Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries have been intensively studied as novel promising large-scale energy storage systems recently, owing to their advantages of high abundance, cost effectiveness, and high safety. However, the development of suitable cathode materials with superior performance is severely hampered by the sluggish kinetics of Zn 2+ with divalent charge in the host structure. In the present work, a highly reversible aqueous Zn 2+ battery is demonstrated in aqueous electrolyte using V 6 O 13 •nH 2 O hollow microflowers composed of ultrathin nanosheets. Benefiting from the synthetic merits of its favorable architecture and expanded interlamellar spacing that results from its structural water, the V 6 O 13 •nH 2 O cathode exhibits outstanding electrochemical performances with a high reversible capacity of 395 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 , superior rate capability, and durable cycling stability with a capacity retention of 87% up to 1000 cycles. In addition, the reaction mechanism is significantly investigated in detail. This study demonstrates that the V 6 O 13 •nH 2 O nanostructure is emerging as a promising cathode material for the high-potential rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion battery, and it may shed light on the water-initiated effective interlayer engineering strategy for the construction of high-performance cathode materials for grid-scale energy storage devices.

A detection technique for high-efficiency measurements of fusion reactions with low-intensity radioactive beams was developed. The technique is based on a Multi-Sampling Ionization Chamber (MUSIC) operating as an active target and detection system, where the ionization gas acts as both target and counting gas. In this way, we can sample an excitation function in an energy range determined by the gas pressure, without changing the beam energy. The detector provides internal normalization to the incident beam and drastically reduces the measuring time. In a first experiment we tested the performance of the technique by measuring the 10,13,15 C+ 12 C fusion reactions at energies around the Coulomb barrier.

A hydrated NH4V3O8 nanobelt electrode is designed as a superior cathode for high-performance aqueous and flexible quasi-solid-state zinc ion batteries.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries are emerging as new promising energy storage devices for potential grid-scale applications, owing to their high safety and low cost. However, the limited choice of cathode materials and lack of green and scalable synthesis strategies have largely hindered their practical applications. Herein, a universal synthesis approach is developed to produce a variety of nanostructured layered vanadates, i.e., nanobelts of NaV, at room temperature. When examined as new cathodes for the zinc-ion battery system with aqueous ZnSO 4 as electrolyte, all three nanobelts exhibit excellent electrochemical performances, particularly the NVO and ZnVO electrodes, delivering high specific capacities of 366 and 328 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 , respectively. In addition, at an ultrahigh current density of 10 A g −1 , the NVO shows an initial capacity of 186 mAh g −1 with retained capacity of 200 mAh g −1 after 200 cycles, while ZnVO provides an initial capacity of 205 mAh g −1 with retained capacity of 191 mAh g −1 . Such remarkable electrochemical performances make layered vanadates, especially the NVO and ZnVO, very promising cathode candidates for new-generation aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Fiber shaped supercapacitors are promising candidates for wearable electronics because they are flexible and light-weight. However, a critical challenge of the widespread application of these energy storage devices is their low cell voltages and low energy densities, resulting in limited run-time of the electronics. Here, we demonstrate a 1.5 V high cell voltage and high volumetric energy density asymmetric fiber supercapacitor in aqueous electrolyte. The lightweight (0.24 g cm−3), highly conductive (39 S cm−1), and mechanically robust (221 MPa) graphene fibers were firstly fabricated and then coated by NiCo2S4 nanoparticles (GF/NiCo2S4) via the solvothermal deposition method. The GF/NiCo2S4 display high volumetric capacitance up to 388 F cm−3 at 2 mV s−1 in a three-electrode cell and 300 F cm−3 at 175.7 mA cm−3 (568 mF cm−2 at 0.5 mA cm−2) in a two-electrode cell. The electrochemical characterizations show 1000% higher capacitance of the GF/NiCo2S4 as compared to that of neat graphene fibers. The fabricated device achieves high energy density up to 12.3 mWh cm−3 with a maximum power density of 1600 mW cm−3, outperforming the thin-film lithium battery. Therefore, these supercapacitors are promising for the next generation flexible and wearable electronic devices.