Aqueous zinc-sulfur batteries (AZSBs) are regarded as promising candidates for high-energy-density and low-cost energy storage devices. However, sluggish conversion reaction of sulfur-loading cathode and notorious polyiodide shuttle of iodine redox mediator in aqueous electrolytes severely hinder the development of AZSBs. Herein, ammonia-oxidized lignin (AOL) is introduced as electrolyte additive to stabilize the redox mediator function of ZnI2, which effectively facilitates the reversible sulfur conversion reaction (S8↔ZnS). As demonstrated, AOL monomer is rich in active hydroxyl/amide moieties, and exhibits strong chemisorption capability for polyiodides as well as remarkable thermodynamic condition for iodine conversion reaction (I3 -↔I-), which significantly blocks the ZnI2 mediator loss and I3 -/I5 - shuttle behavior during cycling, thereby maximizing the catalytic effect of ZnI2 for S8↔ZnS reaction and high-performance AZSBs. Consequently, the optimized AZSBs deliver high specific capacity of 1532 mAh g-1 at 0.5 A g-1, and high reversible capacity of 326.2 mAh g-1 after 320 cycles at 2 A g-1. Even if assembled into pouch batteries with high sulfur loading of 10 mg cm-2, high capacity of 514.5 mAh g-1 is still maintained after 134 cycles at 0.5 A g-1. This work provides novel insights to accelerate sulfur conversion reaction kinetics through stabilizing the redox mediators of AZSBs.

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries represent promising energy storage devices by virtue of their ultrahigh theoretical energy density, yet their practical deployment is severely impeded by the polysulfide shuttle, sluggish sulfur redox kinetics, and progressive degradation of lithium anodes. Herein, we design a thiol‐functionalized UiO‐66 (UiO‐66‐SH)‐coated polypropylene separator that addresses these challenges simultaneously. The UiO‐66‐SH combines abundant coordinatively unsaturated Zr sites and SH groups, enabling both strong chemical anchoring of lithium polysulfides and catalytic acceleration of their conversion to Li2S. The modified separator exhibits superior electrolyte wettability, a high Li+ transference number (0.76), and enhanced ionic conductivity. Furthermore, it regulates lithium deposition to achieve a dendrite‐free anode and mitigates polysulfide‐induced corrosion. Consequently, Li–S cells incorporating UiO‐66‐SH/PP separator deliver an initial discharge capacity of 821.3 mAh g−1 at 1 C, retain 521 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles, and achieve a high‐rate capacity of 590.9 mAh g−1 at 5 C. Even under a high sulfur loading of 5.05 mg cm−2, a reversible capacity of 620.1 mAh g−1 is maintained after 200 cycles. This work offers a rational design of a multifunctional MOF‐based separator that integrates polysulfide entrapment, catalytic conversion, and anode protection, paving the way toward high‐performance, long‐life Li–S batteries.

High-entropy oxides (HEOs) are promising electrocatalysts for the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The lattice oxygen mechanism (LOM) offers a lower thermodynamic barrier than the conventional adsorbate evolution mechanism (AEM). However, maintaining structural integrity while activating lattice oxygen during prolonged electrolysis remains a significant challenge. Herein, we report a dual sacrificial template strategy to synthesize single-crystalline porous hollow high-entropy ZnVCrMoMn spinel oxides (ZnVCrMoMn-HHESOs). Chemical probe, in situ spectroscopic, and isotope-labeling experiments demonstrate that multicomponent electronic interactions synergistically enhance lattice oxygen activation and promote a dominant LOM pathway with high structural stability. Density functional theory calculations reveal that high-valent cation incorporation induces electron redistribution, upshifts the O 2p-band center toward the Fermi level, and strengthens metal-oxygen covalency, facilitating lattice oxygen participation in the OER. Consequently, ZnVCrMoMn-HHESOs delivers an ultralow overpotential of 218 mV at 10 mA & centerdot;cm-2 and outstanding stability over 400 h. In a lab-scale electrolyzer, it achieves 774 mA & centerdot;cm-2 at 1.7 V and operates stably at 500 mA & centerdot;cm-2 for over 500 h with a voltage degradation rate of merely 0.07 mV & centerdot;h-1. This work demonstrates the rational design of hollow high-entropy spinel oxides as an effective strategy for developing highly active and stable LOM-based OER electrocatalysts.

The notorious shuttle effect of polyiodides in aqueous Zinc-iodine (Zn-I2) batteries impedes their practical application, which renders it imperative to address this issue. Here, we report natural gelatin as an advanced aqueous binder for iodine-loading cathode to enable stable and efficient Zn-I2 batteries. The positively charged region in gelatin presents electrostatic attraction to the iodine species, while the electron-rich regions could donate electrons to form physical or even covalent bonds with iodine species, thus inhibiting polyiodides shuttle effect and boosting redox reaction. A high reversible capacity of 138 mAh g−1 after 3 000 cycles at 2C and an ultra-long cycling stability of 30 000 cycles at 25C with 107 mAh g−1 capacity was achieved. Gelatin binder also can accommodate high iodine-loading (∼10 ​mg) cathode, punch cells, and severe temperature conditions (−10 °C and 60 ​°C). In-situ UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, in-situ Raman spectra and theoretical calculation revealed the critical role of gelatin binder in suppressing polyiodide shuttling and accelerating reaction kinetics. This work uncovers the potential of natural low-cost binder material in advanced Zn-I2 batteries and drives future study of designing functional binders.

Four-electron Zn-I2 batteries (4eZIBs) have attracted widespread attention owing to the high theoretical capacity (422 mA h g-1) and high safety, which is often dependent on the high-concentration chloride-containing electrolytes to motivate the sluggish I0 -> I+ reaction kinetics. Besides, chloride corrosion of zinc metal anode, hydrolysis reaction of I+ species, and high reactivity of free H2O molecules also significantly deteriorate the reversibility and cyclic stability of 4eZIBs. Herein, inorganic mineral colloid electrolyte is elaborately designed by homogeneously mixing attapulgite (AT) powder and seawater-based ZnSO4 solution (SW+ZSO+AT) to realize reversible 4eZIBs at a low chloride ion concentration condition (0.55 m). Theoretical calculations manifest SW+ZSO+AT electrolyte contributes to the construction of a localized high-concentration environment of Cl- ions and spatial confinement of H2O molecules. Experimental results suggest the optimized SW+ZSO+AT electrolyte delivers high ionic conductivity, low activation energy barrier, mild pH environment, and durable stability. The as-assembled Zn||AC@I2 batteries in the SW+ZSO+AT electrolyte achieved high-rate capabilities of 343.6 mA h g-1, 270.4 mA h g-1, and 226.2 mA h g-1 at 0.5, 1, and 2 A g-1, respectively. This study provides new insights to fabricate economical and practical electrolytes for 4eZIBs, and advances the design of mineral and seawater resources in reliable aqueous batteries.

The uncontrollable dendrite growth of lithium anode and active material dissolution of transition metal oxides cathodes severely hinder the development of lithium metal batteries. An effective strategy to address these issues is optimizing the separator to regulate ion transport and trap the lost active component. Herein, a crosslinked gelatin nonwoven (CGN) separator is elaborately fabricated through electrospinning and in-situ vapor phase crosslinking process to manipulate the dual electrode interface. Benefitting from the characteristic composition of gelatin, and porous structure of electrospun nonwoven, the CGN separator exhibits excellent interface wettability and low interface resistance, featuring a high Li+ transference number of 0.70 and high ionic conductivity of 3.75 mS/cm. As expected, the symmetrical Li/Li cells present stable cycling behavior for 1900 h at 0.5 mA/cm2 with low overpotential of 20 mV. The optimized LiMn2O4/Li cells deliver high reversible capacity of 103 mAh/g as well as high capacity-retention ratio of 83.7 % after 100 cycles at 0.3 C, which can be effectively attributed to the strong interaction between CGN separator and Mn ions to prevent the loss of active Mn component. This study indicates the application potential of protein-based electrospun membrane for high-performance lithium metal batteries. (c) 2025 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

Exploring efficient cocatalysts capable of accelerating surface catalytic reaction is of great significance for the development of solar-driven hydrogen production. Herein, on the basis of NiFe hydroxide, we developed a series of Pt doped NiFe-based cocatalysts to promote the photocatalytic hydrogen production of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3 N4 ). We find that the Pt doping can trigger phase reconstruction of NiFe hydroxide and lead to the formation of NiFe bicarbonate, which displays higher catalytic activity toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The Pt doped NiFe bicarbonate modified g-C3 N4 shows excellent photocatalytic activity with H2 evolution rate up to 100 μmol/h, which is more than 300 times that of pristine g-C3 N4 . The experimental and calculation results demonstrate that the greatly improved photocatalytic HER activity of g-C3 N4 is not only due to the efficient carrier separation, but also attributed to the accelerated HER kinetics. Our work may provide guidance for designing novel and superior photocatalysts.

Herein, V-doped cobalt hydroxides grown on carbon cloth (V-Co(OH)2/CC) were prepared via hydrothermal method. The incorporation of V can trigger phase transition and tune the local electronic structure of Co(OH)2, thereby improving the intrinsic alkaline HER activity. We find that the V-Co(OH)2 dominated by β-Co(OH)2 exhibits excellent HER activity with only 83 mV overpotential at a current density of 10 mA cm-2, which outperforms most reported hydroxide-based catalysts and even surpasses the commercial Pt/C at large current density (>160 mA cm-2).

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) are attracting increasing interest due to their advantages in high energy density, low cost and eco-friendliness. However, the shuttle effect of polysulfides and the uncontrollable growth of lithium (Li) dendrites, derived from the intrinsic characteristics of sulfur (S) cathode and Li anode, significantly deteriorate the electrochemical performance and threaten the safety of LSBs. The separator plays a profound role in the mass transport across the interfaces against both S cathode and Li anode; thus, separator engineering is the most promising and effective method to simultaneously tackle shuttle effect and dendrite growth. Fruitful work has reported the design and fabrication of functional separators that enable safe, durable, shuttling-free and dendrite-free LSBs. This review summarizes recent progress on dual-functional separators based on their configurations, i.e., sandwiched configuration, Janus configuration and composite configuration. The material selection, structure and function design, manufacturing techniques of each separator configurations have been emphasized in this review. The perspectives and challenges of advanced separators for their large-scale application in high-performance LSBs are discussed to provide guideline for the future development.

Structural and compositional diversities of proteins generate a number of functions for fabricating novel and advanced materials. Recent progress in protein engineering endows flexible approaches and new functionalities, which makes the fabricated materials potentially applicable in a broad spectrum of fields. Such engineering strategies by applying proteins alone or together with other molecules derive numerous functional materials such as patterned nanometal materials/nanometallic compounds, well-designed nanocomposites, etc. Advantages in materials' tunability, property improvement (e.g., electronic and mechanical properties, etc.), functionalities, and biocompatibility have been demonstrated, thus providing alternatives to existing materials via conventional methods. This review summarizes and discusses the strategies of fabricating functional materials using proteins as the critical contributors. Benefiting from their versatility, proteins find their roles in engineering functional materials via acting as structure-control agents, reaction agents, and battery components, which are emphasized in this review. The strategies of each group of functions are specifically detailed. Properties of protein-engineered functional materials and their potential applications in the fields of microelectronics, energy storage and conversion, sensor devices, etc. are also reviewed.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are a promising candidate for the next-generation energy storage system, yet their commercialization is primarily hindered by polysulfide shuttling and uncontrollable Li dendrite growth. Here, a protein-based Janus separator was designed and fabricated for suppressing both the shuttle effect and dendrite growth, while facilitating the Li+ transport. The Li metal-protecting layer was a protein/MoS2 nanofabric with high ionic conductivity and good Li+ affinity, thus capable of homogenizing the Li+ flux and facilitating the Li+ transport. The polysulfide-trapping layer was a conductive protein nanofabric enabling strong chemical/electrostatic interactions with polysulfides. Combination of the two layers was achieved by an integrated electrospinning method, yielding a robust and integral Janus separator. As a result, a long-lived symmetric Li|Li cell (>700 h) with stable cycling performance was demonstrated. More significantly, the resulting Li-S battery delivered greatly improved electrochemical performance, including excellent rate capacity and remarkable cycle stability (with a low decay rate of 0.063 % per cycle at 0.5 A g(-1) over 500 cycles). This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the Janus separator configurations for simultaneously addressing the shuttle effect and dendrite growth issues of Li-S batteries and broadens the applications of electrospinning in electrochemistry community.

A protein-based, low-resistance Janus nanofabric is designed and fabricated for simultaneously trapping polysulfides and stabilizing lithium metal.

Uncovering the key contributions of molecular details to capture polysulfides is important for applying suitable materials that can effectively restrain the shuttle effect in advanced lithium–sulfur batteries. This is particularly true for natural biomolecules with substantial structural and compositional diversities strongly impacting their functions. Here, natural gelatin and zein proteins are first denatured and then adopted for fabrication of nanocomposite interlayers via functionalization of carbon nanofibers. From the results of experiment and molecular dynamic simulations, it is found that the lengths of the sidechains on the two proteins play critical roles. The short‐branched gelatin shows significantly stronger adsorption of polysulfides, as compared with zein comprising many long‐chain residues. The gelatin‐based interlayer, along with its good porous structures/electrical conductivity, greatly suppresses the shuttle effect and yields exceptional electrochemical performance. Furthermore, the implementation of proteins as functional binder additives further supports the finding that gelatin enables stronger polysulfide‐trapping. As a result, high‐loading sulfur cathodes (9.4 mg cm−2) are realized, which deliver a high average areal capacity of 8.2 mAh cm−2 over 100 cycles at 0.1 A g−1. This work demonstrates the importance of sidechain length in capturing polysulfides and provides a new insight in selecting and design of desired polysulfide‐binding molecules.

Developing flexible, robust and lightweight sulfur cathodes by rationally designing their structures and configurations through a viable and scalable strategy is a critical enabler for fulfilling flexible lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. However, besides the requirements for cathode flexibility, intrinsic limitations from the shuttling of lithium polysulfides and the growth of Li dendrites have restricted the widespread implementations of Li-S batteries. Here, we report a wet-processed strategy by dissolving and recrystallizing S in a suitable solvent to fabricate a flexible, binder-free S cathode. Integrating the resulting S cathode with a dual-functional separator has demonstrated to be able to suppress both the shuttle effect and growth of dendritic Li. The wet-processed strategy not only enables the fabrication of flexible and binder-free S-nanomat cathodes, but also facilitates the deposition of the cathodes on the separators. Meanwhile, a dual-functional separator is fabricated by vapor-phase polymerization of polypyrrole (PPy) coating on both surfaces of the commercial separator, which leads to the reduction of the shuttle effect and the suppression of the growth of dendritic Li simultaneously. As a result, by integrating the S-nanomat and the dual-functional separator, the cathode exhibits exceptional mechanical properties and electrochemical performance. Li-S pouch cells are further demonstrated to show stable cycling performance in the bending state, indicating the feasibility of the integrated S cathode for flexible Li-S batteries.

Developing advanced battery interlayers is one of the promising approaches for trapping dissolved polysulfides in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Thus far, there is a lack of cost-effective strategies to characterize the comprehensive properties of interlayers and understanding of the roles that the interlayer properties play in the battery performance. Herein, we design a surfactant-controlled strategy to tune the structures/properties of the interlayers and establish the relationships among structure, property, and performance through comprehensive characterizations. It is surprisingly found that only with a specific surfactant, gelatin protein, a robust and self-assembled porous graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs) interlayer can be achieved. Meanwhile, benefiting from the rich functional groups of protein, the protein functionalization of GNPs leads to not only good adhesion to a separator for the GNPs interlayer but also strong polysulfide-trapping ability. As a result, by adding the protein-functionalized GNPs interlayer to a Li-S battery, the electrochemical performance is obviously enhanced, owing to the abilities of the interlayer for trapping polysulfides and facilitating ion transport simultaneously. This study correlates the physicochemical properties of interlayers with their electrochemical performance and is of universal significance for design and fabrication of advanced battery interlayers.

Solid rocket motor (SRM) is the key component of missiles and space rockets, and their sealing performance is an important indicator for assembling solid rocket motor. This paper proposes a new life prediction method that takes the solid rocket motor from the completion of the seal to the ignition emission as a seal lifecycle, considering both working and storage state. By studying the relationship between the compression set ratio of the seal ring and the draw ratio of the seal after aging, the storage aging phenomenon and the work rebound characteristics are combined. Further the seal life prediction model of the solid rocket motor seal ring is obtained, and the relationship between the storage time and the leakage rate of the seal ring is established. To verify our method, thermal aging experiments and leak rate testing experiments are performed on two models of solid rocket motors. Experiments show that the theory of seal life prediction proposed in this paper can effectively predict the storage life of solid rocket motor and it is beneficial to improve the reliability of the prediction of the sealing life of the solid rocket motor.

Previous research studies focused only on data of local air temperature and humidity, ignoring the water body itself, which cannot definitively answer the question of how the Three Gorges Reservoir's (TGR) water affects the local climate overall. To understand the effect of the TGR on the local climate quantitatively, this paper provides an original mathematical hypothesis and proves in theory there is only one way to calculate the transfer of heat and humidity between the TGR and the local air. Based on this mathematical hypothesis, a detailed research method to explore the effects of the TGR's heat and humidity on local climate was formed. A field investigation was conducted and a research site was selected in Chongqing. This study has determined the effects of the TGR's heating or cooling on the air during the measuring period. A mathematical model to assess the effects of heat and humidity from the TGR on local climate was set up. The final results based on the mathematical model show that the average air temperature decreased 0.67 K and the average moisture content increased 0.25 g/kg during the 24 hours measuring time for the area studied.

This paper established a mathematical model to explore the characteristics of infrared energy of 8-14 gm emitted from an urban surface and analyzed the atmospheric transmittance under actual weather conditions. Then, the amount of infrared energy that penetrated the atmospheric infrared window was determined, based on the coupling analysis of urban radiation energy and atmospheric transmittance. Six typical urban surface materials were researched in this case study. The results showed that the transmittance was changed under different weather conditions and different urban surface materials had different infrared energy penetration of the atmospheric infrared window, which indicated different urban surface materials may have potentially different effects on the urban thermal environment. The results also indicated that the transmittance for different materials was affected not only by atmospheric transmittance but also by the distribution of emitted infrared energy along wavelengths, which provides a new perspective for related researchers to understand the phenomenon.