTSNs) as a proof-of-concept experiment using a facile and low-cost method. Furthermore, homogeneous integration with reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (RGNs) endows intrinsically insulated CNTSNs with superior electrochemical performances, including high specific capacity (up to 837 mAh g(-1)), good rate capability, and long cycling stability, which could be attributed to the unique 3D hierarchical structure providing fast ion diffusion pathway and high contact area at the electrode/electrolyte interface.

P3-type K0.33Co0.53Mn0.47O2·0.39H2O: a novel bifunctional electrode for Na-ion batteries

A novel electrode material, P3-type K0.33Co0.53Mn0.47O2·0.39H2O (KCM), is synthesized through an easily-operated sol–gel method and it delivers considerable Na ion storage abilities when employed as both a cathode and an anode in NIBs. As a cathode, the compound displays remarkable average voltage potentials (over 3 V) and a high discharge capacity (114 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1). As an anode, a safe and ideal average voltage potential (0.53 V), a high discharge capacity (174 mA h g−1), and a long cycle life (950 cycles at 500 mA g−1) are also delivered together. In addition, a KCM-based full cell is subsequently built and even without any optimization it can still exhibit a high energy density (91 W h kg−1) accompanied by a long cycle performance (100 cycles at 100 mA g−1).