Nevertheless, it is of noteworthy that there are still certain bottlenecks alongside with this research field, and some reasonable suggestions should be adopted enthusiastically for further improvements. (1) SCs are used in the different energy storage sites compared with batteries and are unlikely to replace the latter, because their energy density is still considerably lower than batteries (100–300 Wh/kg) especially for aqueous electrolyte-based SCs. Considerable research advancements have been made, such as selecting electrode materials with high electrochemical activity, combining various materials, and designing nanometer multi-level structures. Taking some strategies to extend the voltage window of aqueous SCs to 2.6 V or higher is also feasible, such as electrochemical cyclic modification [
62], introduction of "water in salt" [
141-
143], electrode modification to repel H
+ and OH
−. (2) The choice of negative electrode materials is relatively rare. When assembling a full device, the commonly used negative electrode material is activated carbon [
144], but its specific capacitance is only about 200 F/g. In order to achieve the charge balance between two electrodes, the loading of activated carbon is much larger than that of the positive electrode active material, which will degrade the energy density. Another common negative material is Fe
2O
3 [
145,
146], which owns high specific capacity but poor rate and cycling performance, making it unable to match the positive material perfectly. (3) In contrast to areal capacitance (F/cm
2) and volumetric capacitance (F/cm
3), gravimetric capacitance (F/g) in the most literature is used to evaluate the performance of electrodes. In general, carbon-based electrode materials with porous structures display high specific surface area and can provide high gravimetric capacitance, but their low packing density (g/cm
3) results in low volumetric capacitance, which hinders their development in demanding industrial applications. At present, the proper balance between gravimetric and volumetric capacitance, which takes into account both packing density and resistance, has become a prime challenge [
147]. (4) The self-discharge characteristic of SCs is an important factor in evaluating their performance and commercial specifications. The charged capacitor is in a high free energy state relative to the discharge state, so there is a pseudo driving force of self-discharge. But SCs have low persistence and high self-discharge rate, about 10%−40% per day, which is considered to be the main obstacle in practical applications [
148-
150]. (5) In order to bind the active materials together with current collectors, binders are indispensable components in most current electrodes. Among them, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as insulating polymers, are the most commonly used binders owing to their electrochemical stability and great binding ability [
151]. However, there are still some hindering limitations in the use of binders. Firstly, these polymers have poor electrical conductivity, which will increase the internal resistance and are adverse to the rate performance of materials. Secondly, the binder usually accounts for 10%~20% of the electrode mass but providing a little capacitance will degrade the energy density of SCs. Thirdly, some porous structures may be blocked, causing local "dead pores" and reducing the available surface area. Last, the toxic fluorine-containing binders can also raise some environmental concerns which are not conducive to sustainable development. Seriously, this conventional slurry treatment based on polymer binders can destroy the ordered structures of 2D materials, leading severe self-aggregation as well as diminishing the redox reactions [
57]. With this context, integrating the electrodes directly on metal current collectors without any binders will ensure mechanically and chemically stable interfaces [
151]. Therefore, there will be a great deal of space for the rational design of the ordered freestanding structure growing over the current collectors in the future, which will effectively address the "dead mass" issues and boost the electron transport kinetics, especially for 2D materials [
93,
103]. (6) Most 2D materials suffer from large irregularities in the lateral size and crystallite shape, which has an adverse effect on the formation of uniform pore channels inside the sheet. It is essential to design a dependable and reproducible synthesis method for the obtaining of monodisperse 2D nanosheets through minimizing the lattice strain that causes the fracture of 2D nanocrystals. (7) Most monolayer 2D nanosheets require to be synthesized stepwise, including the preparation of original lamellar materials and subsequent multistep stripping process, which demands tremendous amount of time and efforts. The corresponding one-pot synthetic methodology is only suitable for a few materials. Hence, it has become an urgent requirement to exploit a universal one-pot synthesis protocol applicable for a variety of 2D novel materials. (8) There are still enormous rooms to employ the merits of superlattice hybrid structure with face-to-face contact between layers for enriching the functionality of hybrid electrodes. Therefore, an orderly superlattice heterostructure should be formed to maximize the interfacial electronic coupling. (9) Although macroscopic performance results can be obtained through electrochemical tests, the mechanism of various reaction processes on the electrode surface still requires to be understood in-depth. It is necessary to exert systematic spectroscopic investigations combining with theoretical calculations to clarify the operating mechanism of these 2D nanostructured electrodes with high activities. Besides, a proper understanding of surface chemistry, such as chemical composition, functional groups and defect sites, will contribute to the construction of excellent electrode materials. Classical XPS [
152], XRD [
153] and XAS [
154] technologies are difficult to meet the above requirements.
In-situ spectroscopic analyses including XRD, Raman, FT-IR and XAS are efficient characterization tools to probe the transport characteristics of metal ions and the variation of surface crystalline phase under working conditions. In addition, it is very crucial to control the structural and morphological characteristics of layered materials while designing high performance devices.
In-situ techniques like SEM, TEM, AFM and scanning electrochemical microscope (SECM) can be used to study various surfaces and overall reaction processes of SCs, such as morphology change, interface evolution, volume expansion/shrinkage. Recently, the
in-situ piezoelectric electrochemical spectroscopy method based on nanometer depth and ultra-fast speed (femtosecond) research can provide the specific evidence of piezoelectric electrochemical phenomena in the energy conversion and storage process of SCs [
155]. By combining various
in-situ and
ex-situ technologies, deep multi-dimensional and multi-modal information of various interface reactions occurring in EES devices can be realized, which will enable us to adjust parameters for developing smart devices. (10) Nowadays, a great deal of efforts has been devoted into developing flexible energy storage devices with stable electrochemical performance, excellent electrical conductivity, high capacity and cyclic stability. 2D layered materials are suitable candidates for the design of flexible SCs due to the presence of persistent van der Waals forces within the stacked layers, which makes these materials relatively soft and elastic. In one instance, 2D MOFs as flexible charge storage materials are in the early development stage owing to their special surface area, abundant porous architecture and unique waving nature, providing great applicable room for miniaturized and flexible SCs [
156].