Portable electronic devices (PEDs) are promising information‐exchange platforms for real‐time responses. Their performance is becoming more and more sensitive to energy consumption. Rechargeable batteries are the primary energy source of PEDs and hold the key to guarantee their desired performance stability. With the remarkable progress in battery technologies, multifunctional PEDs have constantly been emerging to meet the requests of our daily life conveniently. The ongoing surge in demand for high‐performance PEDs inspires the relentless pursuit of even more powerful rechargeable battery systems in turn. In this review, we present how battery technologies contribute to the fast rise of PEDs in the last decades. First, a comprehensive overview of historical advances in PEDs is outlined. Next, four types of representative rechargeable batteries and their impacts on the practical development of PEDs are described comprehensively. The development trends toward a new generation of batteries and the future research focuses are also presented.

Exceptionally large surface area and well-defined nanostructure are both critical in the field of nanoporous carbons for challenging energy and environmental issues. The pursuit of ultrahigh surface area while maintaining definite nanostructure remains a formidable challenge because extensive creation of pores will undoubtedly give rise to the damage of nanostructures, especially below 100 nm. Here we report that high surface area of up to 3,022 m2 g−1 can be achieved for hollow carbon nanospheres with an outer diameter of 69 nm by a simple carbonization procedure with carefully selected carbon precursors and carbonization conditions. The tailor-made pore structure of hollow carbon nanospheres enables target-oriented applications, as exemplified by their enhanced adsorption capability towards organic vapours, and electrochemical performances as electrodes for supercapacitors and sulphur host materials for lithium–sulphur batteries. The facile approach may open the doors for preparation of highly porous carbons with desired nanostructure for numerous applications.

Electrobalance and fixed-bed reactors have been used to study the capture of CO 2 from simulated flue gas using a regenerable Na 2 CO 3 sorbent. CO 2 capture was effective in the temperature range of 60-70 °C, while regeneration occurred in the range of 120-200 °C, depending on the partial pressure of CO 2 in the regeneration gas. Equal molar quantities of CO 2 and H 2 O are produced during sorbent regeneration, and pure CO 2 suitable for use or sequestration is available after condensation of the H 2 O. Capture of as much as 90% of the CO 2 was possible at appropriate reaction conditions, and little or no reduction in either carbonation rate or sorbent capacity was observed in limited multicycle tests. The concept is potentially applicable to the capture of CO 2 from existing fossil fuel-fired power plants, where amine scrubbing is the only CO 2 capture process currently available.

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