An Aqueous Dual‐Ion Battery Cathode of Mn3O4 via Reversible Insertion of Nitrate

We report reversible electrochemical insertion of NO₃^? into manganese(II, III) oxide (Mn₃O₄) as a cathode for aqueous dual‐ion batteries. Characterization by TGA, FTIR, EDX, XANES, EXAFS, and EQCM collectively provides unequivocal evidence that reversible oxidative NO₃^? insertion takes place inside Mn₃O₄. Ex situ HRTEM and corresponding EDX mapping results suggest that NO₃^? insertion de‐crystallizes the structure of Mn₃O₄. Kinetic studies reveal fast migration of NO₃^? in the Mn₃O₄ structure. This finding may open a new direction for novel low‐cost aqueous dual‐ion batteries.     

A Four‐Electron Sulfur Electrode Hosting a Cu2+/Cu+ Redox Charge Carrier

The elemental sulfur electrode with Cu²⁺ as the charge carrier gives a four‐electron sulfur electrode reaction through the sequential conversion of S?CuS?Cu₂S. The Cu‐S redox‐ion electrode delivers a high specific capacity of 3044 mAh g^?1 based on the sulfur mass or 609 mAh g^?1 based on the mass of Cu₂S, the completely discharged product, and displays an unprecedently high potential of sulfur/metal sulfide reduction at 0.5 V vs. SHE. The Cu‐S electrode also exhibits an extremely low extent of polarization of 0.05 V and an outstanding cycle number of 1200 cycles retaining 72 % of the initial capacity at 12.5 A g^?1. The remarkable utility of this Cu‐S cathode is further demonstrated in a hybrid cell that employs an Zn metal anode and an anion‐exchange membrane as the separator, which yields an average cell discharge voltage of 1.15 V, the half‐cell specific energy of 547 Wh kg^?1 based on the mass of the Cu₂S/carbon composite cathode, and stable cycling over 110 cycles.     

Aqueous Batteries Operated at −50 °C

Insufficient ionic conductivity and freezing of the electrolyte are considered the main problems for electrochemical energy storage at low temperatures (low T). Here, an electrolyte with a freezing point lower than ?130 °C is developed by using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as an additive with molar fraction of 0.3 to an aqueous solution of 2 m NaClO₄ (2M‐0.3 electrolyte). The 2M‐0.3 electrolyte exhibits sufficient ionic conductivity of 0.11 mS cm^?1 at ?50 °C. The combination of spectroscopic investigations and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations reveal that hydrogen bonds are stably formed between DMSO and water molecules, facilitating the operation of the electrolyte at ultra‐low T. Using DMSO as the electrolyte additive, the aqueous rechargeable alkali‐ion batteries (AABs) can work well even at ?50 °C. This work provides a simple and effective strategy to develop low T AABs.     

Synthesis and Electrochemical Performance of Spinel LiMn2O4—x（SO4）x Cathode Materials

ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＩｎｒｅｃｅｎｔｙｅａｒｓ ,ｗｉｔｈｔｈｅｄｅｖｅｌｏｐｍｅｎｔｏｆａｌｌｓｏｒｔｓｏｆｃｅｌｌｕｌａｒｐｈｏｎｅｓ ,ｃａｍｃｏｒｄｅｒｓ ,ｌａｐｔｏｐｃｏｍｐｕｔｅｒｓ ,ｔｈｅｌｉｔｈｉｕｍ ｉｏｎｓｅｃｏｎｄａｒｙｂａｔｔｅｒｉｅｓｂａｓｅｄｏｎｔｈｅｕｓｅｏｆｌｉｔｈｉ ｕｍ ｍａｎｇａｎｅｓｅ ｏｘｉｄｅＬｉＭｎ2 Ｏ4 1,2 ｈａｖｅａｔｔｒａｃｔｅｄｍｕｃｈａｔ ｔｅｎｔｉｏｎ .ＢｕｔｔｈｅＬｉＭｎ2 Ｏ4 ｃａｔｈｏｄｅｍａｔｅｒｉａｌｈａｓａｄｉｓａｄ ｖａｎｔａｇｅｏｆ…