Lithium-ion battery electrodes are on course to benefit from current research in structure re-engineering to allow for the implementation of thicker electrodes. Increasing the thickness of a battery electrode enables significant improvements in gravimetric energy density while simultaneously reducing manufacturing costs. Both metrics are critical if the transition to sustainable transport systems is to be fully realized commercially. However, significant barriers exist that prevent the use of such microstructures: performance issues, manufacturing challenges, and scalability all remain open areas of research. In this Perspective, we discuss the challenges in adapting current manufacturing processes for thick electrodes and the opportunities that pore engineering presents in order to design thicker and better electrodes while simultaneously considering long-term performance and scalability.

Nanostructured metals with large surface area have a great potential for multiple device applications. Although various metal architectures based on metal nanoligaments and nanowires are well known, they typically show a tradeoff between mechanical robustness, high surface area and high (macro)porosity, which, when combined, could significantly improve the performance of devices such as batteries, electrolyzers or sensors. In this work we rationally designed templated networks of interconnected metal nanowires, combining for the first time high porosity of metal foams, narrowly-distributed macropores and a very high surface area of nanoporous dealloyed metals. Thanks to their structural uniformity, the few-micron thick nanowire meshes are also remarkably flexible and durable. We show how the textural properties of the material can be precisely tuned to optimize the nanowire networks for applications in different devices. In an exemplary application in electrolytic production of hydrogen, thanks to its high surface area, a few-micron thick nanomesh outperformed a 300 times thicker nickel foam. Furthermore, thanks to its high porosity, the Pt-doped nanomesh surpassed a microporous Pt/C cloth, demonstrating benefits of the optimally designed nanowire structure for a simultaneous improvement and miniaturization of electrochemical devices. This work extends the potential of interconnected nanowires to multiple new research and industrial applications requiring highly porous and flexible conductive materials with high surface-to-volume ratio. Porosity (%) 60 -80 97 -99+ dpore (nm) c 5 -40 10 -100 Robustness brittle brittle a Data based on Refs. 14,15 . b VSA conversion is presented in Supporting Information. c dpore -effective pore diameter.Various recent studies have shown that rather than having very high surface area but low porosity and small pores, an optimal, mechanically stable current collector should exhibit a balanced combination of high surface area and high porosity, together with sufficiently large, interconnected and preferably ordered pores, whose optimal size depends on the particular application. [16][17][18][19] Currently, however, even the state-of-the-art porous metals, such as dealloyed metals *

We report the synthesis of a novel, water-soluble aryl-extended calix[4]pyrrole receptor. The water-solubilising groups are placed at the lower rim of the receptor, leaving the binding pocket unperturbed and open for modification. Binding studies were performed with a series of pyridine N-oxides. These studies revealed the ability of the receptor to bind neutral and charged N-oxides in basified water with stability constants higher than 10(4) M(-1).