Recent progress of high-performance in-plane zinc ion hybrid micro-supercapacitors: design, achievements, and challenges

With the increasing demand for wearable and miniature electronics, in-plane zinc (Zn) ion hybrid micro-supercapacitors (ZIHMSCs), as a promising and compatible energy power source, have attracted tremendous attention due to their unique merits. Despite enormous development and breakthroughs in this field, there is still a lack of a systematic and comprehensive review to update the recent progress of in-plane ZIHMSCs in the design and fabrication of both micro-anodes and micro-cathodes, the exploration and optimization of new electrolytes, and the investigation of related-energy storage mechanisms. This minireview summarizes the key breakthroughs and recent advances in the construction of high-performance in-plane ZIHMSCs. First, the background and fundamentals of in-plane ZIHMSCs are briefly introduced. Then, new concepts, strategies, and latest exciting developments in the preparation and interfacial engineering of Zn metal micro-anodes, the fabrication of advanced micro-cathodes, and the exploration of new electrolyte systems are discussed, respectively. Finally, the key challenges and future directions for the development of high-performance in-plane ZIHMSCs are presented as well. This review not only accounts for the recent research progress in the field of the in-plane ZIHMSCs, but also provides important new insights into the design of next-generation miniaturized energy storage devices. New concepts, strategies, and latest developments of in-plane Zn ion hybrid MSCs as well as key challenges and future directions have been highlighted, which provides new insights into several kinds of emerging miniaturized energy storage devices.