Lithium–sulfur (Li‐S) batteries have been considered as promising candidates for large‐scale high energy density devices due to the potentially high energy density, low cost, and more pronounced ecological compatibility. However, the complex Li‐S conversion reactions, unsatisfactory battery performance, and unsafe metallic Li anode restrict the development of Li‐S batteries to achieve commercialization. This review mainly focuses on three aspects which are the remaining challenges, recent advances, and applications in Li‐S batteries. Firstly, this review portrays Li‐S conversion chemistry involving the multi‐step and multi‐electron reaction mechanism, as well as the remaining challenges. Then, the scientific strategies and very recent advances of the cathode, electrolyte, lithium anode, and other constituent parts of Li‐S batteries are detailly summed up, as well as their advantages and limitations. For the sake of promoting the Li‐S batteries practicalization, next section is primarily concerned with problems, the corresponding solutions, and application scenarios of practical pouch cells. Finally, the important findings as guidelines and some future directions as trends for developing emerging Li‐S batteries are briefly summarized.

Sulfur cathode materials in lithium–sulfur chemistry suffer from poor electronic conductivity and shuttle of lithium polysulfides during charging and discharging. Serious shuttle effects and the sluggish redox reaction kinetics of polysulfides severely limit the development of lithium–sulfur batteries with high sulfur loading, impeding the practical process of lithium–sulfur batteries. Herein, a honeycomb73x02010;structured CoF₂@C is introduced as a functional layer adhered to the separator, achieving rapid lithium‐ion transport, high catalytic activity, and suppressed shuttle effect simultaneously. As a result, the cell with CoF₂‐modified separator presents satisfactory cycle stability with a capacity decay of 0.076% per cycle within 300 cycles at 1 C rate with the sulfur loading of 2.0 mg cm⁻². A low‐capacity decay of 0.088% per cycle for 200 cycles at 0.2 C is also achieved with sulfur loading of 3.0 mg cm⁻². In addition, a high‐capacity retention of 697.5 mA g⁻¹ is achieved with sulfur loading of 4.0 mg cm⁻² and the electrolyte volume/sulfur mass (E/S) ratio of 8 μL mg⁻¹.

Considering the high cost of cobalt, cobalt‐free lithium nickel oxide (LiNiO₂), which has an extremely high theoretical specific capacity, has become attractive. However, its application is hampered by continuous irreversible phase changes, unstable interfaces, and particle pulverization. Herein, an ≈35 nm‐thick selenium (Se) coating is applied to modify LiNiO₂ using a combination of solid‐phase mixing and low‐temperature sintering. After 300 cycles, the selenium‐coated LiNiO₂ (Se–LNO) cathode exhibits unusually high capacity retention of 82.09% at a charge cutoff voltage of 4.3 V. Furthermore, the coating modification improves the rate performance of the cathode materials, which exhibit considerable specific capacities of 168.7 and 149.6 mAh g⁻¹ at current densities of 2 and 5 C, respectively. The significantly enhanced electrochemical performance can be attributed to the ability of the Se coating to enhance the structural stability of the cathode materials by suppressing phase transitions, stabilizing the interface, enhancing the kinetic behavior of the electrode, and reducing particle pulverization. According to the findings of this study, manipulating the Se coating in cathodes may provide a viable path for lower‐cost and higher‐energy‐density Co‐free lithium‐ion batteries.

Following the growing demand for Ni and Co and the dwindling supplies of sulfide nickel ore, attention has turned toward the more efficient exploitation and utilization of laterite ore. Using ammonium chloride acid solution to leach is an effective method. Our research concerned investigations on the leaching mechanism and leaching kinetics of laterite. XRD was used to demonstrate the leaching mechanism through analysis of the pattern of the leaching residue and raw ore, showing that acid concentration affects the leaching process more significantly than other factors, and that valuable metals are mainly released from goethite and serpentine. The leaching order of these materials are as follows: Goethite > serpentine > magnetite and hematite. The leaching kinetics were analyzed and this leaching process followed a shrinking core model controlled by a combination of interfacial transfer and diffusion across the solid film. Leaching data fitted to the kinetic equation perfectly, and the apparent activation energies for the leaching of nickel, cobalt, and iron were calculated to be 4.01 kJ/mol, 3.43 kJ/mol, and 1.87 kJ/mol, respectively. The Arrhenius constants for Ni, Co, and Fe were 204.38, 16.65, and 7.12 × 10⁻³, respectively, with reaction orders of Ni (a 1.32, b 0.85, c 1.53), Co (a 1.74, b 1.12, c 1.22), and Fe (a 2.52, b −0.11, c 0.94).

The presence of aluminum in the weathering crust leaching rare earth ore harms the subsequent extraction and separation of rare earths. High-quality rare earth production processes must reduce the aluminum content in their feed liquid. Groups containing lone pairs of electrons can form stable insoluble complexes with metal ions under certain conditions. In this paper, 3-hydroxyphenylphosphoryl propionic acid is used to selectively separate rare earths by complexation in feed liquid. The results show that: using 3-hydroxyphenylphosphoryl propionic acid as the complexing agent, and when the amount of 3-hydroxyphenyl phosphoryl propionic acid is six times the theoretical complete reaction amount, the reaction time is 10 min, the reaction temperature is 50 °C, and the solution is adjusted to pH 1, the extraction rate of RE³⁺ is 90.48%, and the extraction rate of Al³⁺ is nearly 9.52%. The separation of rare earth and aluminum is well realized. 3-hydroxyphenyl phosphoryl propionic acid has good water solubility and low cost, and the product after complexation reaction with metal ions is solid and easy to separate. It has potential as an alternative complexing agent in the industry.

Herein, we report a copper-catalyzed C-O cross-coupling of N-methoxy amides and arylboronic acids for the synthesis of aryl-N-methoxy arylimides. The fully selective O-arylation of the N-methoxy amides is found to be greatly prompted by the inexpensive and commercially available CuI. The reaction conditions tolerate a variety of functional groups and promote different reactivities depending on the electronic and steric properties of the distorted substrates.