Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have drawn considerable attention due to their high energy density and good cycling stability. As a transition-metal oxide, MgCo₂O₄ (MCO) is a promising candidate for energy storage applications because of its low-cost and environmental characteristics. Here, MCO porous nanosheets have been successfully synthesized by a microwave-assisted liquid phase method followed by an annealing procedure. As a result, MCO annealed at 600 °C exhibited optimal rate and cycling performances for Lithium storage application. Specifically, when tested as anode materials for Lithium ion batteries, MCO porous nanosheets delivered a high specific capacity of 1173.8 mAh g⁻¹ at 200 mA g⁻¹, and the specific capacity reached 1130.1 mAh g⁻¹ after 100 cycles at 200 mA g⁻¹, achieving 96.3% for the retention rate. The excellent electrochemical performances are mainly attributed to the monolayer porous nanosheet, which provides short transport paths for Li ions and electrons. Results demonstrated that the MCO porous nanosheets are promising electrode materials for Lithium ion batteries applications.

A binder plays an important role in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), especially for the electrode materials which have large volume expansion during charge and discharge. In this work, we designed a cross-linked polymeric binder with an esterification reaction of Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) and Fumaric Acid (FA), and successfully used it in an Sb₂O₃ anode for LIBs. Compared with conventional binder polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and CMC, the new cross-linked binder improves the electrochemical stability of the Sb₂O₃ anode. Specifically, with CMC-FA binder, the battery could deliver ~611.4 mAh g⁻¹ after 200 cycles under the current density of 0.2 A g⁻¹, while with PVDF or CMC binder, the battery degraded to 265.1 and 322.3 mAh g⁻¹, respectively. The improved cycling performance is mainly due to that the cross-linked CMC-FA network could not only efficiently improve the contact between Sb₂O₃ and conductive agent, but can also buffer the large volume charge of the electrode during repeated charge/discharge cycles.

Lithium metal is regarded as the most potential anode material for batteries with a high energy density, but is seriously hampered by the dead Li and Li dendrites generated during cycling. Appropriate control of the Li plating/stripping process is an effective strategy to alleviate these above two issues. Here, a ZnO and oxygen vacancy modified nitrogen-doped three-dimensional (3D) carbon skeleton is designed as a multifunctional host for stable Li metal anodes. The synergistic effect of the 3D structure with reduced local current density, lithiophilic nitrogen-doped sites and tiny amorphous ZnO with low nucleation barriers, and oxygen vacancies with high ion conductivity guide Li deposition. When used as an anode, the designed symmetric cell exhibits a long-term cycling duration over 1500 h with a low overpotential (16 mV) at 5 mA cm⁻² and 5 mA h cm⁻². The full cell of MA-Zn-C-Li//LiFePO₄ also exhibited superior cycling performance. This work provides a promising surface adjustment strategy with a difunctional host for high-performance Li metal batteries.

With the ever-increasing demands of electrochemical energy storage, lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have drawn more attention because of their superior theoretical energy density and high specific capacity. However, practical applications of Li–S batteries suffer from problems such as low conductivity of sulfur and discharged products, severe polysulfide shuttling effect, and large volume change of sulfur during cycling, resulting in sluggish rate performance, and unsatisfactory cycle life. Various nanostructured carbon materials have been served as barrier layers to overcome these problems. In particular, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with unique 1D nanostructure, have been introduced to Li–S batteries as the intermediate layers because of its superior flexibility, excellent electrical conductivity, and good chemical stability. Moreover, CNTs and CNTs-based barrier layers could also curb lithium polysulfides shuttling. In the minireview, we summarize recent works of CNTs-based materials as modifying interlayers for Li–S batteries. In addition, the strategies to enhance electrochemical performances of the batteries are summarized and discussed. Finally, the challenges and prospects for future research of CNTs-based materials as interlayer are proposed. We hope this review will be useful for designing and fabricating high-performance Li–S batteries and boost their practical applications.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been widely used in the fields of smart phones, electric vehicles, and smart grids. With its opened Aurivillius structure, tungstate antimony oxide (Sb₂WO₆, SWO), constituted of {Sb₂O₂}²ⁿ⁺ and {WO₄}²ⁿ⁻, is rarely investigated as an anode for lithium-ion batteries. In this work, Sb₂WO₆ with nanosheets morphology was successfully synthesized using a simple microwave hydrothermal method and systematically studied as an anode for lithium-ion batteries. The optimal SWO (SWO-60) exhibits a high specific discharge capacity and good rate capability. The good electrochemical performance could be ascribed to mesoporous nanosheets morphology, which is favorable for the penetration of the electrolyte and charge transportation. The results show that this nanostructured SWO is a promising anode material for LIBs.