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Recently, aluminum–air (Al–air) batteries have received attention from researchers as an exciting option for safe and efficient batteries. The electrochemical performance of Aluminum anode remains an active area of investigation. In this paper, the electrochemical properties of polycrystalline Al, Al (001), (110) and (111) single crystals are investigated using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 4 M NaOH and KOH. Hydrogen corrosion rates of the Al anodes are determined by hydrogen collection. Battery performance using the anodes is tested by constant current discharge at 10 mA cm −2 . This is the first report showing that the electrochemical properties of Al are closely related to the crystallographic orientation in alkaline electrolytes. The (001) crystallographic plane has good corrosion resistance but (110) is more sensitive. Al (001) single crystals display higher anode efficiency and capacity density. Controlling the crystallographic orientation of the Al anode is another way to improve the performance of Al–air batteries in alkaline electrolytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Composition carbon materials with metal chalcogenides for the application of energy storage have attracted great attention due to the combination of good conductivity with high capacity. In this work, ultrasmall few-/single-layered WS 2 @nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers(WS 2 @NCNFs) are successfully synthesized via electrospinning and annealing. The WS 2 @NCNFs cathode exhibits a discharge capacity of 314.07 m A h g − 1 and maintains 195.81 m A h g − 1 after 100 cycles at 100 m A g − 1 , which is superior to that of the bulk WS 2 cathode. The special composite nanostructure endows the WS 2 @NCNFs cathode with outstanding aluminum storage performances, which may provide new insight for realizing more attractive two-dimensional layered cathode materials for rechargeable aluminum batteries. Image 1 • Single-/few-layered WS 2 embedded in NCNFs is synthesized. • WS 2 @NCNFs exhibits outstanding performance in RABs. • Both pseudocapacitive effect and battery behavior contribute to capacity. • Al3+ can intercalate into two different positions in WS 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]