ZnO, aside from TiO₂, has been considered as a promising material for purification and disinfection of water and air and remediation of hazardous waste, owing to its high activity, environment-friendly feature and lower cost. However, their poor visible light utilization greatly limited their practical applications. Herein, we demonstrate the fabrication of different aspect ratios of the ZnO nanorods with surface defects by mechanical-assisted thermal decomposition method. The experiments revealed that ZnO nanorods with higher aspect ratio and surface defects show significantly higher photocatalytic performances.

High-safety and low-cost aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are an exceptionally compelling technology for grid-scale energy storage, whereas the corrosion, hydrogen evolution reaction and dendrite growth of Zn anodes hamper their further development, which are derived from the decomposition of active water molecules belonging to Zn²⁺ solvation structures in electrolytes. In recent years, strategies of regulating Zn²⁺ solvation shells in electrolytes have been demonstrated to effectively suppress the above-mentioned issues, and fruitful achievements have been made. However, there is a lack of systematic summary on the functional mechanisms and solvation structure evolution of electrolytes or electrolyte additives. Herein, this review gives a comprehensive introduction of the solvation structure regulation strategies based on electrolyte engineering for dendrite-free and side reaction-suppressed ZIBs, including high-concentration electrolytes, deep eutectic solvents, ionic liquids, functional additives, solid-state electrolytes and super-saturated electrolyte layers, particularly an in-depth and fundamental understanding of the effects and mechanisms of electrolyte modification on Zn²⁺ solvation shells. Furthermore, the general performance metrics of the above-mentioned strategies, potential directions and perspectives for further research are proposed.

In this study, pure ZnO, CeO₂ and ZnO/CeO₂ nanocomposites were synthesized using a thermal decomposition method and subsequently characterized using different standard techniques. High-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements confirmed the oxidation states and presence of Zn²⁺, Ce⁴⁺, Ce³⁺ and different bonded oxygen species in the nanocomposites. The prepared pure ZnO and CeO₂ as well as the ZnO/CeO₂ nanocomposites with various proportions of ZnO and CeO₂ were tested for photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange, methylene blue and phenol under visible-light irradiation. The optimized and highly efficient ZnO/CeO₂ (90:10) nanocomposite exhibited enhanced photocatalytic degradation performance for the degradation of methyl orange, methylene blue and phenol as well as industrial textile effluent compared to ZnO, CeO₂ and the other investigated nanocomposites. Moreover, the recycling results demonstrate that the ZnO/CeO₂ (90:10) nanocomposite exhibited good stability and long-term durability. Furthermore, the prepared ZnO/CeO₂ nanocomposites were used for the electrochemical detection of uric acid and ascorbic acid. The ZnO/CeO₂ (90:10) nanocomposite also demonstrated the best detection, sensitivity and performance among the investigated materials in this application. These findings suggest that the synthesized ZnO/CeO₂ (90:10) nanocomposite could be effectively used in various applications.