A liquid alloy (GaInSn)-coated Cu substrate (LM@Cu) addresses K anode instability and dendrites via enhanced potassiophilicity, reduced nucleation overpotential, and self-diffusive planar growth, enabling uniform K deposition. Paired with a PTCDI cathode, the battery delivers 124.4 mAh g⁻¹ initially and retains 78.2 mAh g⁻¹ after 4900 cycles at 500 mA g⁻¹, demonstrating LM@Cu's viability for durable K-metal batteries.

Recently, Professor Shijian Zheng and Associate Professor Kaixiang Lei from Hebei University of Technology, in collaboration with Professor Lin Li and Dr. Xunzhu Zhou from Wenzhou University, published a research paper titled "Synergistic biphasic engineering and dual-site high-entropy doping enable stable sodium storage in layered oxide cathodes" in the journal Nano Research. In this study, a novel P2/O3 biphasic high-entropy oxide cathode material (Na_0.88K_0.02Ni_0.24Li_0.06Mg_0.07Fe_0.1Mn_0.41Ti_0.1Sn_0.02O₂, HEO) for sodium-ion batteries was successfully synthesized. By integrating biphasic engineering with a high-entropy strategy, this material effectively suppresses irreversible phase transitions, significantly enhances particle integrity and structural stability, and simultaneously improves the diffusion kinetics of Na⁺. Experimental results demonstrate that the cathode material maintains a high capacity retention of 82.68% after 1000 cycles, exhibiting its outstanding cycling stability.

Sulfide-based all-solid-state lithium metal batteries (ASSLMBs) are promising for high-energy-density and safe energy storage. But the poor compatibility of sulfide electrolytes with both high-voltage cathodes and lithium metal anodes hinders their practical application. Here, Professor Xie Jia's group from Huazhong University of Science and Technology discloses a fluorine-nitrogen synergistic interfacial engineering strategy by modifying Li5.5PS4.5Cl1.5 (LPSC) with lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI). The modified LPSC electrolyte shows a high ionic conductivity of 2.88 mS/cm. Moreover, LiTFSI induced dual-functional interphases, a fluorine-rich CEI (LiF/LixPOyFz) and a fluorine-nitrogen composite SEI (Li3N/LiF/LixPOyFz), contributing to high oxidation stability (LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2//LiIn battery retains 107% capacity retention after 13000 cycles at 15 C) and excellent lithium dendrite inhibition ability (Li//Li: CCD 3.4 mA/cm2, stably cycling 2600 h at 0.5 mA/cm2). As a result, the LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2//Li cell with modified electrolyte demonstrates 1000 stable cycles at a high cut-off voltage of 4.5 V and wide-temperature adaptability (-20~50 ℃). This work shows a facile and effective method for constructing long-life high-energy-density sulfide based ASSLMBs.

A German-French team of physicists from TU Dortmund University, University of Würzburg, and Le Mans Université has succeeded in launching shear hypersound pulses with exceptionally large amplitudes in metal halide perovskites using pulsed optical excitation. This discovery was published in the journal Science Advances. Whereas the material has been of high interest for photovoltaics so far, the new results turn it into a candidate to be used for optically driven devices capable of generating and detecting sound waves at sub-terahertz frequencies, with potential applications across electronic, photonic, magnetic, and biomedical devices.

With victims numbering in the millions, malaria is an infectious disease caused by the bite of a mosquito carrying the malaria parasite. After penetrating the skin, the pathogen moves with helical trajectories. It almost always turns toward the right, as a team of physicists and malaria researchers from Heidelberg University recently discovered. Using high-resolution imaging techniques combined with computer simulations, the researchers demonstrated that the pathogen uses these right-handed helices to control its motion as it transitions from one tissue compartment to another.

Scientists at the University of Warwick and the National Research Council of Canada have achieved and measured the highest “hole mobility” ever recorded in a silicon-compatible material.