Layered double hydroxide (LDH) nano‐ and microstructures with controllable size and morphology have been fabricated on “bivalent metal” substrates such as zinc and copper by a one‐step, room‐temperature process, in which metal substrates act as both reactants and supports. By manipulating the concentration of NH3 · H2O, the thickness and lateral size of the LDH materials can be tuned from several tens of nanometers to several hundreds of nanometers and from several hundreds of nanometers to several micrometers, respectively. This method is general and may be readily extended to any other alkali‐resisted substrate coated with Zn and Cu. As an example, Zn‐covered stainless steel foil has been shown to be effective for the growth of a ZnAl LDH film. After calcinating the as‐grown LDH at high temperature (650 °C) in argon gas, a ZnO/ZnAl2O4 porous nanosheet film is obtained, which is then directly used for the first time as the anode material for Li‐ion batteries with the operating voltage window of 0.05–2.5 V (vs. Li). The result demonstrates that ZnO/ZnAl2O4 has higher discharge and charge capacities and considerably better cycling stability compared to pure ZnO (Li insertion/extraction rate: 200 or 500 mA g−1). The improved electrochemical performance can be ascribed to the buffering effect of the inactive matrix ZnAl2O4 by relieving the stress caused by the volume change during charge–discharge cycling. This work represents a successful example for the development of promising ZnO‐based anode materials for Li‐ion batteries.
We report a highly effective growth of vertically aligned ZnO one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures on
conducting alloy substrate (Fe−Co−Ni) in mild solutions (T ≤ 70 °C) in the absence of any seeds, catalysts,
and surfactants. The growth conditions such as NH3·H2O concentration, temperature, and nature of the substrate
are correlated to affect the nanostructure formation. Different ZnO single-crystal nanostructures including
nanoneedles, hexagonal nanorods, and nanopencils oriented normal to the substrate can be selectively formed
in high quantity. The ordered ZnO nanostructures show strong UV excitonic emissions and good field emission
(FE) properties. Other metal substrates such as Ti and Ni are also proven to be effective for ZnO nanoarray
growth. Since metal substrates are much more economical and scalable than Si, sapphire/Al2O3, GaN, etc.,
we believe that our approach presents a general economical route toward mass production of controllable
ZnO arrays and will facilitate flexible design of device architectures for nanoelectronics.
Wide‐bandgap (WBG) perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are acknowledged as promising candidates for multijunction tandem and building photovoltaics, which attract broad research interest in related research communities. However, the performance of WBG PSCs based on the mixed‐halide perovskites still lags far behind their pure‐iodide counterparts because of the complex compositional evolution, huge photovoltage deficits, and intrinsic spectral losses. Here, by comprehensively understanding the representative WBG PSCs, the main “WBG drawbacks” from the device point of view are discussed in‐depth and three intrinsic critical issues for the growth of high‐quality WBG perovskites are proposed. The prospects for WBG PSCs toward future advancements and commercialization are also presented to guide the coming research hot spots.
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