Cover Image, Volume 8, Number 4, April 2026

Front cover image: In traditional interfacial engineering, methods to improve the bonding between materials often neglect the importance of interfacial wettability. In flexible Zn-MnO2 batteries, wettability plays a pivotal role in establishing the uniformity and efficiency of MnO2 deposition on the flexible substrate. In article number CEY2.70097, Zhang et al. introduces an innovative “surface lock” strategy, which is designed to achieve a triple synergy of C-O-Mn covalent bonding, wettability optimization, and hierarchical mesoporous engineering through CNF/CNT modified CC to alleviate the problems of MnO2 detachment, dissolution, and ionic transport hysteresis. This research provides an important theoretical and experimental basis for the development of future highperformance energy storage devices.