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Thin‐film rechargeable batteries have a wide range of applications due to their unique properties such as small size, thinness, and the ability to power smart devices, including portable electronic devices, medical devices, smart cards, RFID tags, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Processing thin‐film electrodes for these batteries generally relies on standard physical vapor deposition technologies. However, producing porous thin‐films using these techniques presents significant challenges. Here, a rapid and cost‐effective chemical route for processing porous vanadium oxide (V2O5) thin‐film cathodes for application in Zinc‐ion‐based thin‐film batteries (Zn‐TFBs) is explored. The V2O5 precursor process uses an industrially viable spraying technique, which not only offers impressive charge storage performance of an areal capacity of 47.34 µAh cm−2, areal energy of 50.18 µWh cm−2, and areal power of 53 µW cm−2 at 50 µA cm−2 in the optimized gel‐electrolyte composition. This study introduces a cost‐effective and industrially viable method for processing highly porous thin‐film cathodes, enabling the production of high‐performance, affordable, and safer thin‐film batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing solar energy to charge electrical energy storage devices has currently emerged as a hot and promising research direction to replace the traditional charging processes. Here, MoS2/carbon composites with a hollow tubular structure (MoS2/C-NTs) were developed and used as multifunctional cathodes for the assembly of photo-accelerated rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (photo-ZIBs). The good light-sensitive feature enables MoS2/C-NTs to be capable of harvesting and simultaneously storing solar energy. Benefiting from this, photo-induced charging can be realized and, more importantly, the capacity can be boosted from 254 to 355 mA h g−1 (current density of 100 mA g−1) as compared to that in the dark. Moreover, the obtained photo-ZIB also demonstrates a good capacity retention of ∼74% over 200 cycles under light irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imperative development of planar on-chip micro-batteries featuring high-capacity electrodes and environmentally safer, cost-effective, and stable systems is crucial for powering forthcoming miniaturized systems-on-chip smart devices. However, research in the area of high-stability micro-batteries is limited due to the complex fabrication process, the stability of micro-electrodes during cycling, and the challenge of maintaining higher capacity within a limited device footprint. In response to this need, this study focuses on providing highly stable and high-capacity micro-electrodes. This involves adding a PEDOT layer between the electrode material and the current collector, applied within a planar polyaniline cathode and zinc anode device structure to enhance charge storage performance. This straightforward strategy not only improves device stability over long-term cycling and reduces charge transfer resistance but also increases charge storage capacities from 17.64 to 19.75 µAh cm - 2 at 0.1 mA cm - 2 . Consequently, the Zn-ion micro-batteries achieve notable peak areal energy and power of 18.82 µWh cm - 2 and 4.37 mW cm - 2 , respectively. This work proposes an effective strategy to enhance the electrochemical performance of planar micro-batteries, a critical advancement for the development of advanced portable electronics., (© 2024 The Author(s). Small published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)