High-energy and long-life aluminum−sulfur battery: Employment of electrocatalytic function into continuous multiple reactions within quasi-solid-state electrolyte

Aluminum−sulfur (Al−S) batteries of ultrahigh energy-to-price ratios are promising for next-generation energy storage, while they suffer from large charge/discharge voltage hysteresis and short lifespan. Herein, an electrocatalyst-boosting quasi-solid-state Al−S battery is proposed, in which sulfur is anchored on the cobalt/nitrogen co-doped graphene (S@CoNG, as the positive electrode) and chloroaluminate-based ionic liquid (IL) is encapsulated into metal-organic frameworks (IL@MOF, as the quasi-solid-state electrolyte). Mechanistically, the Co−N bonds in CoNG act as electrocatalytic center to continuous induce breaking of Al−Cl bonds and S−S bonds and accelerate the kinetics of sulfur conversion, endowing the Al−S battery with much shortened voltage gap of 0.32 V and 0.98 V in the discharge voltage plateau. Within quasi-solid-state IL@MOF electrolytes, shuttle effect of polysulfides has been inhibited, which stabilizes the process of reversible sulfur conversion. Consequently, the assembled Al−S battery presents high specific capacity of 820 mAh g−1 and 78% capacity retention after 300 cycles. This concept here offers novel insights to design practical Al−S batteries for stable energy storage.

Achieving ultrahigh energy-storage capability in PbZrO3-based antiferroelectric capacitors based on optimization of property parameters

Energy-storage properties is a critical role to decide whether or not the dielectric capacitors can be applied in high power pulse devices, but single improvement in electric filed parameters or...

First results of LHAASO

The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) has recently published the first results, including the discovery of 12 ultrahigh-energy gamma-ray sources (with emission above 100[Formula: see text]TeV) above [Formula: see text] confidence level and a detailed analysis of Crab Nebula. This contribution gives a brief introduction to the LHAASO experiment and its recent discoveries.

Structural Phase Transition and In-Situ Energy Storage Pathway in Nonpolar Materials: A Review

Benefitting from exceptional energy storage performance, dielectric-based capacitors are playing increasingly important roles in advanced electronics and high-power electrical systems. Nevertheless, a series of unresolved structural puzzles represent obstacles to further improving the energy storage performance. Compared with ferroelectrics and linear dielectrics, antiferroelectric materials have unique advantages in unlocking these puzzles due to the inherent coupling of structural transitions with the energy storage process. In this review, we summarize the most recent studies about in-situ structural phase transitions in PbZrO3-based and NaNbO3-based systems. In the context of the ultrahigh energy storage density of SrTiO3-based capacitors, we highlight the necessity of extending the concept of antiferroelectric-to-ferroelectric (AFE-to-FE) transition to broader antiferrodistortive-to-ferrodistortive (AFD-to-FD) transition for materials that are simultaneously ferroelastic. Combining discussion of the factors driving ferroelectricity, electric-field-driven metal-to-insulator transition in a (La1−xSrx)MnO3 electrode is emphasized to determine the role of ionic migration in improving the storage performance. We believe that this review, aiming at depicting a clearer structure–property relationship, will be of benefit for researchers who wish to carry out cutting-edge structure and energy storage exploration.