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A ductile inorganic-rich solid–electrolyte interphase that retains its structural integrity and allows easy ion diffusion enables a long cycle life under practical conditions for lithium metal batteries.

Despite various advantages of aluminium batteries, their application is hindered by the use of ionic liquid electrolytes. Here this work shows an organic formulation that is non-corrosive and delivers better performance, opening vast chemical space for electrolyte design.

Converting carbon dioxide into valuable multi-carbon products remains challenging under acidic conditions. Here, the authors develop a covalent organic framework–modified copper nitrate catalyst that enables stable ethylene production at high current densities.

Porous-alumina filter discs typically used to prepare graphene-oxide films are found to corrode during filtration and release aluminium ions that crosslink the negatively charged sheets and make the films insoluble in water. In contrast, aluminium-free graphene-oxide films are significantly weaker and readily disintegrate in water.

Heterogeneous single-atom catalysts (SACs) offer high atom utilization and well-defined active sites but face challenges in multi-stage cross-couplings due to limited coordination and reactivity. Here, the authors introduce SACs on reducible carriers, enabling adaptive coordination to bypass oxidative addition in cross-couplings.

Using CO and H₂O to electrosynthesize oxygenates is a possible low-carbon synthetic route. Here, the authors study the CO adsorption behavior on Ag catalysts and design a Cu-Ag nanostructure catalyst with a relay mechanism that enhances the electrosynthesis of oxygenates.

Hard carbon is regarded as a promising negative electrode for Na-ion batteries but suffers from low initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE). Here, the authors identify the time-dependent ion pre-desolvation on the nanopore of hard carbons, which remarkably improves the ICE by simply extending the aging time.

Silicon electrodes promise high energy for lithium-ion batteries but face swelling and durability issues. Here, the authors develop a sieving-pore design that enables stable, fast-charging silicon electrodes with long cycle life, low expansion, and industrial-scale potential.

Closed pores govern sodium-ion storage performance of hard carbon negative electrodes. Here, authors link pore mouth size evolution of the closed pores to the solvation structure and propose design principles for optimizing both closed pores and intrinsic defects.

The production of large-format aqueous Zn batteries is hindered by electrolyte consumption, hydrogen gas evolution and Zn dendrites growth during cycling. Here, the authors propose a specific pouch cell design capable of releasing hydrogen gas and refilling the electrolyte components.

High-voltage non-aqueous lithium metal batteries suffer from poor cycling stability due to the presence of impurities in the electrolyte solution. Here, the authors report lithium hexamethyldisilazide to scavenge HF and H₂O, prevent the Ni dissolution and suppress side reactions during cycling.

Organic crystals represent potential alternatives to silicon dioxide due to their high flexibility and controllable properties. Here, the authors prepared a hybrid organic crystal material that responds mechanically to infrared light.

Here the authors show a beta alumina nanowires/gel polymer composite electrolyte design. The dense and homogeneous solid-liquid hybrid sodium-ion transportation channels promote uniform sodium deposition and stripping and significantly improve the performance of a Na metal battery.

Aqueous Zn batteries offer safety, but the Zn anodes are vulnerable to dendrite failure and side reaction. Here the authors show a low-cost electrolyte that involves hydrate salt and organic solvent but proves inflammable. The Zn battery cell delivers excellent performance even at a low temperature of −30 °C.

Cu metal suffers from unavoidable and uncontrollable surface reconstruction during electrocatalysis. The authors here guide the reconstruction process in a favorable direction using trace amount of electrolyte additives, promoting CO₂ electroreduction to CH₄.

The sulfur cathode in metal-sulfur batteries normally undergoes electrochemical reduction to form metal sulfides. Here, the authors demonstrate the electrochemical oxidation of sulfur in ionic liquid for high-voltage aluminium-sulfur batteries.

Sodium ion batteries are known to benefit from the use of ether electrolytes. Here the authors reveal the origin showing that the energy barrier of charge transfer at the electrolyte/electrode interface dominates the interfacial electrochemical characteristics and is favorably small.

The excessive porous space in carbon anodes for lithium-ion batteries has to be utilized for high volumetric performance. Here the authors show an adaptable sulfur template strategy to yield graphene-caged noncarbon materials with a precisely controlled amount of void, enabling ultrahigh volumetric lithium storage.