Ultrathin core–shell V3S4@C nanosheets assembled into hierarchical nanotubes (V3S4@C NS‐HNTs) are synthesized by a self‐template strategy and evaluated as general anodes for alkali‐ion batteries. Structural/physicochemical characterizations and DFT calculations bring insights into the intrinsic relationship between crystal structures and electrochemical mechanisms of the V3S4@C NS‐HNTs electrode. The V3S4@C NS‐HNTs are endowed with strong structural rigidness owing to the layered VS2 subunits and interlayer occupied V atoms, and efficient alkali‐ion adsorption/diffusion thanks to the electroactive V3S4‐C interfaces. The resulting V3S4@C NS‐HNTs anode exhibit distinct alkali‐ion‐dependent charge storage mechanisms and exceptional long‐durability cyclic performance in storage of K+, benefiting from synergistic contributions of pseudocapacitive and reversible intercalation/de‐intercalation behaviors superior to those of the conversion‐reaction‐based Li+‐/Na+‐storage counterparts.

We report a high-bendability flexible dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) based on a ZnO-nanowire photoelectrode, which was fabricated on polyethylene terephtalate/indium tin oxide substrate by low-temperature hydrothermal growth. Nanowire morphology shows preferable in crack resistance due to its efficient release of bending stress. The ZnO-nanowire film can be bended to an extreme radius of 2mm with no crack observed. Flexible DSSCs based on this kind of ZnO-nanowire photoelectrodes showed good bending stability. With a ZnO-nanoparticle modification on the nanowires, the flexible DSSC fabricated showed a much improved power conversion efficiency. Meanwhile, the good bendablility of this nanoparticle-modified nanowire electrode is maintained. The results demonstrate that high quality ZnO nanowires fabricated by the low-temperature method is promising for efficient and flexible plastic solar cells.

This review elaborately summarizes the latest progresses in flexible non-lithium rechargeable batteries including flexible electrode construction, separators, solid electrolyte synthesis, full battery design, packaging and optimization.