Although zinc oxide (ZnO), a low-cost and naturally abundant material, has a high theoretical specific capacity of 987 mA h g⁻¹ for hosting lithium ions, its application as an anode material has been hindered by its rapid capacity fading, mainly due to a large volume change (around 228%) upon repeated charge–discharge cycles. Herein, using carbon black (CB) powder as a support, ZnO–carbon black (denoted as ZnO–CB) nanocomposites were successfully fabricated using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. This method was able to produce strong interfacial molecular bindings between ZnO nanoclusters and the carbon surface that provide stable and robust electrical contact during lithiation and delithiation processes, as well as ZnO nanoclusters rich in oxygen vacancies (OVs) for faster Li-ion transport. Overall, the nanocomposites were able to deliver a high discharge specific capacity of 2096 mA h g⁻¹ _ZnO at 100 mA g⁻¹ and stable cyclic stability with a specific capacity of 1026 mA h g⁻¹ _ZnO maintained after 500 cycles. The composites also have excellent rate capability, and a reversible capacity at a high 1080 mA h g⁻¹ _ZnO at 2000 mA g⁻¹. The facile but unique synthesis method demonstrated in this work for producing nanostructures rich in OVs and nanocomposites with strong coupling via interfacial molecular bindings could be extended to the synthesis of other oxide based anode materials and therefore could have general significance for developing high energy density lithium ion batteries.

A flexible and robust graphene–Co₉S₈ nanocomposite paper anode for high performance lithium-ion batteries.

A newly developed Al ₂ O ₃ –Li ₂ S–GS cathode with Al ₂ O ₃ ultra-thin layers preferentially coated on Li ₂ S by ALD can deliver a significantly improved cycling and rate performance for Li–S batteries.

With the high energy ball milling method, a Co₉S₈-decorated reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composite, which shows excellent hydrogen storage capacity, has been successfully fabricated with a well-organized layered structure.

The design of organic–inorganic hybrid nanostructures with carefully balanced properties is a promising approach for constructing advanced electrocatalysts using earth abundant elements. Here we describe hybrid electrocatalysts that have strongly coupled metal (Co–Fe) polyphenolic networks (MPNs) and Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles for catalyzing the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with exceptional activity. These catalysts were produced by a tannic acid (TA) mediated conversion process that selectively converts the surface layers of pre-synthesized zeolitic imidazole framework-67 (ZIF-67)@Fe₃O₄ core–shell nanoparticles to uniformly wrapped organic MPN layers. The MPN layers are composed of metal–phenolic complexes that are rich in molecular metal hydro(oxy)oxide (M–OH, M–O–M) centers that not only increase the electrochemical surface area by approximately four times but also serve as highly active sites for the OER. As a result of the structural and compositional benefits, the hybrid catalysts only require an overpotential of 260 mV to produce oxygen at 10 mA cm⁻² and have a Tafel slope of only 33.6 mV dec⁻¹ in alkaline electrolytes, which are the lowest when compared with pristine ZIF-67@Fe₃O₄, Fe₃O₄ and the benchmark IrO₂ catalysts.