Nature Energy, Published online: 24 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02091-w

Aqueous Zn batteries are attractive for low-cost and safe energy storage, yet their practical use is hindered by limited reversibility. Here the authors report a ligand-confined, flowable Zn slurry that enables durable and efficient operation.

Nature Energy, Published online: 23 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02053-2

Despite early promise, vanadium flow batteries struggled to move beyond pilot projects due to bottlenecks that emerged at scale. Overcoming these barriers to enable reliable, cost-effective long-duration energy storage at multi-hundred-megawatt scale is discussed by Xianfeng Li and colleagues.