With the urgent requirement for high-performance rechargeable Li-S batteries, besides various carbon materials and metal compounds, lots of conducting polymers have been developed and used as components in Li-S batteries. In this review, the synthesis of polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy) and polythiophene (PTh) is introduced briefly. Then, the application progress of the three conducting polymers is summarized according to the function in Li-S batteries, including coating layers, conductive hosts, sulfur-containing compounds, separator modifier/functional interlayer, binder and current collector. Finally, according to the current problems of conducting polymers, some practical strategies and potential research directions are put forward. We expect that this review will provide novel design ideas to develop conducting polymer-containing high-performance Li-S batteries.

A new open-framework zinc phosphate with 12-ring channels has been solvothermally synthesized by using the in situ generated methylviologen as the template, which exhibits multi-photoactive properties such as photochromism, photoelectricity and fluorescence.

Among the popular electrochemical energy storage devices, supercapacitors (SCs) have attracted much attention due to their long cycle life, fast charge and discharge, safety, and reliability. Transition metal oxides are one of the most widely used electrode materials in SCs because of the high specific capacitance. Among various transition metal oxides, Co₃O₄ and related composites are widely reported in SCs electrodes. In this review, we introduce the synthetic methods of Co₃O₄, including the hydrothermal/solvothermal method, sol–gel method, thermal decomposition, chemical precipitation, electrodeposition, chemical bath deposition, and the template method. The recent progress of Co₃O₄-containing electrode materials is summarized in detail, involving Co₃O₄/carbon, Co₃O₄/conducting polymer, and Co₃O₄/metal compound composites. Finally, the current challenges and outlook of Co₃O₄ and Co₃O₄-containing composites are put forward.