Nano-Micro Letters

Beyond the Silicon Plateau: A Convergence of Novel Materials for Transistor Evolution

Jung Hun Lee — 2025-09-15

As silicon-based transistors face fundamental scaling limits, the search for breakthrough alternatives has led to innovations in 3D architectures, heterogeneous integration, and sub-3 nm semiconductor body thicknesses. However, the true effectiveness of these advancements lies in the seamless integration of alternative semiconductors tailored for next-generation transistors. In this review, we highlight key advances that enhance both scalability and switching performance by leveraging emerging semiconductor materials. Among the most promising candidates are 2D van der Waals semiconductors, Mott insulators, and amorphous oxide semiconductors, which offer not only unique electrical properties but also low-power operation and high carrier mobility. Additionally, we explore the synergistic interactions between these novel semiconductors and advanced gate dielectrics, including high-K materials, ferroelectrics, and atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride layers. Beyond introducing these novel material configurations, we address critical challenges such as leakage current and long-term device reliability, which become increasingly crucial as transistors scale down to atomic dimensions. Through concrete examples showcasing the potential of these materials in transistors, we provide key insights into overcoming fundamental obstacles—such as device reliability, scaling down limitations, and extended applications in artificial intelligence—ultimately paving the way for the development of future transistor technologies.

Highlights:
1 This review introduces promising semiconductor materials for future transistors, including two-dimensional van der Waals materials, Mott insulators, halide perovskites, and amorphous oxides, with advantages such as clean interfaces, ultra-thin channels, and defect tolerance.
2 These materials, when combined with advanced gate dielectrics and next-generation interconnects, offer synergistic solutions to scaling challenges such as carrier scattering, oxide thickness limitations, and interface degradation.
3 The review also discusses reliability concerns including thermal instability and leakage current, and explores future applications in artificial intelligence hardware, in-memory computing, and three-dimensional integration.

Low-Temperature Electrolytes for Lithium-Ion Batteries: Current Challenges, Development, and Perspectives

Yang Zhao — 2025-09-12

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), while dominant in energy storage due to high energy density and cycling stability, suffer from severe capacity decay, rate capability degradation, and lithium dendrite formation under low-temperature (LT) operation. Therefore, a more comprehensive and systematic understanding of LIB behavior at LT is urgently required. This review article comprehensively reviews recent advancements in electrolyte engineering strategies aimed at improving the low-temperature operational capabilities of LIBs. The study methodically examines critical performance-limiting mechanisms through fundamental analysis of four primary challenges: insufficient ionic conductivity under cryogenic conditions, kinetically hindered charge transfer processes, Li⁺ transport limitations across the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI), and uncontrolled lithium dendrite growth. The work elaborates on innovative optimization approaches encompassing lithium salt molecular design with tailored dissociation characteristics, solvent matrix optimization through dielectric constant and viscosity regulation, interfacial engineering additives for constructing low-impedance SEI layers, and gel-polymer composite electrolyte systems. Notably, particular emphasis is placed on emerging machine learning-guided electrolyte formulation strategies that enable high-throughput virtual screening of constituent combinations and prediction of structure–property relationships. These artificial intelligence-assisted rational design frameworks demonstrate significant potential for accelerating the development of next-generation LT electrolytes by establishing quantitative composition-performance correlations through advanced data-driven methodologies.

Highlights:
1 Key electrolyte-related factors limiting the low-temperature performance of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are analyzed.
2 Emerging strategies to enhance the low-temperature performance of LIBs are summarized from the perspectives of electrolyte engineering and artificial intelligence (AI) -assisted design.
3 Perspectives and challenges on AI-driven design, advanced characterization, and novel electrolyte systems for low-temperature LIBs.

Two-Dimensional MXene-Based Advanced Sensors for Neuromorphic Computing Intelligent Application

Lin Lu — 2025-09-12

As emerging two-dimensional (2D) materials, carbides and nitrides (MXenes) could be solid solutions or organized structures made up of multi-atomic layers. With remarkable and adjustable electrical, optical, mechanical, and electrochemical characteristics, MXenes have shown great potential in brain-inspired neuromorphic computing electronics, including neuromorphic gas sensors, pressure sensors and photodetectors. This paper provides a forward-looking review of the research progress regarding MXenes in the neuromorphic sensing domain and discussed the critical challenges that need to be resolved. Key bottlenecks such as insufficient long-term stability under environmental exposure, high costs, scalability limitations in large-scale production, and mechanical mismatch in wearable integration hinder their practical deployment. Furthermore, unresolved issues like interfacial compatibility in heterostructures and energy inefficiency in neuromorphic signal conversion demand urgent attention. The review offers insights into future research directions enhance the fundamental understanding of MXene properties and promote further integration into neuromorphic computing applications through the convergence with various emerging technologies.

Highlights:
1 The latest research progress in the field of MXene-based neuromorphic computing is reviewed.
2 The design strategy of MXene-based neuromorphic devices encompasses multiple factors are summarized, including material selection, circuit integration, and architecture optimization.
3 Future development paths for MXene-based neuromorphic computing are discussed, including large-scale manufacturing, stability enhancement, and interdisciplinary integration.

Advancements and Innovations in Low-Temperature Hydrogen Electrochemical Conversion Devices Driven by 3D Printing Technology

Min Wang — 2025-09-08

3D printing, as a versatile additive manufacturing technique, offers high design flexibility, rapid prototyping, minimal material waste, and the capability to fabricate complex, customized geometries. These attributes make it particularly well-suited for low-temperature hydrogen electrochemical conversion devices—specifically, proton exchange membrane fuel cells, proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells, anion exchange membrane electrolyzer cells, and alkaline electrolyzers—which demand finely structured components such as catalyst layers, gas diffusion layers, electrodes, porous transport layers, and bipolar plates. This review provides a focused and critical summary of the current progress in applying 3D printing technologies to these key components. It begins with a concise introduction to the principles and classifications of mainstream 3D printing methods relevant to the hydrogen energy sector and proceeds to analyze their specific applications and performance impacts across different device architectures. Finally, the review identifies existing technical challenges and outlines future research directions to accelerate the integration of 3D printing in next-generation low-temperature hydrogen energy systems.

Highlights:
1 Outlines 3D printing methods and their benefits in fabricating complex components for low-temperature hydrogen devices.
2 Summarizes current applications in fuel cells and electrolyzers, highlighting recent progress in hydrogen energy.
3 Explores future directions and challenges, offering insights into trends and opportunities in hydrogen-related systems.

Synergistic Ferroptosis–Immunotherapy Nanoplatforms: Multidimensional Engineering for Tumor Microenvironment Remodeling and Therapeutic Optimization

Xiao Wei — 2025-09-02

Emerging ferroptosis–immunotherapy strategies, integrating functionalized nanoplatforms with ferroptosis-inducing agents and immunomodulatory therapeutics, demonstrate significant potential in managing primary, recurrent, and metastatic malignancies. Mechanistically, ferroptosis induction not only directly eliminates tumor cells but also promotes immunogenic cell death (ICD), eliciting damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) release to activate partial antitumor immunity. However, standalone ferroptosis therapy fails to initiate robust systemic antitumor immune responses due to inherent limitations: low tumor immunogenicity, immunosuppressive microenvironment constraints, and tumor microenvironment (TME)-associated physiological barriers (e.g., hypoxia, dense extracellular matrix). To address these challenges, synergistic approaches have been developed to enhance immune cell infiltration and reestablish immunosurveillance, encompassing (1) direct amplification of antitumor immunity, (2) disruption of immunosuppressive tumor niches, and (3) biophysical hallmark remodeling in TME. Rational nanocarrier design has emerged as a critical enabler for overcoming biological delivery barriers and optimizing therapeutic efficacy. Unlike prior studies solely addressing ferroptosis or nanotechnology in tumor therapy, this work first systematically outlines the synergistic potential of nanoparticles in combined ferroptosis–immunotherapy strategies. It advances multidimensional nanoplatform design principles for material selection, structural configuration, physicochemical modulation, multifunctional integration, and artificial intelligence-enabled design, providing a scientific basis for efficacy optimization. Moreover, it examines translational challenges of ferroptosis–immunotherapy nanoplatforms across preclinical and clinical stages, proposing actionable solutions while envisioning future onco-immunotherapy directions. Collectively, it provides systematic insights into advanced nanomaterial design principles and therapeutic optimization strategies, offering a roadmap for accelerating clinical translation in onco-immunotherapy research.

Highlights:
1 First systematic integration: This work presents the first comprehensive outline of the synergistic potential of nanoparticle-enabled ferroptosis–immunotherapy strategies against malignancies, moving beyond studies solely focusing on ferroptosis induction or standalone nanotherapeutics in cancer.
2 Multidimensional nanoplatform design: Establishes advanced design principles for functionalized nanoplatforms, including rational material selection, structural configuration, physicochemical modulation, multifunctional integration, and AI-enabled design, to overcome tumor microenvironment barriers and optimize ferroptosis–immunotherapy efficacy.
3 Translational focus & AI integration: Provides a critical analysis of translational hurdles for ferroptosis–immunotherapy nanoplatforms across preclinical and clinical development, proposing actionable solutions while pioneering the integration of artificial intelligence into future nanoplatform design and onco-immunotherapy direction.

Solar-Driven Redox Reactions with Metal Halide Perovskites Heterogeneous Structures

Qing Guo — 2025-09-01

Metal halide perovskites (MHPs) with striking electrical and optical properties have appeared at the forefront of semiconductor materials for photocatalytic redox reactions but still suffer from some intrinsic drawbacks such as inferior stability, severe charge-carrier recombination, and limited active sites. Heterojunctions have recently been widely constructed to improve light absorption, passivate surface for enhanced stability, and promote charge-carrier dynamics of MHPs. However, little attention has been paid to the review of MHPs-based heterojunctions for photocatalytic redox reactions. Here, recent advances of MHPs-based heterojunctions for photocatalytic redox reactions are highlighted. The structure, synthesis, and photophysical properties of MHPs-based heterojunctions are first introduced, including basic principles, categories (such as Schottky junction, type-I, type-II, Z-scheme, and S-scheme junction), and synthesis strategies. MHPs-based heterojunctions for photocatalytic redox reactions are then reviewed in four categories: H₂ evolution, CO₂ reduction, pollutant degradation, and organic synthesis. The challenges and prospects in solar-light-driven redox reactions with MHPs-based heterojunctions in the future are finally discussed.

Highlights:
1 This paper reviews the fundamentals and research progress of metal halide perovskites (MHPs)-based heterojunctions for solar-driven redox reactions.
2 A comprehensive summary is presented for the construction of various MHPs-based heterojunctions (e.g., Schottky-junction, type-I/II, Z-scheme, and S-scheme).
3 The versatile use of MHPs-based heterojunctions in key photocatalytic redox reactions are summarized, including H₂ evolution, CO₂ reduction, pollutant degradation, and organic synthesis.

Wearable Ultrasound Devices for Therapeutic Applications

Sicheng Chen — 2025-08-26

Wearable ultrasound devices represent a transformative advancement in therapeutic applications, offering noninvasive, continuous, and targeted treatment for deep tissues. These systems leverage flexible materials (e.g., piezoelectric composites, biodegradable polymers) and conformable designs to enable stable integration with dynamic anatomical surfaces. Key innovations include ultrasound-enhanced drug delivery through cavitation-mediated transdermal penetration, accelerated tissue regeneration via mechanical and electrical stimulation, and precise neuromodulation using focused acoustic waves. Recent developments demonstrate wireless operation, real-time monitoring, and closed-loop therapy, facilitated by energy-efficient transducers and AI-driven adaptive control. Despite progress, challenges persist in material durability, clinical validation, and scalable manufacturing. Future directions highlight the integration of nanomaterials, 3D-printed architectures, and multimodal sensing for personalized medicine. This technology holds significant potential to redefine chronic disease management, postoperative recovery, and neurorehabilitation, bridging the gap between clinical and home-based care.

Highlights:
1 Flexible ultrasound devices enable deep-tissue therapy via conformable designs, overcoming limitations of rigid systems for continuous monitoring and treatment.
2 Cavitation-enhanced drug delivery and neuromodulation demonstrate noninvasive, targeted interventions for chronic diseases and neural disorders.
3 Wireless, AI-integrated platforms pave the way for personalized, adaptive therapeutics in home-based and clinical settings.

Recent Advancements and Perspectives of Low-Dimensional Halide Perovskites for Visual Perception and Optoelectronic Applications

Humaira Rafique — 2025-08-26

Low-dimensional (LD) halide perovskites have attracted considerable attention due to their distinctive structures and exceptional optoelectronic properties, including high absorption coefficients, extended charge carrier diffusion lengths, suppressed non-radiative recombination rates, and intense photoluminescence. A key advantage of LD perovskites is the tunability of their optical and electronic properties through the precise optimization of their structural arrangements and dimensionality. This review systematically examines recent progress in the synthesis and optoelectronic characterizations of LD perovskites, focusing on their structural, optical, and photophysical properties that underpin their versatility in diverse applications. The review further summarizes advancements in LD perovskite-based devices, including resistive memory, artificial synapses, photodetectors, light-emitting diodes, and solar cells. Finally, the challenges associated with stability, scalability, and integration, as well as future prospects, are discussed, emphasizing the potential of LD perovskites to drive breakthroughs in device efficiency and industrial applicability.

Highlights:
1 This review uniquely bridges the relationship between 0D, 1D, and 2D structural motifs of halide perovskites and their distinct optoelectronic properties; such as photoluminescence, charge transport, and excitonic behavior and how these impact performance across various devices (e.g., LEDs, photodetectors, synapses). This dimensional-property-functionality mapping is not extensively covered in previous reviews.
2 Unlike many earlier reviews focused solely on photovoltaics or LEDs, this article expands into emerging fields like artificial synapses and visual perception-related electronics, offering insights into how low-dimensional perovskites could enable next-generation neuromorphic and intelligent sensing systems.
3 The review doesn't just summarize the field it also critically evaluates current limitations in scalability, environmental stability, and device integration, and provides future directions to overcome these, particularly through material design and interfacial engineering, making it highly relevant for guiding industrial research.

High-Entropy Oxide Memristors for Neuromorphic Computing: From Material Engineering to Functional Integration

Jia‑Li Yang — 2025-08-25

High-entropy oxides (HEOs) have emerged as a promising class of memristive materials, characterized by entropy-stabilized crystal structures, multivalent cation coordination, and tunable defect landscapes. These intrinsic features enable forming-free resistive switching, multilevel conductance modulation, and synaptic plasticity, making HEOs attractive for neuromorphic computing. This review outlines recent progress in HEO-based memristors across materials engineering, switching mechanisms, and synaptic emulation. Particular attention is given to vacancy migration, phase transitions, and valence-state dynamics—mechanisms that underlie the switching behaviors observed in both amorphous and crystalline systems. Their relevance to neuromorphic functions such as short-term plasticity and spike-timing-dependent learning is also examined. While encouraging results have been achieved at the device level, challenges remain in conductance precision, variability control, and scalable integration. Addressing these demands a concerted effort across materials design, interface optimization, and task-aware modeling. With such integration, HEO memristors offer a compelling pathway toward energy-efficient and adaptable brain-inspired electronics.

Highlights:
1 Comprehensive overview of high-entropy oxides (HEOs) in memristive devices, emphasizing their potential in neuromorphic computing and their ability to simulate synaptic plasticity and multilevel conductance modulation.
2 Detailed exploration of resistive switching mechanisms in HEO-based memristors, focusing on vacancy migration, phase transitions, and valence-state dynamics, which underpin their performance in brain-inspired electronics.
3 Insightful discussion on the challenges and opportunities for integrating HEO-based memristors into large-scale neuromorphic systems, highlighting the need for advancements in material design, interface optimization, and scalability.

Flexible Tactile Sensing Systems: Challenges in Theoretical Research Transferring to Practical Applications

Zhiyu Yao — 2025-08-20

Since the first design of tactile sensors was proposed by Harmon in 1982, tactile sensors have evolved through four key phases: industrial applications (1980s, basic pressure detection), miniaturization via MEMS (1990s), flexible electronics (2010s, stretchable materials), and intelligent systems (2020s-present, AI-driven multimodal sensing). With the innovation of material, processing techniques, and multimodal fusion of stimuli, the application of tactile sensors has been continuously expanding to a diversity of areas, including but not limited to medical care, aerospace, sports and intelligent robots. Currently, researchers are dedicated to develop tactile sensors with emerging mechanisms and structures, pursuing high-sensitivity, high-resolution, and multimodal characteristics and further constructing tactile systems which imitate and approach the performance of human organs. However, challenges in the combination between the theoretical research and the practical applications are still significant. There is a lack of comprehensive understanding in the state of the art of such knowledge transferring from academic work to technical products. Scaled-up production of laboratory materials faces fatal challenges like high costs, small scale, and inconsistent quality. Ambient factors, such as temperature, humidity, and electromagnetic interference, also impair signal reliability. Moreover, tactile sensors must operate across a wide pressure range (0.1 kPa to several or even dozens of MPa) to meet diverse application needs. Meanwhile, the existing algorithms, data models and sensing systems commonly reveal insufficient precision as well as undesired robustness in data processing, and there is a realistic gap between the designed and the demanded system response speed. In this review, oriented by the design requirements of intelligent tactile sensing systems, we summarize the common sensing mechanisms, inspired structures, key performance, and optimizing strategies, followed by a brief overview of the recent advances in the perspectives of system integration and algorithm implementation, and the possible roadmap of future development of tactile sensors, providing a forward-looking as well as critical discussions in the future industrial applications of flexible tactile sensors.

Highlights:
1 This review presents current advances in flexible tactile sensor research from multifaceted perspectives including mechanisms, materials, structural design, and system integration.
2 It establishes performance-oriented rational design principles for sensors in practical.
3 It summarized the challenges and strategies in translating flexible tactile sensing systems into practical applications, and proposed a research roadmap for future investigations.

Emerging Role of 2D Materials in Photovoltaics: Efficiency Enhancement and Future Perspectives

Ghulam Dastgeer — 2025-08-18

The growing global energy demand and worsening climate change highlight the urgent need for clean, efficient and sustainable energy solutions. Among emerging technologies, atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials offer unique advantages in photovoltaics due to their tunable optoelectronic properties, high surface area and efficient charge transport capabilities. This review explores recent progress in photovoltaics incorporating 2D materials, focusing on their application as hole and electron transport layers to optimize bandgap alignment, enhance carrier mobility and improve chemical stability. A comprehensive analysis is presented on perovskite solar cells utilizing 2D materials, with a particular focus on strategies to enhance crystallization, passivate defects and improve overall cell efficiency. Additionally, the application of 2D materials in organic solar cells is examined, particularly for reducing recombination losses and enhancing charge extraction through work function modification. Their impact on dye-sensitized solar cells, including catalytic activity and counter electrode performance, is also explored. Finally, the review outlines key challenges, material limitations and performance metrics, offering insight into the future development of next-generation photovoltaic devices encouraged by 2D materials.

Highlights:
1 A novel strategy employs 2D materials to construct cascaded band alignment, enabling efficient charge transport and reducing energy loss.
2 An innovative approach utilizes donor–acceptor blends; active layer morphology and interfacial engineering minimize charge recombination to enable high performance and long-term device stability.
3 This review uniquely consolidates the roles of 2D materials as electron transport layers and hole transport layers across three major classes of solar cells: perovskite, organic and dye-sensitized solar cells.

Additive Manufacturing for Nanogenerators: Fundamental Mechanisms, Recent Advancements, and Future Prospects

Zhiyu Tian — 2025-08-11

Additive manufacturing (AM), with its high flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and customization, significantly accelerates the advancement of nanogenerators, contributing to sustainable energy solutions and the Internet of Things. In this review, an in-depth analysis of AM for piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators is presented from the perspectives of fundamental mechanisms, recent advancements, and future prospects. It highlights AM-enabled advantages of versatility across materials, structural topology optimization, microstructure design, and integrated printing, which enhance critical performance indicators of nanogenerators, such as surface charge density and piezoelectric constant, thereby improving device performance compared to conventional fabrication. Common AM techniques for nanogenerators, including fused deposition modeling, direct ink writing, stereolithography, and digital light processing, are systematically examined in terms of their working principles, improved metrics (output voltage/current, power density), theoretical explanation, and application scopes. Hierarchical relationships connecting AM technologies with performance optimization and applications of nanogenerators are elucidated, providing a solid foundation for advancements in energy harvesting, self-powered sensors, wearable devices, and human–machine interaction. Furthermore, the challenges related to fabrication quality, cross-scale manufacturing, processing efficiency, and industrial deployment are critically discussed. Finally, the future prospects of AM for nanogenerators are explored, aiming to foster continuous progress and innovation in this field.

Highlights:
1 The advantages of additive manufacturing for nanogenerators are firstly examined from the perspective of underlying mechanisms coupled with theoretical explanations, providing critical insights into enhancing output performance and expanding applications.
2 Recent advancements in additive manufacturing for nanogenerators are systematically reviewed, emphasizing the characteristics of common technologies, their application scopes, and their impacts on nanogenerator performance metrics.
3 The current challenges and future prospects of additive manufacturing for nanogenerators are explored, aiming to promote continuous advancements in this field.

Cement-Based Thermoelectric Materials, Devices and Applications

Wanqiang Li — 2025-08-11

Cement stands as a dominant contributor to global energy consumption and carbon emissions in the construction industry. With the upgrading of infrastructure and the improvement of building standards, traditional cement fails to reconcile ecological responsibility with advanced functional performance. By incorporating tailored fillers into cement matrices, the resulting composites achieve enhanced thermoelectric (TE) conversion capabilities. These materials can harness solar radiation from building envelopes and recover waste heat from indoor thermal gradients, facilitating bidirectional energy conversion. This review offers a comprehensive and timely overview of cement-based thermoelectric materials (CTEMs), integrating material design, device fabrication, and diverse applications into a holistic perspective. It summarizes recent advancements in TE performance enhancement, encompassing fillers optimization and matrices innovation. Additionally, the review consolidates fabrication strategies and performance evaluations of cement-based thermoelectric devices (CTEDs), providing detailed discussions on their roles in monitoring and protection, energy harvesting, and smart building. We also address sustainability, durability, and lifecycle considerations of CTEMs, which are essential for real-world deployment. Finally, we outline future research directions in materials design, device engineering, and scalable manufacturing to foster the practical application of CTEMs in sustainable and intelligent infrastructure.

Highlights:
1 Covering the most cutting-edge advances in cement-based thermoelectric materials.
2 The first systematic summary of the preparation, performance and functional applications of cement-based thermoelectric devices.
3 The challenges and strategies for materials, devices and applications are fully discussed.

Wide-Temperature Electrolytes for Aqueous Alkali Metal-Ion Batteries: Challenges, Progress, and Prospects

Zichen Lin — 2025-08-11

Aqueous alkali metal-ion batteries (AAMIBs) have been recognized as emerging electrochemical energy storage technologies for grid-scale applications owning to their intrinsic safety, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability. However, the practical application of AAMIBs is still severely constrained by the tendency of aqueous electrolytes to freeze at low temperatures and decompose at high temperatures, limiting their operational temperature range. Considering the urgent need for energy systems with higher adaptability and resilience at various application scenarios, designing novel electrolytes via structure modulation has increasingly emerged as a feasible and economical strategy for the performance optimization of wide-temperature AAMIBs. In this review, the latest advancement of wide-temperature electrolytes for AAMIBs is systematically and comprehensively summarized. Specifically, the key challenges, failure mechanisms, correlations between hydrogen bond behaviors and physicochemical properties, and thermodynamic and kinetic interpretations in aqueous electrolytes are discussed firstly. Additionally, we offer forward-looking insights and innovative design principles for developing aqueous electrolytes capable of operating across a broad temperature range. This review is expected to provide some guidance and reference for the rational design and regulation of wide-temperature electrolytes for AAMIBs and promote their future development.

Highlights:
1 The key challenges and fundamental principles of wide-temperature aqueous electrolytes for alkali metal ion batteries were analyzed.
2 The design strategies for aqueous electrolytes with broad operating temperature ranges were summarized. The future research directions for high-performance wide-temperature aqueous alkali metal ion batteries were proposed.

Recent Advances in Regulation Strategy and Catalytic Mechanism of Bi-Based Catalysts for CO2 Reduction Reaction

Jianglong Liu — 2025-08-08

Using photoelectrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) to produce valuable fuels is a fascinating way to alleviate environmental issues and energy crises. Bismuth-based (Bi-based) catalysts have attracted widespread attention for CO₂RR due to their high catalytic activity, selectivity, excellent stability, and low cost. However, they still need to be further improved to meet the needs of industrial applications. This review article comprehensively summarizes the recent advances in regulation strategies of Bi-based catalysts and can be divided into six categories: (1) defect engineering, (2) atomic doping engineering, (3) organic framework engineering, (4) inorganic heterojunction engineering, (5) crystal face engineering, and (6) alloying and polarization engineering. Meanwhile, the corresponding catalytic mechanisms of each regulation strategy will also be discussed in detail, aiming to enable researchers to understand the structure–property relationship of the improved Bi-based catalysts fundamentally. Finally, the challenges and future opportunities of the Bi-based catalysts in the photoelectrocatalytic CO₂RR application field will also be featured from the perspectives of the (1) combination or synergy of multiple regulatory strategies, (2) revealing formation mechanism and realizing controllable synthesis, and (3) in situ multiscale investigation of activation pathways and uncovering the catalytic mechanisms. On the one hand, through the comparative analysis and mechanism explanation of the six major regulatory strategies, a multidimensional knowledge framework of the structure–activity relationship of Bi-based catalysts can be constructed for researchers, which not only deepens the atomic-level understanding of catalytic active sites, charge transport paths, and the adsorption behavior of intermediate products, but also provides theoretical guiding principles for the controllable design of new catalysts; on the other hand, the promising collaborative regulation strategies, controllable synthetic paths, and the in situ multiscale characterization techniques presented in this work provides a paradigm reference for shortening the research and development cycle of high-performance catalysts, conducive to facilitating the transition of photoelectrocatalytic CO₂RR technology from the laboratory routes to industrial application.

Highlights:
1 Six major types of structural regulation strategies of various Bi-based catalysts used in photoelectrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) in recent years are comprehensively summarized.
2 The corresponding catalytic mechanisms of each regulation strategy are discussed in detail, aiming to enable researchers to understand the structure–property relationship of the improved Bi-based catalysts fundamentally.
3 The challenges and future opportunities of the Bi-based catalysts in the photoelectrocatalytic CO₂RR application field are featured from the perspectives of the combination of multiple regulatory strategies, revealing formation mechanism and realizing controllable synthesis, and in situ multiscale investigation of activation pathways and uncovering the catalytic mechanisms.

On-Skin Epidermal Electronics for Next-Generation Health Management

Jinbin Xu — 2025-08-08

Continuous monitoring of biosignals is essential for advancing early disease detection, personalized treatment, and health management. Flexible electronics, capable of accurately monitoring biosignals in daily life, have garnered considerable attention due to their softness, conformability, and biocompatibility. However, several challenges remain, including imperfect skin-device interfaces, limited breathability, and insufficient mechanoelectrical stability. On-skin epidermal electronics, distinguished by their excellent conformability, breathability, and mechanoelectrical robustness, offer a promising solution for high-fidelity, long-term health monitoring. These devices can seamlessly integrate with the human body, leading to transformative advancements in future personalized healthcare. This review provides a systematic examination of recent advancements in on-skin epidermal electronics, with particular emphasis on critical aspects including material science, structural design, desired properties, and practical applications. We explore various materials, considering their properties and the corresponding structural designs developed to construct high-performance epidermal electronics. We then discuss different approaches for achieving the desired device properties necessary for long-term health monitoring, including adhesiveness, breathability, and mechanoelectrical stability. Additionally, we summarize the diverse applications of these devices in monitoring biophysical and physiological signals. Finally, we address the challenges facing these devices and outline future prospects, offering insights into the ongoing development of on-skin epidermal electronics for long-term health monitoring.

Highlights:
1 This review comprehensively examines representative functional materials, analyzes their intrinsic properties, and illustrates how rational structural design and fabrication strategies can be employed to achieve high-performance epidermal electronics.
2 Three essential performance requirements for long-term, continuous health monitoring—adhesiveness, breathability, and mechanoelectrical stability—are emphasized, alongside effective strategies for their realization.
3 Current scientific challenges in this field are critically discussed, offering in-depth insights into the development of next-generation on-skin epidermal electronics aimed at transforming personalized healthcare.

Correction: Optimizing Exciton and Charge-Carrier Behavior in Thick-Film Organic Photovoltaics: A Comprehensive Review

Lu Wei — 2025-08-06

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have achieved remarkable progress, with laboratory-scale single-junction devices now demonstrating power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) exceeding 20%. However, these efficiencies are highly dependent on the thickness of the photoactive layer, which is typically around 100 nm. This sensitivity poses a challenge for industrial-scale fabrication. Achieving high PCEs in thick-film OPVs is therefore essential. This review systematically examines recent advancements in thick-film OPVs, focusing on the fundamental mechanisms that lead to efficiency loss and strategies to enhance performance. We provide a comprehensive analysis spanning the complete photovoltaic process chain: from initial exciton generation and diffusion dynamics, through dissociation mechanisms, to subsequent charge-carrier transport, balance optimization, and final collection efficiency. Particular emphasis is placed on cutting-edge solutions in molecular engineering and device architecture optimization. By synthesizing these interdisciplinary approaches and investigating the potential contributions in stability, cost, and machine learning aspects, this work establishes comprehensive guidelines for designing high-performance OPVs devices with minimal thickness dependence, ultimately aiming to bridge the gap between laboratory achievements and industrial manufacturing requirements.

Highlights:
1 Research progress summary: Provides a systematic review of recent advancements in thick-film organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with a focus on molecular design and device engineering strategies.
2 Efficiency enhancement strategies: Explores the mechanisms limiting efficiency in thick-film devices, analyzes exciton and charge-carrier dynamics, and identifies effective approaches to improve device performance.
3 Industrialization contributions and outlook: Summarizes the potential contributions of thick-film OPVs to industrial applications and offers insights into future development directions (in stability, cost, and machine learning aspects).

Electrospun Nanofiber-Based Ceramic Aerogels: Synergistic Strategies for Design and Functionalization

Panpan Li — 2025-08-06

Ceramic aerogels (CAs) have emerged as a significant research frontier across various applications due to their lightweight, high porosity, and easily tunable structural characteristics. However, the intrinsic weak interactions among the constituent nanoparticles, coupled with the limited toughness of traditional CAs, make them susceptible to structural collapse or even catastrophic failure when exposed to complex mechanical external forces. Unlike 0D building units, 1D ceramic nanofibers (CNFs) possess a high aspect ratio and exceptional flexibility simultaneously, which are desirable building blocks for elastic CAs. This review presents the recent progress in electrospun ceramic nanofibrous aerogels (ECNFAs) that are constructed using ECNFs as building blocks, focusing on the various preparation methods and corresponding structural characteristics, strategies for optimizing mechanical performance, and a wide range of applications. The methods for preparing ECNFs and ECNFAs with diverse structures were initially explored, followed by the implementation of optimization strategies for enhancing ECNFAs, emphasizing the improvement of reinforcing the ECNFs, establishing the bonding effects between ECNFs, and designing the aggregate structures of the aerogels. Moreover, the applications of ECNFAs across various fields are also discussed. Finally, it highlights the existing challenges and potential opportunities for ECNFAs to achieve superior properties and realize promising prospects.

Highlights:
1 This review provides comprehensive fabrication methods for the manufacturing of electrospun ceramic nanofibrous aerogels and offers professional guidance for materials development in this field.
2 The optimization strategies for electrospun ceramic nanofibrous aerogels (ECNFAs)’ mechanical properties have been provided, highlighting multi-scale design from nano-building blocks to nanofiber aggregate structure design.
3 This review systematically introduces the diverse roles of ECNFAs in specific application scenarios and application-specific mechanisms and provides transformative solutions for advanced engineering applications.

Engineered Radiative Cooling Systems for Thermal-Regulating and Energy-Saving Applications

Leqi Lei — 2025-08-05

Radiative cooling systems (RCSs) possess the distinctive capability to dissipate heat energy via solar and thermal radiation, making them suitable for thermal regulation and energy conservation applications, essential for mitigating the energy crisis. A comprehensive review connecting the advancements in engineered radiative cooling systems (ERCSs), encompassing material and structural design as well as thermal and energy-related applications, is currently absent. Herein, this review begins with a concise summary of the essential concepts of ERCSs, followed by an introduction to engineered materials and structures, containing nature-inspired designs, chromatic materials, meta-structural configurations, and multilayered constructions. It subsequently encapsulates the primary applications, including thermal-regulating textiles and energy-saving devices. Next, it highlights the challenges of ERCSs, including maximized thermoregulatory effects, environmental adaptability, scalability and sustainability, and interdisciplinary integration. It seeks to offer direction for forthcoming fundamental research and industrial advancement of radiative cooling systems in real-world applications.

Highlights:
1 This review thoroughly encapsulates the contemporary advancements in radiative cooling systems, from materials to applications.
2 Comprehensive discussion of the fundamental concepts of radiative cooling systems, engineered materials, thermal-regulating textiles and energy-saving devices.
3 The review critically evaluates the obstacles confronting radiative cooling systems, offering insightful and forward-looking solutions to shape the future trajectory of the discipline.

MXene-Based Wearable Contact Lenses: Integrating Smart Technology into Vision Care

Arezoo Khosravi — 2025-08-05

MXene-based smart contact lenses demonstrate a cutting-edge advancement in wearable ophthalmic technology, combining real-time biosensing, therapeutic capabilities, and user comfort in a single platform. These devices take the advantage of the exceptional electrical conductivity, mechanical flexibility, and biocompatibility of two-dimensional MXenes to enable noninvasive, tear-based monitoring of key physiological markers such as intraocular pressure and glucose levels. Recent developments focus on the integration of transparent MXene films into the conventional lens materials, allowing multifunctional performance including photothermal therapy, antimicrobial and anti-inflammation protection, and dehydration resistance. These innovations offer promising strategies for ocular disease management and eye protection. In addition to their multifunctionality, improvements in MXene synthesis and device engineering have enhanced the stability, transparency, and wearability of these lenses. Despite these advances, challenges remain in long-term biostability, scalable production, and integration with wireless communication systems. This review summarizes the current progress, key challenges, and future directions of MXene-based smart contact lenses, highlighting their transformative potential in next-generation digital healthcare and ophthalmic care.

Highlights:
1 MXene-based smart contact lenses seamlessly combine real-time biosensing, therapeutic functions, and enhanced user comfort, revolutionizing ocular health monitoring and treatment.
2 The use of transparent MXene films enables features like photothermal therapy, antimicrobial protection, and dehydration resistance, significantly improving eye protection and disease management.
3 While stability, scalability, and wireless integration pose hurdles, ongoing advancements suggest these lenses hold tremendous potential for transforming digital healthcare and ophthalmic care.

Noninvasive On-Skin Biosensors for Monitoring Diabetes Mellitus

Ali Sedighi — 2025-07-31

Diabetes mellitus represents a major global health issue, driving the need for noninvasive alternatives to traditional blood glucose monitoring methods. Recent advancements in wearable technology have introduced skin-interfaced biosensors capable of analyzing sweat and skin biomarkers, providing innovative solutions for diabetes diagnosis and monitoring. This review comprehensively discusses the current developments in noninvasive wearable biosensors, emphasizing simultaneous detection of biochemical biomarkers (such as glucose, cortisol, lactate, branched-chain amino acids, and cytokines) and physiological signals (including heart rate, blood pressure, and sweat rate) for accurate, personalized diabetes management. We explore innovations in multimodal sensor design, materials science, biorecognition elements, and integration techniques, highlighting the importance of advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence-driven predictive algorithms, and closed-loop therapeutic systems. Additionally, the review addresses ongoing challenges in biomarker validation, sensor stability, user compliance, data privacy, and regulatory considerations. A holistic, multimodal approach enabled by these next-generation wearable biosensors holds significant potential for improving patient outcomes and facilitating proactive healthcare interventions in diabetes management.

Highlights:
1 A comprehensive and critical evaluation of recent advances in sweat-based biochemical and physiological biomarkers for noninvasive diabetes monitoring.
2 A novel emphasis on multimodal sensor integration—combining biochemical and physiological signals—to enhance accuracy, contextual awareness, and reliability in real-time diabetes management.
3 A forward-looking analysis of AI-driven biosensing systems, standardized protocols, and regulatory and ethical frameworks enabling autonomous, secure, and personalized diabetes care.

Advanced Design for High-Performance and AI Chips

Ying Cao — 2025-07-29

Recent years have witnessed transformative changes brought about by artificial intelligence (AI) techniques with billions of parameters for the realization of high accuracy, proposing high demand for the advanced and AI chip to solve these AI tasks efficiently and powerfully. Rapid progress has been made in the field of advanced chips recently, such as the development of photonic computing, the advancement of the quantum processors, the boost of the biomimetic chips, and so on. Designs tactics of the advanced chips can be conducted with elaborated consideration of materials, algorithms, models, architectures, and so on. Though a few reviews present the development of the chips from their unique aspects, reviews in the view of the latest design for advanced and AI chips are few. Here, the newest development is systematically reviewed in the field of advanced chips. First, background and mechanisms are summarized, and subsequently most important considerations for co-design of the software and hardware are illustrated. Next, strategies are summed up to obtain advanced and AI chips with high excellent performance by taking the important information processing steps into consideration, after which the design thought for the advanced chips in the future is proposed. Finally, some perspectives are put forward.

Highlights:
1 A comprehensive review focused on the recent advancement of the advanced and artificial intelligence (AI) chip is presented.
2 The design tactics for the enhanced and AI chips can be conducted from a diversity of aspects, with materials, circuit, architecture, and packaging technique taken into considerations, for the pursuit of multimodal data processing abilities, robust reconfigurability, high energy efficiency, and enhanced computing power.
3 A broad outlook on the future considerations of the advanced chip is put forward.

Optimizing Exciton and Charge-Carrier Behavior in Thick-Film Organic Photovoltaics: A Comprehensive Review

Lu Wei — 2025-07-23

Tackling Challenges and Exploring Opportunities in Cathode Binder Innovation

Tingrun Lai — 2025-07-21

Long-life energy storage batteries are integral to energy storage systems and electric vehicles, with lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) currently being the preferred option for extended usage-life energy storage. To further extend the life span of LIBs, it is essential to intensify investments in battery design, manufacturing processes, and the advancement of ancillary materials. The pursuit of long durability introduces new challenges for battery energy density. The advent of electrode material offers effective support in enhancing the battery's long-duration performance. Often underestimated as part of the cathode composition, the binder plays a pivotal role in the longevity and electrochemical performance of the electrode. Maintaining the mechanical integrity of the electrode through judicious binder design is a fundamental requirement for achieving consistent long-life cycles and high energy density. This paper primarily concentrates on the commonly employed cathode systems in lithium-ion batteries, elucidates the significance of binders for both, discusses the application status, strengths, and weaknesses of novel binders, and ultimately puts forth corresponding optimization strategies. It underscores the critical function of binders in enhancing battery performance and advancing the sustainable development of lithium-ion batteries, aiming to offer fresh insights and perspectives for the design of high-performance LIBs.

Highlights:
1 Binders play a crucial role in the lifespan and performance of electrodes, but they are often overlooked. This paper mainly reviews the significance of the role of binders on cathode materials and the optimization strategies.
2 Focusing on LiFePO₄ and transition metal oxide cathode systems, this review systematically summarizes performance optimization strategies for novel binders tailored to the respective advantages and limitations of different cathodes.
3 The future development trend of cathode binders is analyzed, emphasizing the challenges and opportunities faced by binders in thermal safety and all-solid-state systems.

Monolithic Perovskite/Perovskite/Silicon Triple-Junction Solar Cells: Fundamentals, Progress, and Prospects

Leiping Duan — 2025-07-21

Crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells, though dominating the photovoltaic market, are nearing their theoretical power conversion efficiencies (PCE) limit of 29.4%, necessitating the adoption of multi-junction technology to achieve higher performance. Among these, perovskite-on-silicon-based multi-junction solar cells have emerged as a promising alternative, where the perovskite offering tunable bandgaps, superior optoelectronic properties, and cost-effective manufacturing. Recent announced double-junction solar cells (PSDJSCs) have achieved the PCE of 34.85%, surpassing all other double-junction technologies. Encouragingly, the rapid advancements in PSDJSCs have spurred increased research interest in perovskite/perovskite/silicon triple-junction solar cells (PSTJSCs) in 2024. This triple-junction solar cell configuration demonstrates immense potential due to their optimum balance between achieving a high PCE limit and managing device complexity. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of PSTJSCs, covering fundamental principles, and technological milestones. Current challenges, including current mismatch, open-circuit voltage deficits, phase segregation, and stability issues, and their corresponding strategies are also discussed, alongside future directions to achieve long-term stability and high PCE. This work aims to advance the understanding of the development in PSTJSCs, paving the way for their practical implementation.

Highlights:
1 Perovskite/perovskite/silicon triple-junction solar cells (PSTJSCs) are emerging as a promising strategy to exceed the efficiency limits of traditional silicon solar cells.
2 This review systematically analyses the key principles, recent breakthroughs, and remaining challenges in PSTJSC development, including current mismatch, open-circuit voltage loss, phase segregation, and stability.
3 Strategies to address these issues and future directions toward achieving high efficiency and long-term operational stability are comprehensively discussed.

Thermally Drawn Flexible Fiber Sensors: Principles, Materials, Structures, and Applications

ZhaoLun Zhang — 2025-07-21

Flexible fiber sensors, with their excellent wearability and biocompatibility, are essential components of flexible electronics. However, traditional methods face challenges in fabricating low-cost, large-scale fiber sensors. In recent years, the thermal drawing process has rapidly advanced, offering a novel approach to flexible fiber sensors. Through the preform-to-fiber manufacturing technique, a variety of fiber sensors with complex functionalities spanning from the nanoscale to kilometer scale can be automated in a short time. Examples include temperature, acoustic, mechanical, chemical, biological, optoelectronic, and multifunctional sensors, which operate on diverse sensing principles such as resistance, capacitance, piezoelectricity, triboelectricity, photoelectricity, and thermoelectricity. This review outlines the principles of the thermal drawing process and provides a detailed overview of the latest advancements in various thermally drawn fiber sensors. Finally, the future developments of thermally drawn fiber sensors are discussed.

Highlights:
1 The review briefly introduces the principle, material selection criteria, and development of the thermal drawing process.
2 Based on different stimuli, the review comprehensively summarizes the latest progress in thermally drawn temperature, acoustic, mechanical, chemical, biological, optoelectronic, and multifunctional sensors.
3 The review discusses the future development trends of thermally drawn fiber sensors in terms of material, structure, fabrication, function, and stability.

Mechanical Properties Analysis of Flexible Memristors for Neuromorphic Computing

Zhenqian Zhu — 2025-07-21

The advancement of flexible memristors has significantly promoted the development of wearable electronic for emerging neuromorphic computing applications. Inspired by in-memory computing architecture of human brain, flexible memristors exhibit great application potential in emulating artificial synapses for high-efficiency and low power consumption neuromorphic computing. This paper provides comprehensive overview of flexible memristors from perspectives of development history, material system, device structure, mechanical deformation method, device performance analysis, stress simulation during deformation, and neuromorphic computing applications. The recent advances in flexible electronics are summarized, including single device, device array and integration. The challenges and future perspectives of flexible memristor for neuromorphic computing are discussed deeply, paving the way for constructing wearable smart electronics and applications in large-scale neuromorphic computing and high-order intelligent robotics.

Highlights:
1 This review systematically summarizes materials system, development history, device structure, stress simulation and applications of flexible memristors.
2 This review highlights the critical influence of mechanical properties on flexible memristors, with particular emphasis on deformation parameters and finite element simulation.
3 The applications of future memristors in neuromorphic computing are deeply discussed for next-generation wearable electronics

High-Entropy Materials: A New Paradigm in the Design of Advanced Batteries

Yangmei Xin — 2025-07-21

High-entropy materials (HEMs) have attracted considerable research attention in battery applications due to exceptional properties such as remarkable structural stability, enhanced ionic conductivity, superior mechanical strength, and outstanding catalytic activity. These distinctive characteristics render HEMs highly suitable for various battery components, such as electrodes, electrolytes, and catalysts. This review systematically examines recent advances in the application of HEMs for energy storage, beginning with fundamental concepts, historical development, and key definitions. Three principal categories of HEMs, namely high-entropy alloys, high-entropy oxides, and high-entropy MXenes, are analyzed with a focus on electrochemical performance metrics such as specific capacity, energy density, cycling stability, and rate capability. The underlying mechanisms by which these materials enhance battery performance are elucidated in the discussion. Furthermore, the pivotal role of machine learning in accelerating the discovery and optimization of novel high-entropy battery materials is highlighted. The review concludes by outlining future research directions and potential breakthroughs in HEM-based battery technologies.

Highlights:
1 The development history, characteristics and applications of high entropy alloys, high entropy oxides and high entropy MXenes are reviewed.
2 High entropy materials as cathode, anode and electrolyte to improve batteries capacity, cycle life and cycle stability are introduced systematically.
3 The latest progresses of employing machine learning in high entropy battery materials are highlighted and discussed in details.

Directional Three-Dimensional Macroporous Carbon Foams Decorated with WC1−x Nanoparticles Derived from Salting-Out Protein Assemblies for Highly Effective Electromagnetic Absorption

Yongzheng Chen — 2025-09-15

Directional three-dimensional carbon-based foams are emerging as highly attractive candidates for promising electromagnetic wave absorbing materials (EWAMs) thanks to their unique architecture, but their construction usually involves complex procedures and extremely depends on unidirectional freezing technique. Herein, we propose a groundbreaking approach that leverages the assemblies of salting-out protein induced by ammonium metatungstate (AM) as the precursor, and then acquire directional three-dimensional carbon-based foams through simple pyrolysis. The electrostatic interaction between AM and protein ensures well dispersion of WC_1−x nanoparticles on carbon frameworks. The content of WC_1−x nanoparticles can be rationally regulated by AM dosage, and it also affects the electromagnetic (EM) properties of final carbon-based foams. The optimized foam exhibits exceptional EM absorption performance, achieving a remarkable minimum reflection loss of − 72.0 dB and an effective absorption bandwidth of 6.3 GHz when EM wave propagates parallel to the directional pores. Such performance benefits from the synergistic effects of macroporous architecture and compositional design. Although there is a directional dependence of EM absorption, radar stealth simulation demonstrates that these foams can still promise considerable reduction in radar cross section with the change of incident angle. Moreover, COMSOL simulation further identifies their good performance in preventing EM interference among different electronic components.

Highlights:
1 A groundbreaking approach is developed for the fabrication of directional macroporous WC_1−x/C foams, which frees the dependence on unidirectional freezing technique from the construction of directional macroporous carbon-based composites.
2 The electrostatic interaction between ammonium metatungstate and protein makes in situ generated tungsten carbide (WC_1−x) nanoparticles well disperse on carbon flakes.
3 The optimized foam exhibits exceptional electromagnetic absorption performance, achieving a remarkable minimum reflection loss of − 72.0 dB and an effective absorption bandwidth of 6.3 GHz.

Pressure-Modulated Host–Guest Interactions Boost Effective Blue-Light Emission of MIL-140A Nanocrystals

Ting Zhang — 2025-09-15

Luminescent metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have garnered significant attention due to their structural tunability and potential applications in solid-state lighting, bioimaging, sensing, anti-counterfeiting, and other fields. Nevertheless, due to the tendency of 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (BDC) to rotate within the framework, MOFs composed of it exhibit significant non-radiative energy dissipation and thus impair the emissive properties. In this study, efficient luminescence of MIL-140A nanocrystals (NCs) with BDC rotors as ligands is achieved by pressure treatment strategy. Pressure treatment effectively modulates the pore structure of the framework, enhancing the interactions between the N, N-dimethylformamide guest molecules and the BDC ligands. The enhanced host–guest interaction contributes to the structural rigidity of the MOF, thereby suppressing the rotation-induced excited-state energy loss. As a result, the pressure-treated MIL-140A NCs displayed bright blue-light emission, with the photoluminescence quantum yield increasing from an initial 6.8% to 69.2%. This study developed an effective strategy to improve the luminescence performance of rotor ligand MOFs, offers a new avenue for the rational design and synthesis of MOFs with superior luminescent properties.

Highlights:
1 The luminescence performance of MIL-140A is successfully improved via pressure treatment strategy with a significant increase of photoluminescence quantum yield from the initial 6.8% to 69.2%.
2 Pressure treatment boosts the host–guest interactions by inducing aperture contraction, which enhances the structural rigidity and thus enables efficient emission.

Flexible Monolithic 3D-Integrated Self-Powered Tactile Sensing Array Based on Holey MXene Paste

Mengjie Wang — 2025-09-15

Flexible electronics face critical challenges in achieving monolithic three-dimensional (3D) integration, including material compatibility, structural stability, and scalable fabrication methods. Inspired by the tactile sensing mechanism of the human skin, we have developed a flexible monolithic 3D-integrated tactile sensing system based on a holey MXene paste, where each vertical one-body unit simultaneously functions as a microsupercapacitor and pressure sensor. The in-plane mesopores of MXene significantly improve ion accessibility, mitigate the self-stacking of nanosheets, and allow the holey MXene to multifunctionally act as a sensing material, an active electrode, and a conductive interconnect, thus drastically reducing the interface mismatch and enhancing the mechanical robustness. Furthermore, we fabricate a large-scale device using a blade-coating and stamping method, which demonstrates excellent mechanical flexibility, low-power consumption, rapid response, and stable long-term operation. As a proof-of-concept application, we integrate our sensing array into a smart access control system, leveraging deep learning to accurately identify users based on their unique pressing behaviors. This study provides a promising approach for designing highly integrated, intelligent, and flexible electronic systems for advanced human–computer interactions and personalized electronics.

Highlights:
1 A flexible monolithic 3D-integrated tactile sensing system, inspired by the tactile perception mechanism of human skin, was developed based on a holey MXene paste.
2 Large-scale device fabrication was achieved using blade-coating and imprinting methods, demonstrating excellent mechanical flexibility, low-power consumption, fast response, and stable long-term performance.
3 The sensor array was integrated into a smart access control system, leveraging deep learning to achieve precise identification based on the unique pressing behaviors of users.

Reproducible Fabrication of Perovskite Photovoltaics via Supramolecule Confinement Growth

Xinyi Liu — 2025-09-15

The solution processibility of perovskites provides a cost-effective and high-throughput route for fabricating state-of-the-art solar cells. However, the fast kinetics of precursor-to-perovskite transformation is susceptible to processing conditions, resulting in an uncontrollable variance in device performance. Here, we demonstrate a supramolecule confined approach to reproducibly fabricate perovskite films with an ultrasmooth, electronically homogeneous surface. The assembly of a calixarene capping layer on precursor surface can induce host–guest interactions with solvent molecules to tailor the desolvation kinetics, and initiate the perovskite crystallization from the sharp molecule–precursor interface. These combined effects significantly reduced the spatial variance and extended the processing window of perovskite films. As a result, the standard efficiency deviations of device-to-device and batch-to-batch devices were reduced from 0.64–0.26% to 0.67–0.23%, respectively. In addition, the perovskite films with ultrasmooth top surfaces exhibited photoluminescence quantum yield > 10% and surface recombination velocities < 100 cm s⁻¹ for both interfaces that yielded p-i-n structured solar cells with power conversion efficiency over 25%.

Highlights:
1 Demonstrating a new concept of “supermolecule confined growth” of perovskite thin films by constructing a compact, ultraflat 4-tert-butylthiacalix[4]arene capping layer atop perovskite precursor film to engineer the perovskite formation dynamics.
2 The supramolecule confined approach enabled the highly reproducible fabrication of perovskite films with a root mean square < 10 nm and electronic homogeneity, which significantly minimized the power conversion efficiency variations for both device-to-device and batch-to-batch solar cell devices.
3 The obtained perovskite films exhibited photoluminescence quantum yield > 10% and surface recombination velocities < 100 cm s⁻¹ for both interfaces.

Efficient Neutral Nitrate-to-Ammonia Electrosynthesis Using Synergistic Ru-Based Nanoalloys on Nitrogen-Doped Carbon

Lisi Huang — 2025-09-15

Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction reaction (NO₃RR) represents a sustainable and environmentally benign route for ammonia (NH₃) synthesis. However, NO₃RR is still limited by the competition from hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the high energy barrier in the hydrogenation step of nitrogen-containing intermediates. Here, we report a selective etching strategy to construct RuM nanoalloys (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) uniformly dispersed on porous nitrogen-doped carbon substrates for efficient neutral NH₃ electrosynthesis. Density functional theory calculations confirm that the synergic effect between Ru and transition metal M modulates the electronic structure of the alloy, significantly lowering the energy barrier for the conversion of *NO₂ to *HNO₂. Experimentally, the optimized RuFe-NC catalyst achieves 100% Faraday efficiency with a high yield rate of 0.83 mg h⁻¹ mg_cat⁻¹ at a low potential of − 0.1 V vs. RHE, outperforming most reported catalysts. In situ spectroscopic analyses further demonstrate that the RuM-NC effectively promotes the hydrogenation of nitrogen intermediates while inhibiting the formation of hydrogen radicals, thereby reducing HER competition. The RuFe-NC assembled Zn-NO₃⁻ battery achieved a high open-circuit voltage and an outstanding power density and capacity, which drive selective NO₃⁻ conversion to NH₃. This work provides a powerful synergistic design strategy for efficient NH₃ electrosynthesis and a general framework for the development of advanced multi-component catalysts for sustainable nitrogen conversion.

Highlights:
1 A selective etching strategy was developed to construct a serious of RuM nanoalloys (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) uniformly dispersed on porous nitrogen-doped carbon.
2 It has been demonstrated that RuM nanoalloys would present the enhancement synergic effect on significantly improve the kinetic of *NO₂ conversion to *HNO₂, which achieves efficient neutral NH3 electrosynthesis at more positive potential.

Deep Learning-Assisted Organogel Pressure Sensor for Alphabet Recognition and Bio-Mechanical Motion Monitoring

Kusum Sharma — 2025-09-08

Wearable sensors integrated with deep learning techniques have the potential to revolutionize seamless human–machine interfaces for real-time health monitoring, clinical diagnosis, and robotic applications. Nevertheless, it remains a critical challenge to simultaneously achieve desirable mechanical and electrical performance along with biocompatibility, adhesion, self-healing, and environmental robustness with excellent sensing metrics. Herein, we report a multifunctional, anti–freezing, self-adhesive, and self-healable organogel pressure sensor composed of cobalt nanoparticle encapsulated nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (CoN CNT) embedded in a polyvinyl alcohol–gelatin (PVA/GLE) matrix. Fabricated using a binary solvent system of water and ethylene glycol (EG), the CoN CNT/PVA/GLE organogel exhibits excellent flexibility, biocompatibility, and temperature tolerance with remarkable environmental stability. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy confirms near-stable performance across a broad humidity range (40%-95% RH). Freeze-tolerant conductivity under sub-zero conditions (−20 °C) is attributed to the synergistic role of CoN CNT and EG, preserving mobility and network integrity. The CoN CNT/PVA/GLE organogel sensor exhibits high sensitivity of 5.75 kPa⁻¹ in the detection range from 0 to 20 kPa, ideal for subtle biomechanical motion detection. A smart human–machine interface for English letter recognition using deep learning achieved 98% accuracy. The organogel sensor utility was extended to detect human gestures like finger bending, wrist motion, and throat vibration during speech.

Highlights:
1 We rationally designed a robust, biocompatible CoN CNT/PVA/GLE organogel with self-healing, anti-freezing, and self-adhesive properties for wearable sensing applications.
2 Incorporation of CoN CNT enables high-performance, stable pressure sensing for up to one month, with a sensitivity of S = 5.75 kPa^-1, r² = 0.978 in the detection range 0-20 kPa, with robust operation under high humidity and extreme temperatures (−20 to 45 °C).
3 It accurately detects English alphabets, achieving 98% recognition accuracy using deep learning models.

Differentiating the 2D Passivation from Amorphous Passivation in Perovskite Solar Cells

Xiaojian Zheng — 2025-09-08

The introduction of two-dimensional (2D) perovskite layers on top of three-dimensional (3D) perovskite films enhances the performance and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the electronic effect of the spacer cation and the quality of the 2D capping layer are critical factors in achieving the required results. In this study, we compared two fluorinated salts: 4-(trifluoromethyl) benzamidine hydrochloride (4TF-BA·HCl) and 4-fluorobenzamidine hydrochloride (4F-BA·HCl) to engineer the 3D/2D perovskite films. Surprisingly, 4F-BA formed a high-performance 3D/2D heterojunction, while 4TF-BA produced an amorphous layer on the perovskite films. Our findings indicate that the balanced intramolecular charge polarization, which leads to effective hydrogen bonding, is more favorable in 4F-BA than in 4TF-BA, promoting the formation of a crystalline 2D perovskite. Nevertheless, 4TF-BA managed to improve efficiency to 24%, surpassing the control device, primarily due to the natural passivation capabilities of benzamidine. Interestingly, the devices based on 4F-BA demonstrated an efficiency exceeding 25% with greater longevity under various storage conditions compared to 4TF-BA-based and the control devices.

Highlights:
1 Benzamidine derivatives are utilized to differentiate between 2D passivation and amorphous passivation.
2 Introducing an n-type 2D passivation layer enhances the charge extraction and transportation and reduces the interface recombination in inverted perovskite solar cells.
3 The intramolecular charge of organic ligands is critical for the formation of crystalline 2D capping layers on 3D perovskite layers.
4 The long-term stability of inverted perovskite solar cells is improved owing to hydrophobic sealing of 3D perovskite via crystalline 2D capping.

Droplets Self-Draining on the Horizontal Slippery Surface for Real-Time Anti-/De-Icing

Xiao Han — 2025-09-08

Undesired ice accumulation on infrastructure and transportation systems leads to catastrophic events and significant economic losses. Although various anti-icing surfaces with photothermal effects can initially prevent icing, any thawy droplets remaining on the horizontal surface can quickly re-freezing once the light diminishes. To address these challenges, we have developed a self-draining slippery surface (SDSS) that enables the thawy droplets to self-remove on the horizontal surface, thereby facilitating real-time anti-icing with the aid of sunlight (100 mW cm⁻²). This is achieved by sandwiching a thin pyroelectric layer between slippery surface and photothermal film. Due to the synergy between the photothermal and pyroelectric layers, the SDSS not only maintains a high surface temperature of 19.8 ± 2.2 °C at the low temperature ( −20.0 ± 1.0 °C), but also generates amount of charge through thermoelectric coupling. Thus, as cold droplets dropped on the SDSS, electrostatic force pushes the droplets off the charged surface because of the charge transfer mechanism. Even if the surface freezes overnight, the ice can melt and drain off the SDSS within 10 min of exposure to sunlight at −20.0 ± 1.0 °C, leaving a clean surface. This work provides a new perspective on the anti-icing system in the real-world environments.

Highlights:
1 Self-draining slippery surface with light-thermal-electric synergy were fabricated to auto anti/de-icing even on horizontal devices.
2 The synergy of photothermal conversion and thermoelectric coupling enables the ice melting, and self-draining of thawy droplets at the same time, avoiding the risk of re-freezing.
3 The processes of no matter in ice melting or droplets repulsion on horizontal surface need no additional energy input, just with assistance of sunlight.

Anionically-Reinforced Nanocellulose Separator Enables Dual Suppression of Zinc Dendrites and Polyiodide Shuttle for Long-Cycle Zn-I2 Batteries

Wenhui Liu — 2025-09-05

Zn-I₂ batteries have emerged as promising next-generation energy storage systems owing to their inherent safety, environmental compatibility, rapid reaction kinetics, and small voltage hysteresis. Nevertheless, two critical challenges, i.e., zinc dendrite growth and polyiodide shuttle effect, severely impede their commercial viability. To conquer these limitations, this study develops a multifunctional separator fabricated from straw-derived carboxylated nanocellulose, with its negative charge density further reinforced by anionic polyacrylamide incorporation. This modification simultaneously improves the separator’s mechanical properties, ionic conductivity, and Zn²⁺ ion transfer number. Remarkably, despite its ultrathin 20 μm profile, the engineered separator demonstrates exceptional dendrite suppression and parasitic reaction inhibition, enabling Zn//Zn symmetric cells to achieve impressive cycle life (> 1800 h at 2 mA cm⁻²/2 mAh cm⁻²) while maintaining robust performance even at ultrahigh areal capacities (25 mAh cm⁻²). Additionally, the separator’s anionic characteristic effectively blocks polyiodide migration through electrostatic repulsion, yielding Zn-I₂ batteries with outstanding rate capability (120.7 mAh g⁻¹ at 5 A g⁻¹) and excellent cyclability (94.2% capacity retention after 10,000 cycles). And superior cycling stability can still be achieved under zinc-deficient condition and pouch cell configuration. This work establishes a new paradigm for designing high-performance zinc-based energy storage systems through rational separator engineering.

Highlights:
1 Straw-derived carboxylated nanocellulose separator is modified by anionic polyacrylamide to further enhance the negative charge density.
2 The separator exhibits ultrathin profile and exceptional mechanical strength, as well as enabling rapid zinc ion transport.
3 The separator can not only effectively inhibit zinc dendrites and parasitic reactions but also significantly suppress polyiodide shuttle via electrostatic repulsion, contributing to remarkable performance of Zn-I₂ batteries even under high mass loadings.

Tunable Optical Metamaterial Enables Steganography, Rewriting, and Multilevel Information Storage

Jianchen Zheng — 2025-09-05

In the realm of secure information storage, optical encryption has emerged as a vital technique, particularly with the miniaturization of encryption devices. However, many existing systems lack the necessary reconfigurability and dynamic functionality. This study presents a novel approach through the development of dynamic optical-to-chemical energy conversion metamaterials, which enable enhanced steganography and multilevel information storage. We introduce a micro-dynamic multiple encryption device that leverages programmable optical properties in coumarin-based metamaterials, achieved through a direct laser writing grayscale gradient strategy. This methodology allows for the dynamic regulation of photoluminescent characteristics and cross-linking networks, facilitating innovative steganographic techniques under varying light conditions. The integration of a multi-optical field control system enables real-time adjustments to the material’s properties, enhancing the device’s reconfigurability and storage capabilities. Our findings underscore the potential of these metamaterials in advancing the field of microscale optical encryption, paving the way for future applications in dynamic storage and information security.

Highlights:
1 Proposed a dynamic grayscale gradient modulation system enabling multi-information analysis and encryption under multi-optical fields, establishing a new paradigm for multi-dimensional encryption of collaborative multispectral information.
2 Developed coumarin-based photo-responsive in situ reconstruction technology and constructed a multi-optical field coupled control system to achieve dynamic configuration of multi-information carriers.
3 Designed and fabricated a micro-dynamic multiple encryption device with integrated functions for information writing, erasing and rewriting, realizing stable information storage and dynamic destruction through micro/nano-optical keys.

System with Thermal Management for Synergistic Water Production, Electricity Generation and Crop Irrigation

Meng Wang — 2025-09-03

Sustainable water, energy and food (WEF) supplies are the bedrock upon which human society depends. Solar-driven interfacial evaporation, combined with electricity generation and cultivation, is a promising approach to mitigate the freshwater, energy and food crises. However, the performance of solar-driven systems decreases significantly during operation due to uncontrollable weather. This study proposes an integrated water/electricity cogeneration–cultivation system with superior thermal management. The energy storage evaporator, consisting of energy storage microcapsules/hydrogel composites, is optimally designed for sustainable desalination, achieving an evaporation rate of around 1.91 kg m⁻² h⁻¹. In the dark, heat released from the phase-change layer supported an evaporation rate of around 0.54 kg m⁻² h⁻¹. Reverse electrodialysis harnessed the salinity-gradient energy enhanced during desalination, enabling the long-running WEC system to achieve a power output of ~0.3 W m⁻², which was almost three times higher than that of conventional seawater/surface water mixing. Additionally, an integrated crop irrigation platform utilized system drainage for real-time, on-demand wheat cultivation without secondary contaminants, facilitating seamless WEF integration. This work presents a novel approach to all-day solar water production, electricity generation and crop irrigation, offering a solution and blueprint for the sustainable development of WEF.

Highlights:
1 Dynamic thermal management: the system achieves evaporation rates of 1.91 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ (1 sun) and 0.54 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ (darkness) through energy storage hydrogel-based energy storage evaporator, effectively mitigating intermittent solar availability.
2 Enhanced salinity gradient utilization: integrated reverse electrodialysis (RED) system harvests ~0.30 W m⁻² from desalination-concentrated brine, tripling the output of conventional seawater/surface water RED system.
3 Sustainable resource integration: drainage water enables zero-pollution crop irrigation (shoot length ~87 mm, 7 d), completing the seamless integration of water-energy-food nexus.

Skin-Inspired Ultra-Linear Flexible Iontronic Pressure Sensors for Wearable Musculoskeletal Monitoring

Pei Li — 2025-09-01

The growing prevalence of exercise-induced tibial stress fractures demands wearable sensors capable of monitoring dynamic musculoskeletal loads with medical-grade precision. While flexible pressure-sensing insoles show clinical potential, their development has been hindered by the intrinsic trade-off between high sensitivity and full-range linearity (R² > 0.99 up to 1 MPa) in conventional designs. Inspired by the tactile sensing mechanism of human skin, where dermal stratification enables wide-range pressure adaptation and ion-channel-regulated signaling maintains linear electrical responses, we developed a dual-mechanism flexible iontronic pressure sensor (FIPS). This innovative design synergistically combines two bioinspired components: interdigitated fabric microstructures enabling pressure-proportional contact area expansion (∝ P^1/3) and iontronic film facilitating self-adaptive ion concentration modulation (∝ P^2/3), which together generate a linear capacitance-pressure response (C ∝ P). The FIPS achieves breakthrough performance: 242 kPa⁻¹ sensitivity with 0.997 linearity across 0–1 MPa, yielding a record linear sensing factor (LSF = 242,000). The design is validated across various substrates and ionic materials, demonstrating its versatility. Finally, the FIPS-driven design enables a smart insole demonstrating 1.8% error in tibial load assessment during gait analysis, outperforming nonlinear counterparts (6.5% error) in early fracture-risk prediction. The biomimetic design framework establishes a universal approach for developing high-performance linear sensors, establishing generalized principles for medical-grade wearable devices.

Highlights:
1 Bioinspired dual-mechanism sensor combining fabric microstructures (∝ P^1/3 contact area) and ionic film (∝ P^2/3 ion modulation) achieves 242 kPa⁻¹ sensitivity with 0.997 linearity (0–1 MPa), yielding record LSF of 242,000.
2 Medical-grade validation via smart insole demonstrates 1.8% GRF error (vs. 6.5% in nonlinear sensors), enabling precise early fracture-risk prediction and validating medical-grade wearables.

Ultrathin Gallium Nitride Quantum-Disk-in-Nanowire-Enabled Reconfigurable Bioinspired Sensor for High-Accuracy Human Action Recognition

Zhixiang Gao — 2025-09-01

Human action recognition (HAR) is crucial for the development of efficient computer vision, where bioinspired neuromorphic perception visual systems have emerged as a vital solution to address transmission bottlenecks across sensor-processor interfaces. However, the absence of interactions among versatile biomimicking functionalities within a single device, which was developed for specific vision tasks, restricts the computational capacity, practicality, and scalability of in-sensor vision computing. Here, we propose a bioinspired vision sensor composed of a GaN/AlN-based ultrathin quantum-disks-in-nanowires (QD-NWs) array to mimic not only Parvo cells for high-contrast vision and Magno cells for dynamic vision in the human retina but also the synergistic activity between the two cells for in-sensor vision computing. By simply tuning the applied bias voltage on each QD-NW-array-based pixel, we achieve two biosimilar photoresponse characteristics with slow and fast reactions to light stimuli that enhance the in-sensor image quality and HAR efficiency, respectively. Strikingly, the interplay and synergistic interaction of the two photoresponse modes within a single device markedly increased the HAR recognition accuracy from 51.4% to 81.4% owing to the integrated artificial vision system. The demonstration of an intelligent vision sensor offers a promising device platform for the development of highly efficient HAR systems and future smart optoelectronics.

Highlights:
1 A novel GaN/AlN-based ultrathin quantum-disks-in-nanowires sensor was fabricated, demonstrating voltage bias tunable response characteristics to light stimuli.
2 Image enhancement functionality and a robust reservoir computing system were demonstrated based on the voltage tunable long-term and short-term persistent photocurrent respectively.
3 Furthermore, a high-performance artificial vision system with the two integrated functions was demonstrated, achieving a remarkable improvement in human action recognition.

Moisture-Resistant Scalable Ambient-Air Crystallization of Perovskite Films via Self-Buffered Molecular Migration Strategy

Mei Yang — 2025-09-01

Ambient-air, moisture-assisted annealing is widely used in fabricating perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the inherent sensitivity of perovskite intermediate-phase to moisture—due to fast and spontaneous intermolecular exchange reaction—requires strict control of ambient humidity and immediate thermal annealing treatment, raising manufacturing costs and causing fast nucleation of perovskite films. We report herein a self-buffered molecular migration strategy to slow down the intermolecular exchange reaction by introducing a n–butylammonium bromide shielding layer, which limits moisture diffusion into intermediate-phase film. This further endows the notably wide nucleation time and humidity windows for perovskite crystallization in ambient air. Consequently, the optimized 1.68 eV-bandgap n-i-p structured PSC reaches a record-high reverse-scan (RS) PCE of 22.09%. Furthermore, the versatility and applicability of as-proposed self-buffered molecular migration strategy are certified by employing various shielding materials and 1.53 eV-/1.77 eV-bandgap perovskite materials. The n-i-p structured PSCs based on 1.53 eV- and 1.77 eV-bandgap perovskite films achieve outstanding RS PCEs of 25.23% and 19.09%, respectively, both of which are beyond of the state-of-the-art ambient-air processed PSCs.

Highlights:
1 A self-buffered molecular migration strategy is developed to suppress spontaneous intermolecular exchange between perovskite intermediate phase and ambient moisture.
2 Exceptionally broad nucleation time and humidity tolerance windows are achieved for perovskite crystallization under ambient air conditions. 1.68 eV-bandgap perovskite solar cells (PSCs) reach a record efficiency of 22.09% when processed in 50–60% relative humidity.
3 The strategy is broadly applicable to 1.53 eV- and 1.77 eV-bandgap perovskite films, enabling high-efficiency PSCs via air-based crystallization processing.

BaTiO3 Nanoparticle-Induced Interfacial Electric Field Optimization in Chloride Solid Electrolytes for 4.8 V All-Solid-State Lithium Batteries

Qingmei Xiao — 2025-09-01

Chloride-based solid electrolytes are considered promising candidates for next-generation high-energy–density all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs). However, their relatively low oxidative decomposition threshold (~ 4.2 V vs. Li⁺/Li) constrains their use in ultrahigh-voltage systems (e.g., 4.8 V). In this work, ferroelectric BaTiO₃ (BTO) nanoparticles with optimized thickness of ~ 50–100 nm were successfully coated onto Li_2.5Y_0.5Zr_0.5Cl₆ (LYZC@5BTO) electrolytes using a time-efficient ball-milling process. The nanoparticle-induced interfacial ionic conduction enhancement mechanism contributed to the preservation of LYZC’s high ionic conductivity, which remained at 1.06 mS cm⁻¹ for LYZC@5BTO. Furthermore, this surface electric field engineering strategy effectively mitigates the voltage-induced self-decomposition of chloride-based solid electrolytes, suppresses parasitic interfacial reactions with single-crystal NCM811 (SCNCM811), and inhibits the irreversible phase transition of SCNCM811. Consequently, the cycling stability of LYZC under high-voltage conditions (4.8 V vs. Li⁺/Li) is significantly improved. Specifically, ASSB cells employing LYZC@5BTO exhibited a superior discharge capacity of 95.4 mAh g⁻¹ over 200 cycles at 1 C, way outperforming cell using pristine LYZC that only shows a capacity of 55.4 mAh g⁻¹. Furthermore, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis revealed that Metal-O-Cl by-products from cumulative interfacial side reactions accounted for 6% of the surface species initially, rising to 26% after 200 cycles in pristine LYZC. In contrast, LYZC@5BTO limited this increase to only 14%, confirming the effectiveness of BTO in stabilizing the interfacial chemistry. This electric field modulation strategy offers a promising route toward the commercialization of high-voltage solid-state electrolytes and energy-dense ASSBs.

Highlights:
1 Time efficient ball milling achieves uniform BaTiO₃ ( coating without sacrificing ionic conductivity (1.06 mS cm⁻¹).
2 Ferroelectric BTO coating suppresses Li_2.5Y_0.5Zr_0.5Cl₆ (LYZC decomposition at 4.8 V via electric field modulation, enabling 76% capacity retention after 150 cycles.
3 BTO effectively minimizes the formation of interfacial ZrCl₃O /YCl₂O byproducts and mitigates the irreversible phase transition of single crystal NCM811 (SCNCM811), thereby improving the compatibility between LYZC and SCNCM811.

Constructing Double Heterojunctions on 1T/2H-MoS2@Co3S4 Electrocatalysts for Regulating Li2O2 Formation in Lithium-Oxygen Batteries

Yichuan Dou — 2025-09-01

Co₃S₄ electrocatalysts with mixed valences of Co ions and excellent structural stability possess favorable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity, yet challenges remain in fabricating rechargeable lithium-oxygen batteries (LOBs) due to their poor OER performance, resulting from poor electrical conductivity and overly strong intermediate adsorption. In this work, fancy double heterojunctions on 1T/2H-MoS₂@Co₃S₄ (1T/2H-MCS) were constructed derived from the charge donation from Co to Mo ions, thus inducing the phase transformation of MoS₂ from 2H to 1T. The unique features of these double heterojunctions endow the 1T/2H-MCS with complementary catalysis during charging and discharging processes. It is worth noting that 1T-MoS₂@Co₃S₄ could provide fast Co–S–Mo electron transport channels to promote ORR/OER kinetics, and 2H-MoS₂@Co₃S₄ contributed to enabling moderate e_g orbital occupancy when adsorbed with oxygen-containing intermediates. On the basis, the Li₂O₂ nucleation route was changed to solution and surface dual pathways, improving reversible deposition and decomposition kinetics. As a result, 1T/2H-MCS cathodes exhibit an improved electrocatalytic performance compared with those of Co₃S₄ and MoS₂ cathodes. This innovative heterostructure design provides a reliable strategy to construct efficient transition metal sulfide catalysts by improving electrical conductivity and modulating adsorption toward oxygenated intermediates for LOBs.

Highlights:
1 1T/2H-MoS₂@Co₃S₄ electrocatalysts were constructed by interfacial charge donation from Co to Mo atoms, resulting in formation of double heterojunctions including 1T-MoS₂@Co₃S₄ and 2H-MoS₂@Co₃S₄.
2 Complementary effect from double heterojunctions not only triggered fast charge transport on Co–S–Mo couplings, but also enabled moderate eg orbital occupancy to adsorb oxygen-containing intermediates for efficient oxygen electrocatalysis.
3 Optimal adsorption energies for solution and surface dual reaction pathways were achieved, forming two kinds of discharge product morphologies during cycling to enhance performance of Li–O₂ batteries.

Radiative Coupled Evaporation Cooling Hydrogel for Above-Ambient Heat Dissipation and Flame Retardancy

Qin Ye — 2025-09-01

By combining the merits of radiative cooling (RC) and evaporation cooling (EC), radiative coupled evaporative cooling (REC) has attracted considerable attention for sub-ambient cooling purposes. However, for outdoor devices, the interior heating power would increase the working temperature and fire risk, which would suppress their above-ambient heat dissipation capabilities and passive water cycle properties. In this work, we introduced a REC design based on an all-in-one photonic hydrogel for above-ambient heat dissipation and flame retardancy. Unlike conventional design RC film for heat dissipation with limited cooling power and fire risk, REC hydrogel can greatly improve the heat dissipation performance in the daytime with a high workload, indicating a 12.0 °C lower temperature than the RC film under the same conditions in the outdoor experiment. In the nighttime with a low workload, RC-assisted adsorption can improve atmospheric water harvesting to ensure EC in the daytime. In addition, our REC hydrogel significantly enhanced flame retardancy by absorbing heat without a corresponding temperature rise, thus mitigating fire risks. Thus, our design shows a promising solution for the thermal management of outdoor devices, delivering outstanding performance in both heat dissipation and flame retardancy.

Highlights:
1 An all-in-one photonic hydrogel was designed for above-ambient heat dissipation and flame retardancy by sky radiative cooling and evaporation cooling.
2 Radiative coupled with evaporation cooling can greatly improve the heat dissipation performance, indicating a 12.0 °C lower than the radiative cooling film under the same conditions.
3 Radiative cooling-assisted adsorption can improve atmospheric water harvesting to ensure evaporation under periodic workload and meteorological parameters.

High-Performance Wide-Temperature Zinc-Ion Batteries with K+/C3N4 Co-Intercalated Ammonium Vanadate Cathodes

Daming Chen — 2025-09-01

NH₄V₄O₁₀ (NVO) is considered a promising cathode material for aqueous zinc-ion batteries due to its high theoretical capacity. However, its practical application is limited by irreversible deamination, structural collapse, and sluggish reaction kinetics during cycling. Herein, K⁺ and C₃N₄ co-intercalated NVO (KNVO-C₃N₄) nanosheets with expanded interlayer spacing are synthesized for the first time to achieve high-rate, stable, and wide-temperature cathodes. Molecular dynamics and experimental results confirm that there is an optimal C₃N₄ content to achieve higher reaction kinetics. The synergistic effect of K⁺ and C₃N₄ co-intercalation significantly reduces the electrostatic interaction between Zn²⁺ and the [VO_n] layer, improves the specific capacity and cycling stability. Consequently, the KNVO-C₃N₄ electrode displays outstanding electrochemical performance at room temperature and under extreme environments. It exhibits excellent rate performance (228.4 mAh g⁻¹ at 20 A g⁻¹), long-term cycling stability (174.2 mAh g⁻¹ after 10,000 cycles at 20 A g⁻¹), and power/energy density (210.0 Wh kg⁻¹ at 14,200 W kg⁻¹) at room temperature. Notably, it shows remarkable storage performance at − 20 °C (111.3 mAh g⁻¹ at 20 A g⁻¹) and 60 °C (208.6 mAh g⁻¹ at 20 A g⁻¹). This strategy offers a novel approach to developing high-performance cathodes capable of operating under extreme temperatures.

Highlights:
1 Molecular dynamics and experimental results confirm that adjusting the interlayer spacing by changing the C₃N₄ content effectively improves the reaction kinetics.
2 The synergistic effect of K⁺ and C₃N₄ co-intercalation lowers the energy barrier, reduces the electrostatic interaction, and enhances the kinetics and structural stability.
3 The K⁺/C₃N₄ co-intercalated NH₄V₄O₁₀ cathode exhibits excellent electrochemical performance at room temperature and under extreme environments.

Prioritized Na+ Adsorption-Driven Cationic Electrostatic Repulsion Enables Highly Reversible Zinc Anodes at Low Temperatures

Guanchong Mao — 2025-09-01

Aqueous zinc metal batteries (AZMBs) are promising candidates for renewable energy storage, yet their practical deployment in subzero environments remains challenging due to electrolyte freezing and dendritic growth. Although organic additives can enhance the antifreeze properties of electrolytes, their weak polarity diminishes ionic conductivity, and their flammability poses safety concerns, undermining the inherent advantages of aqueous systems. Herein, we present a cost-effective and highly stable Na₂SO₄ additive introduced into a Zn(ClO₄)₂-based electrolyte to create an organic-free antifreeze electrolyte. Through Raman spectroscopy, in situ optical microscopy, density functional theory computations, and molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate that Na⁺ ions improve low-temperature electrolyte performance and mitigate dendrite formation by regulating uniform Zn²⁺ deposition through preferential adsorption and electrostatic interactions. As a result, the Zn||Zn cells using this electrolyte achieve a remarkable cycling life of 360 h at − 40 °C with 61% depth of discharge, and the Zn||PANI cells retained an ultrahigh capacity retention of 91% even after 8000 charge/discharge cycles at − 40 °C. This work proposes a cost-effective and practical approach for enhancing the long-term operational stability of AZMBs in low-temperature environments.

Highlights:
1 The introduction of low-cost, low-reduction-potential Na⁺ into aqueous Zn-based battery electrolytes suppresses Zn²⁺ aggregation at the anode interface through preferential Na⁺ adsorption and inter-cationic electrostatic repulsion, thereby enabling homogeneous Zn deposition and significantly enhanced low-temperature reversibility of Zn anodes.
2 Na⁺ with low ionic potential spontaneously adsorbs at the anode–electrolyte interface, effectively reducing solvated water molecules and suppressing parasitic reactions, thus significantly improving the Coulombic efficiency of aqueous zinc metal batteries under low temperatures.
3 At a low temperature of − 40 °C, the Zn||Zn cells maintained stable plating/stripping cycles for over 2500 h, and the Zn||PANI full cell exhibited excellent low-temperature performance with over 8000 charge–discharge cycles and a high capacity retention of more than 90%.

Lithium-Ion Dynamic Interface Engineering of Nano-Charged Composite Polymer Electrolytes for Solid-State Lithium-Metal Batteries

Shanshan Lv — 2025-08-29

Composite polymer electrolytes (CPEs) offer a promising solution for all-solid-state lithium-metal batteries (ASSLMBs). However, conventional nanofillers with Lewis-acid–base surfaces make limited contribution to improving the overall performance of CPEs due to their difficulty in achieving robust electrochemical and mechanical interfaces simultaneously. Here, by regulating the surface charge characteristics of halloysite nanotube (HNT), we propose a concept of lithium-ion dynamic interface (Li⁺-DI) engineering in nano-charged CPE (NCCPE). Results show that the surface charge characteristics of HNTs fundamentally change the Li⁺-DI, and thereof the mechanical and ion-conduction behaviors of the NCCPEs. Particularly, the HNTs with positively charged surface (HNTs⁺) lead to a higher Li⁺ transference number (0.86) than that of HNTs⁻ (0.73), but a lower toughness (102.13 MJ m⁻³ for HNTs⁺ and 159.69 MJ m⁻³ for HNTs⁻). Meanwhile, a strong interface compatibilization effect by Li⁺ is observed for especially the HNTs⁺-involved Li⁺-DI, which improves the toughness by 2000% compared with the control. Moreover, HNTs⁺ are more effective to weaken the Li⁺-solvation strength and facilitate the formation of LiF-rich solid–electrolyte interphase of Li metal compared to HNTs⁻. The resultant Li|NCCPE|LiFePO₄ cell delivers a capacity of 144.9 mAh g⁻¹ after 400 cycles at 0.5 C and a capacity retention of 78.6%. This study provides deep insights into understanding the roles of surface charges of nanofillers in regulating the mechanical and electrochemical interfaces in ASSLMBs.

Highlights:
1 The surface charge characteristics of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) are manipulated to engineer the Li+-dynamic interface (Li⁺-DI) in composite polymer electrolytes.
2 Surface charge characteristics of HNTs generate pronounced impact on not only the ionic/mechanical properties of the composite electrolytes, but also the formation and composition of solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer.
3 HNTs⁺-supported Li⁺-DI exhibits an anion-rich Li⁺-solvation structure and soft-and-tough mechanical interface, leading to LiF-rich SEI layer and improvement of toughness by over 2000% compared with the control.

An Ultrasonic Microrobot Enabling Ultrafast Bidirectional Navigation in Confined Tubular Environments

Meng Cui — 2025-08-25

Pipelines are extensively used in environments such as nuclear power plants, chemical factories, and medical devices to transport gases and liquids. These tubular environments often feature complex geometries, confined spaces, and millimeter-scale height restrictions, presenting significant challenges to conventional inspection methods. Here, we present an ultrasonic microrobot (weight, 80 mg; dimensions, 24 mm × 7 mm; thickness, 210 μm) to realize agile and bidirectional navigation in narrow pipelines. The ultrathin structural design of the robot is achieved through a high-performance piezoelectric composite film microstructure based on MEMS technology. The robot exhibits various vibration modes when driven by ultrasonic frequency signals, its motion speed reaches 81 cm s⁻¹ at 54.8 kHz, exceeding that of the fastest piezoelectric microrobots, and its forward and backward motion direction is controllable through frequency modulation, while the minimum driving voltage for initial movement can be as low as 3 V_P-P. Additionally, the robot can effortlessly climb slopes up to 24.25° and carry loads more than 36 times its weight. The robot is capable of agile navigation through curved L-shaped pipes, pipes made of various materials (acrylic, stainless steel, and polyvinyl chloride), and even over water. To further demonstrate its inspection capabilities, a micro-endoscope camera is integrated into the robot, enabling real-time image capture inside glass pipes.

Highlights:
1 An ultrasonic microrobot achieves bidirectional high-speed locomotion (81 cm s⁻¹) in micro-pipes via frequency modulation.
2 MEMS-fabricated ultrathin piezoelectric composite film enables rapid navigation within confined pipeline (4 mm height), slope climbing (24.25°), and notable load-carrying (>36 times its weight).
3 The microrobot demonstrates agile locomotion across curved pipes, pipes made of various materials, and even over water; integrated micro-endoscope camera enables real-time imaging, highlighting great potential for efficient pipeline inspection.

Superelastic and Washable Micro/Nanofibrous Sponges Based on Biomimetic Helical Fibers for Efficient Thermal Insulation

Fengjin Yang — 2025-08-25

Extreme cold weather seriously harms human thermoregulatory system, necessitating high-performance insulating garments to maintain body temperature. However, as the core insulating layer, advanced fibrous materials always struggle to balance mechanical properties and thermal insulation, resulting in their inability to meet the demands for both washing resistance and personal protection. Herein, inspired by the natural spring-like structures of cucumber tendrils, a superelastic and washable micro/nanofibrous sponge (MNFS) based on biomimetic helical fibers is directly prepared utilizing multiple-jet electrospinning technology for high-performance thermal insulation. By regulating the conductivity of polyvinylidene fluoride solution, multiple-jet ejection and multiple-stage whipping of jets are achieved, and further control of phase separation rates enables the rapid solidification of jets to form spring-like helical fibers, which are directly entangled to assemble MNFS. The resulting MNFS exhibits superelasticity that can withstand large tensile strain (200%), 1000 cyclic tensile or compression deformations, and retain good resilience even in liquid nitrogen (− 196 °C). Furthermore, the MNFS shows efficient thermal insulation with low thermal conductivity (24.85 mW m⁻¹ K⁻¹), close to the value of dry air, and remains structural stability even after cyclic washing. This work offers new possibilities for advanced fibrous sponges in transportation, environmental, and energy applications.

Highlights:
1 A superelastic and washable sponge based on biomimetic spring-like helical micro/nanofibers is directly fabricated by multiple-jet electrospinning technology.
2 The resulting sponge exhibits both lightweight (low density of 7.1 mg cm^–3) and robust mechanical property (large tensile strain up to 200%).
3 The sponge also shows efficient thermal insulation performance with low thermal conductivity (24.85 mW m^–1 K^–1), and remains structural stability even after cyclic washing, making it a promising candidate for personal protection in cold environments.

Chirality-Induced Suppression of Singlet Oxygen in Lithium–Oxygen Batteries with Extended Cycle Life

Kyunghee Chae — 2025-08-25

Lithium–oxygen (Li–O₂) batteries are perceived as a promising breakthrough in sustainable electrochemical energy storage, utilizing ambient air as an energy source, eliminating the need for costly cathode materials, and offering the highest theoretical energy density (~ 3.5 kWh kg^–1) among discussed candidates. Contributing to the poor cycle life of currently reported Li–O₂ cells is singlet oxygen (¹O₂) formation, inducing parasitic reactions, degrading key components, and severely deteriorating cell performance. Here, we harness the chirality-induced spin selectivity effect of chiral cobalt oxide nanosheets (Co₃O₄ NSs) as cathode materials to suppress ¹O₂ in Li–O₂ batteries for the first time. Operando photoluminescence spectroscopy reveals a 3.7-fold and 3.23-fold reduction in ¹O₂ during discharge and charge, respectively, compared to conventional carbon paper-based cells, consistent with differential electrochemical mass spectrometry results, which indicate a near-theoretical charge-to-O₂ ratio (2.04 e⁻/O₂). Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that chirality induces a peak shift near the Fermi level, enhancing Co 3d–O 2p hybridization, stabilizing reaction intermediates, and lowering activation barriers for Li₂O₂ formation and decomposition. These findings establish a new strategy for improving the stability and energy efficiency of sustainable Li–O₂ batteries, abridging the current gap to commercialization.

Highlights:
1 Chiral cobalt oxide nanosheets (Co₃O₄ NSs) suppress singlet oxygen (¹O₂) generation in Li–O₂ batteries via the CISS effect.
2 Operando spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations confirm reduced parasitic reactions and enhanced oxygen electrochemistry.
3 This strategy improves energy efficiency and cycle life, offering a path toward stable, high-performance Li–O₂ batteries.

Saturated Alcohols Electrocatalytic Oxidations on Ni-Co Bimetal Oxide Featuring Balanced B- and L-Acidic Active Sites

Junqing Ma — 2025-08-25

Investigating structural and hydroxyl group effects in electrooxidation of alcohols to value-added products by solid-acid electrocatalysts is essential for upgrading biomass alcohols. Herein, we report efficient electrocatalytic oxidations of saturated alcohols (C₁-C₆) to selectively form formate using NiCo hydroxide (NiCo–OH) derived NiCo₂O₄ solid-acid electrocatalysts with balanced Lewis acid (LASs) and Brønsted acid sites (BASs). Thermal treatment transforms BASs-rich (89.6%) NiCo–OH into NiCo₂O₄ with nearly equal distribution of LASs (53.1%) and BASs (46.9%) which synergistically promote adsorption and activation of OH⁻ and alcohol molecules for enhanced oxidation activity. In contrast, BASs-enriched NiCo–OH facilitates formation of higher valence metal sites, beneficial for water oxidation. The combined experimental studies and theoretical calculation imply the oxidation ability of C₁-C₆ alcohols increases as increased number of hydroxyl groups and decreased HOMO–LUMO gaps: methanol (C₁) < ethylene glycol (C₂) < glycerol (C₃) < meso-erythritol (C₄) < xylitol (C₅) < sorbitol (C₆), while the formate selectivity shows the opposite trend from 100 to 80%. This study unveils synergistic roles of LASs and BASs, as well as hydroxyl group effect in electro-upgrading of alcohols using solid-acid electrocatalysts.

Highlights:
1 NiCo–OH has a relatively high Brønsted acid sites (BASs) content (89.6%), which can promote the adsorption of OH⁻ and inhibit the co-adsorption of OH⁻ and alcohols, resulting in poor alcohol oxidation reaction (AOR) activity but higher oxygen evolution reaction activity.
2 NiCo–OH-derived NiCo₂O₄ solid-acid electrocatalysts with balanced BASs (46.9%) and Lewis acid sites (53.1%) facilitates co-adsorption of alcohols molecules and OH⁻, thereby favoring the AOR.
3 In the AOR on NiCo₂O₄, as the number of hydroxyl groups in C₁-C₆ saturated alcohols increases, the activity shows an increasing trend: C₁<C₂<C₃<C₄<C₅<C₆.

Hydrogen-Bonded Interfacial Super-Assembly of Spherical Carbon Superstructures for High-Performance Zinc Hybrid Capacitors

Yang Qin — 2025-08-25

Carbon superstructures with multiscale hierarchies and functional attributes represent an appealing cathode candidate for zinc hybrid capacitors, but their tailor-made design to optimize the capacitive activity remains a confusing topic. Here we develop a hydrogen-bond-oriented interfacial super-assembly strategy to custom-tailor nanosheet-intertwined spherical carbon superstructures (SCSs) for Zn-ion storage with double-high capacitive activity and durability. Tetrachlorobenzoquinone (H-bond acceptor) and dimethylbenzidine (H-bond donator) can interact to form organic nanosheet modules, which are sequentially assembled, orientally compacted and densified into well-orchestrated superstructures through multiple H-bonds (N–H···O). Featured with rich surface-active heterodiatomic motifs, more exposed nanoporous channels, and successive charge migration paths, SCSs cathode promises high accessibility of built-in zincophilic sites and rapid ion diffusion with low energy barriers (3.3 Ω s^−0.5). Consequently, the assembled Zn||SCSs capacitor harvests all-round improvement in Zn-ion storage metrics, including high energy density (166 Wh kg⁻¹), high-rate performance (172 mAh g⁻¹ at 20 A g⁻¹), and long-lasting cycling lifespan (95.5% capacity retention after 500,000 cycles). An opposite charge-carrier storage mechanism is rationalized for SCSs cathode to maximize spatial capacitive charge storage, involving high-kinetics physical Zn²⁺/CF₃SO₃⁻ adsorption and chemical Zn²⁺ redox with carbonyl/pyridine groups. This work gives insights into H-bond-guided interfacial super-assembly design of superstructural carbons toward advanced energy storage.

Highlights:
1 The spherical carbon superstructures (SCS-6) are synthesized by a hydrogen-bonded interfacial super-assembly, owning surface-opening pores, interconnected channels and rich heteroatom species.
2 Maximized accessibility of surface-active sites and opposite charge-carrier storage mechanism ensure high ion storage efficiency.
3 The assembled zinc-ion hybrid capacitor based on SCS-6 delivers ultrahigh energy density (166 Wh kg⁻¹) and super-stable cycle lifespan (500,000 cycles).

Three-dimensional Patterning Super-Black Silica-Based Nanocomposite Aerogels

Zhiyang Zhao — 2025-08-20

Aerogels are ultra-lightweight, porous materials defined by a complex network of interconnected pores and nanostructures, which effectively suppress heat transfer, making them exceptional for thermal insulation. Furthermore, their porous architecture can trap and scatter light via multiple internal reflections, extending the optical path within the material. When combined with suitable light-absorbing materials, this feature significantly enhances light absorption (darkness). To validate this concept, mesoporous silica aerogel particles were incorporated into a resorcinol–formaldehyde (RF) sol, and the silica-to-RF ratio was optimized to achieve uniform carbon compound coatings on the silica pore walls. Notably, increasing silica loading raised the sol viscosity, enabling formulations ideal for direct ink writing processes with excellent shape fidelity for super-black topographical designs. The printed silica–RF green bodies exhibited remarkable mechanical strength and ultra-low thermal conductivity (15.8 mW m^–1 K^–1) prior to pyrolysis. Following pyrolysis, the composites maintained structural integrity and printed microcellular geometries while achieving super-black coloration (abs. 99.56% in the 280–2500 nm range) and high photothermal conversion efficiency (94.2%). Additionally, these silica–carbon aerogel microcellulars demonstrated stable electrical conductivity and low electrochemical impedance. The synergistic combination of 3D printability and super-black photothermal features makes these composites highly versatile for multifunctional applications, including on-demand thermal management, and efficient solar-driven water production.

Highlights:
1 The 3D printed aerogel has an ultra-low thermal conductivity (15.8 mW m^–1 K^–1), make it an ideal insulation material in extreme environment (The surface temperature of a 1 cm thickness green body maintained at ≈60 °C after being placed at 300 °C for 30 min).
2 The super-black silica-carbon aerogel exhibits surprising light absorption feature (as high as 99.56%), and shows rapid evaporation rate (2.25 kg m^-2 h^-1) and excellent energy conversion efficiency (94.2%).
3 The combination of super-black and super-insulation features, offering immense potential for multifunctional, high-performance applications across thermal and optical domains.

Down-Top Strategy Engineered Large-Scale Fluorographene/PBO Nanofibers Composite Papers with Excellent Wave-Transparent Performance and Thermal Conductivity

Yuhan Lin — 2025-08-20

With the miniaturization and high-frequency evolution of antennas in 5G/6G communications, aerospace, and transportation, polymer composite papers integrating superior wave-transparent performance and thermal conductivity for radar antenna systems are urgently needed. Herein, a down-top strategy was employed to synthesize poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) precursor nanofibers (prePNF). The prePNF was then uniformly mixed with fluorinated graphene (FG) to fabricate FG/PNF composite papers through consecutively suction filtration, hot-pressing, and thermal annealing. The hydroxyl and amino groups in prePNF enhanced the stability of FG/prePNF dispersion, while the increased π-π interactions between PNF and FG after annealing improved their compatibility. The preparation time and cost of PNF paper was significantly reduced when applying this strategy, which enabled its large-scale production. Furthermore, the prepared FG/PNF composite papers exhibited excellent wave-transparent performance and thermal conductivity. When the mass fraction of FG was 40 wt%, the FG/PNF composite paper prepared via the down-top strategy achieved the wave-transparent coefficient (|T|²) of 96.3% under 10 GHz, in-plane thermal conductivity (λ_∥) of 7.13 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, and through-plane thermal conductivity (λ_⊥) of 0.67 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, outperforming FG/PNF composite paper prepared by the top-down strategy (|T|² = 95.9%, λ_∥ = 5.52 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, λ_⊥ = 0.52 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹) and pure PNF paper (|T|² = 94.7%, λ_∥ = 3.04 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, λ_⊥ = 0.24 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹). Meanwhile, FG/PNF composite paper (with 40 wt% FG) through the down-top strategy also demonstrated outstanding mechanical properties with tensile strength and toughness reaching 197.4 MPa and 11.6 MJ m⁻³, respectively.

Highlights:
1 The down-top strategy enables large-scale production of poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) nanofiber (PNF) paper with excellent intrinsic wave-transparent performance, thermal conductivity, and mechanical strength while significantly reduces the preparation time and cost.
2 Fluorinated graphene (FG)/PNF composite papers exhibit superior wave-transparent performance and thermal conductivity. When the mass fraction of FG is 40 wt%, its |T|² reaches 96.3% under 10 GHz while λ∥ and λ⊥ increase to 7.13 and 0.67 W m^-1 K^-1, respectively.
3 FG/PNF composite paper with 40 wt% of FG also displays excellent mechanical properties, with the tensile strength and toughness reaching 197.4 MPa and 11.6 MJ m^-3, respectively.

Robust and Biodegradable Heterogeneous Electronics with Customizable Cylindrical Architecture for Interference-Free Respiratory Rate Monitoring

Jing Zhang — 2025-08-19

A rapidly growing field is piezoresistive sensor for accurate respiration rate monitoring to suppress the worldwide respiratory illness. However, a large neglected issue is the sensing durability and accuracy without interference since the expiratory pressure always coupled with external humidity and temperature variations, as well as mechanical motion artifacts. Herein, a robust and biodegradable piezoresistive sensor is reported that consists of heterogeneous MXene/cellulose-gelation sensing layer and Ag-based interdigital electrode, featuring customizable cylindrical interface arrangement and compact hierarchical laminated architecture for collectively regulating the piezoresistive response and mechanical robustness, thereby realizing the long-term breath-induced pressure detection. Notably, molecular dynamics simulations reveal the frequent angle inversion and reorientation of MXene/cellulose in vacuum filtration, driven by shear forces and interfacial interactions, which facilitate the establishment of hydrogen bonds and optimize the architecture design in sensing layer. The resultant sensor delivers unprecedented collection features of superior stability for off-axis deformation (0–120°, ~ 2.8 × 10^–3 A) and sensing accuracy without crosstalk (humidity 50%–100% and temperature 30–80 °C). Besides, the sensor-embedded mask together with machine learning models is achieved to train and classify the respiration status for volunteers with different ages (average prediction accuracy ~ 90%). It is envisioned that the customizable architecture design and sensor paradigm will shed light on the advanced stability of sustainable electronics and pave the way for the commercial application in respiratory monitory.

Highlights:
1 Piezoresistive sensor in tandem with customizable cylindrical microstructure for ultra-sensitive, stable, and interference-free performance.
2 Molecular dynamics simulations reveal shear-force-driven self-assembly mechanisms.
3 Eco-friendly and robust sensing layer for scalable, sustainable fabrication.

Octopus-Inspired Self-Adaptive Hydrogel Gripper Capable of Manipulating Ultra-Soft Objects

Yixian Wang — 2025-08-19

Octopuses, due to their flexible arms, marvelous adaptability, and powerful suckers, are able to effortlessly grasp and disengage various objects in the marine surrounding without causing devastation. However, manipulating delicate objects such as soft and fragile foods underwater require gentle contact and stable adhesion, which poses a serious challenge to now available soft grippers. Inspired by the sucker infundibulum structure and flexible tentacles of octopus, herein we developed a hydraulically actuated hydrogel soft gripper with adaptive maneuverability by coupling multiple hydrogen bond-mediated supramolecular hydrogels and vat polymerization three-dimensional printing, in which hydrogel bionic sucker is composed of a tunable curvature membrane, a negative pressure cavity, and a pneumatic chamber. The design of the sucker structure with the alterable curvature membrane is conducive to realize the reliable and gentle switchable adhesion of the hydrogel soft gripper. As a proof-of-concept, the adaptive hydrogel soft gripper is capable of implement diversified underwater tasks, including gingerly grasping fragile foods like egg yolks and tofu, as well as underwater robots and vehicles that station-keeping and crawling based on switchable adhesion. This study therefore provides a transformative strategy for the design of novel soft grippers that will render promising utilities for underwater exploration soft robotics.

Highlights:
1 3D printable supramolecular hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties and stiffness adaptability were enabled by strong and weak H-bonding cooperative interactions and microphase separation.
2 Sucker structure with an alterable membrane was designed and fabricated with 3D printing to realize reliable and gentle switchable adhesion.
3 Octopus-inspired hydrogel gripper that is capable of delicately handling ultra-soft underwater objects in the form of nondestructive surface release was achieved.

Te-Modulated Fe Single Atom with Synergistic Bidirectional Catalysis for High-Rate and Long–Cycling Lithium-Sulfur Battery

Jian Guo — 2025-08-11

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have garnered significant attention in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries for their potential to mitigate the severe polysulfide shuttle effect and sluggish redox kinetics. However, the development of highly efficient SACs and a comprehensive understanding of their structure–activity relationships remain enormously challenging. Herein, a novel kind of Fe-based SAC featuring an asymmetric FeN₅-TeN₄ coordination structure was precisely designed by introducing Te atom adjacent to the Fe active center to enhance the catalytic activity. Theoretical calculations reveal that the neighboring Te atom modulates the local coordination environment of the central Fe site, elevating the d-band center closer to the Fermi level and strengthening the d-p orbital hybridization between the catalyst and sulfur species, thereby immobilizing polysulfides and improving the bidirectional catalysis of Li-S redox. Consequently, the Fe-Te atom pair catalyst endows Li-S batteries with exceptional rate performance, achieving a high specific capacity of 735 mAh g⁻¹ at 5 C, and remarkable cycling stability with a low decay rate of 0.038% per cycle over 1000 cycles at 1 C. This work provides fundamental insights into the electronic structure modulation of SACs and establishes a clear correlation between precisely engineered atomic configurations and their enhanced catalytic performance in Li-S electrochemistry.

Highlights:
1 The Te modulator induces a polarized charge distribution to optimize the electronic structure of the central Fe site, elevating the d-band center and enhancing the density of states near the Fermi level.
2 Strengthened d-p orbital hybridization between the catalyst and sulfur species optimizes the adsorption behavior toward LiPSs and facilitates the bidirectional redox process of Li-S batteries.
3 The Fe-Te atom pair catalyst endows Li-S batteries remarkable rate performance, extraordinary cycling stability and anticipated areal capacity.

Tellurium-Terminated MXene Synthesis via One-Step Tellurium Etching

Guoliang Ma — 2025-08-11

With the rapid development of two-dimensional MXene materials, numerous preparation strategies have been proposed to enhance synthesis efficiency, mitigate environmental impact, and enable scalability for large-scale production. The compound etching approach, which relies on cationic oxidation of the A element of MAX phase precursors while anions typically adsorb onto MXene surfaces as functional groups, remains the main prevalent strategy. By contrast, synthesis methodologies utilizing elemental etching agents have been rarely reported. Here, we report a new elemental tellurium (Te)-based etching strategy for the preparation of MXene materials with tunable surface chemistry. By selectively removing the A-site element in MAX phases using Te, our approach avoids the use of toxic fluoride reagents and achieves tellurium-terminated surface groups that significantly enhance sodium storage performance. Experimental results show that Te-etched MXene delivers substantially higher capacities (exceeding 50% improvement over conventionally etched MXene) with superior rate capability, retaining high capacity at large current densities and demonstrating over 90% capacity retention after 1000 cycles. This innovative synthetic strategy provides new insight into controllable MXene preparation and performance optimization, while the as-obtained materials hold promises for high-performance sodium-ion batteries and other energy storage systems.

Highlights:
1 A novel and efficient Te etching method for the preparation of Te-functionalized MXene materials is presented
2 This simple etching method enables the processing of V- and Nb-based MAX phases and demonstrates potential for large-scale production.
3 V₂CTe_x MXene has a sodium storage capacity of up to 247 mAh g⁻¹ and maintains 216 mAh g⁻¹ at 23 C.

Nature-Inspired Upward Hanging Evaporator with Photothermal 3D Spacer Fabric for Zero-Liquid-Discharge Desalination

Ye Peng — 2025-08-06

While desalination is a key solution for global freshwater scarcity, its implementation faces environmental challenges due to concentrated brine byproducts mainly disposed of via coastal discharge systems. Solar interfacial evaporation offers sustainable management potential, yet inevitable salt nucleation at evaporation interfaces degrades photothermal conversion and operational stability via light scattering and pathway blockage. Inspired by the mangrove leaf, we propose a photothermal 3D polydopamine and polypyrrole polymerized spacer fabric (PPSF)-based upward hanging model evaporation configuration with a reverse water feeding mechanism. This design enables zero-liquid-discharge (ZLD) desalination through phase-separation crystallization. The interconnected porous architecture and the rough surface of the PPSF enable superior water transport, achieving excellent solar-absorbing efficiency of 97.8%. By adjusting the tilt angle (θ), the evaporator separates the evaporation and salt crystallization zones via controlled capillary-driven brine transport, minimizing heat dissipation from brine discharge. At an optimal tilt angle of 52°, the evaporator reaches an evaporation rate of 2.81 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ with minimal heat loss (0.366 W) under 1-sun illumination while treating a 7 wt% waste brine solution. Furthermore, it sustains an evaporation rate of 2.71 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ over 72 h while ensuring efficient salt recovery. These results highlight a scalable, energy-efficient approach for sustainable ZLD desalination.

Highlights:
1 Successful fabrication of photothermal 3D polypyrrole polymerized spacer fabric with excellent water transport capability and high solar absorption efficiency.
2 The upward hanging model evaporator with reverse water feeding achieves an optimized solar evaporation rate of 2.81 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ with minimal heat (0.366 W) loss at a 52° tilt.
3 A mangrove leaf-inspired upward hanging model evaporator design separates evaporation and crystallization zones for zero-liquid-discharge desalination.

Bioinspired Precision Peeling of Ultrathin Bamboo Green Cellulose Frameworks for Light Management in Optoelectronics

Yan Wang — 2025-08-05

Cellulose frameworks have emerged as promising materials for light management due to their exceptional light-scattering capabilities and sustainable nature. Conventional biomass-derived cellulose frameworks face a fundamental trade-off between haze and transparency, coupled with impractical thicknesses (≥ 1 mm). Inspired by squid’s skin-peeling mechanism, this work develops a peroxyformic acid (HCOOOH)-enabled precision peeling strategy to isolate intact 10-µm-thick bamboo green (BG) frameworks—100 × thinner than wood-based counterparts while achieving an unprecedented optical performance (88% haze with 80% transparency). This performance surpasses delignified biomass (transparency < 40% at 1 mm) and matches engineered cellulose composites, yet requires no energy-intensive nanofibrillation. The preserved native cellulose I crystalline structure (64.76% crystallinity) and wax-coated uniaxial fibril alignment (Hermans factor: 0.23) contribute to high mechanical strength (903 MPa modulus) and broadband light scattering. As a light-management layer in polycrystalline silicon solar cells, the BG framework boosts photoelectric conversion efficiency by 0.41% absolute (18.74% → 19.15%), outperforming synthetic anti-reflective coatings. The work establishes a scalable, waste-to-wealth route for optical-grade cellulose materials in next-generation optoelectronics.

Highlights:
1 First successful peeling of bamboo green into micrometer-scale optical films (10 μm) via a bioinspired peroxyformic acid strategy, achieving intact preservation of monolayer cellular structure.
2 Scalable and stable peeling process enables high-yield production of bamboo green frameworks, demonstrating significant potential for sustainable optical material applications.
3 Experimental validation in light management shows 0.41% absolute photoelectric conversion efficiency enhancement in solar cells, proving practical value as high-performance optical films.

Multifunctional MXene for Thermal Management in Perovskite Solar Cells

Zhongquan Wan — 2025-08-04

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as promising photovoltaic technologies owing to their remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE). However, heat accumulation under continuous illumination remains a critical bottleneck, severely affecting device stability and long-term operational performance. Herein, we present a multifunctional strategy by incorporating highly thermally conductive Ti₃C₂T_X MXene nanosheets into the perovskite layer to simultaneously enhance thermal management and optoelectronic properties. The Ti₃C₂T_X nanosheets, embedded at perovskite grain boundaries, construct efficient thermal conduction pathways, significantly improving the thermal conductivity and diffusivity of the film. This leads to a notable reduction in the device’s steady-state operating temperature from 42.96 to 39.97 °C under 100 mW cm⁻² illumination, thereby alleviating heat-induced performance degradation. Beyond thermal regulation, Ti₃C₂T_X, with high conductivity and negatively charged surface terminations, also serves as an effective defect passivation agent, reducing trap-assisted recombination, while simultaneously facilitating charge extraction and transport by optimizing interfacial energy alignment. As a result, the Ti₃C₂T_X-modified PSC achieve a champion PCE of 25.13% and exhibit outstanding thermal stability, retaining 80% of the initial PCE after 500 h of thermal aging at 85 °C and 30 ± 5% relative humidity. (In contrast, control PSC retain only 58% after 200 h.) Moreover, under continuous maximum power point tracking in N₂ atmosphere, Ti₃C₂T_X-modified PSC retained 70% of the initial PCE after 500 h, whereas the control PSC drop sharply to 20%. These findings highlight the synergistic role of Ti₃C₂T_X in thermal management and optoelectronic performance, paving the way for the development of high-efficiency and heat-resistant perovskite photovoltaics.

Highlights:
1 Incorporating Ti₃C₂T_X nanosheets enhanced perovskite thermal conductivity (from 0.236 to 0.413 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹) and reduced operating temperature by ~3 °C under illumination, mitigating heat-induced degradation.
2 Ti₃C₂T_X offers multiple additional functionalities, including defect passivation, improved charge transfer efficiency, and optimized energy level alignment.
3 Champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) reached 25.13% (vs. 23.70% control). Retained 80% PCE after 500 h at 85 °C/RH = 30 ± 5%, outperforming control (58% after 200 h). MPP tracking showed 70% PCE retention after 500 h in N₂ (vs. 20% control).

Nanosized Anatase TiO2 with Exposed (001) Facet for High-Capacity Mg2+ Ion Storage in Magnesium Ion Batteries

Rong Li — 2025-08-01

Micro-sized anatase TiO₂ displays inferior capacity as cathode material for magnesium ion batteries because of the higher diffusion energy barrier of Mg²⁺ in anatase TiO₂ lattice. Herein, we report that nanosized anatase TiO₂ exposed (001) facet doubles the capacity compared to the micro-sized sample ascribed to the interfacial Mg²⁺ ion storage. First-principles calculations reveal that the diffusion energy barrier of Mg²⁺ on the (001) facet is significantly lower than those in the bulk phase and on (100) facet, and the adsorption energy of Mg²⁺ on the (001) facet is also considerably lower than that on (100) facet, which guarantees superior interfacial Mg²⁺ storage of (001) facet. Moreover, anatase TiO₂ exposed (001) facet displays a significantly higher capacity of 312.9 mAh g⁻¹ in Mg–Li dual-salt electrolyte compared to 234.3 mAh g⁻¹ in Li salt electrolyte. The adsorption energies of Mg²⁺ on (001) facet are much lower than the adsorption energies of Li⁺ on (001) facet, implying that the Mg²⁺ ion interfacial storage is more favorable. These results highlight that controlling the crystal facet of the nanocrystals effectively enhances the interfacial storage of multivalent ions. This work offers valuable guidance for the rational design of high-capacity storage systems.

Highlights:
1 Nanosized anatase TiO₂ exposed (001) facet doubles the capacity compared to the micro-sized sample ascribed to the interfacial Mg²⁺ ion storage.
2 Anatase TiO₂ exposed (001) facet displays a significantly higher capacity of 312.9 mAh g⁻¹ in Mg–Li dual-salt electrolyte.
3 The adsorption energies of Mg²⁺ on (001) facet are much lower than the adsorption energies of Li⁺ on (001) facet, implying that the Mg²⁺ ion interfacial storage is more favorable.

Quantum-Size FeS2 with Delocalized Electronic Regions Enable High-Performance Sodium-Ion Batteries Across Wide Temperatures

Tianlin Li — 2025-07-29

Wide-temperature applications of sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are severely limited by the sluggish ion insertion/diffusion kinetics of conversion-type anodes. Quantum-sized transition metal dichalcogenides possess unique advantages of charge delocalization and enrich uncoordinated electrons and short-range transfer kinetics, which are crucial to achieve rapid low-temperature charge transfer and high-temperature interface stability. Herein, a quantum-scale FeS₂ loaded on three-dimensional Ti₃C₂ MXene skeletons (FeS₂ QD/MXene) fabricated as SIBs anode, demonstrating impressive performance under wide-temperature conditions (− 35 to 65 °C). The theoretical calculations combined with experimental characterization interprets that the unsaturated coordination edges of FeS₂ QD can induce delocalized electronic regions, which reduces electrostatic potential and significantly facilitates efficient Na⁺ diffusion across a broad temperature range. Moreover, the Ti₃C₂ skeleton reinforces structural integrity via Fe–O–Ti bonding, while enabling excellent dispersion of FeS₂ QD. As expected, FeS₂ QD/MXene anode harvests capacities of 255.2 and 424.9 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 A g⁻¹ under − 35 and 65 °C, and the energy density of FeS₂ QD/MXene//NVP full cell can reach to 162.4 Wh kg⁻¹ at − 35 °C, highlighting its practical potential for wide-temperatures conditions. This work extends the uncoordinated regions induced by quantum-size effects for exceptional Na⁺ ion storage and diffusion performance at wide-temperatures environment.

Highlights:
1 Quantum-scaled FeS₂ induces delocalized electronic regions, effectively reducing electrostatic potential barriers and accelerating Na⁺ diffusion kinetics.
2 The free charge accumulation regions were formed by edge mismatched atoms, activating numerous electrochemically sites to enable high-capacity Na⁺ storage and ultrafast-ion transport across wide temperature range (−35 to 65 °C).
3 The FeS₂ QD/MXene anode delivers superior wide-temperature capacity of 255.2 mAh g⁻¹ (−35 °C) and 424.9 mAh g⁻¹ (65 °C) at 0.1 A g⁻¹. The FeS₂ QD/MXene//NVP cell achieves a record energy density of 162.4 Wh kg⁻¹ at − 35 °C.

Lattice Anchoring Stabilizes α-FAPbI3 Perovskite for High-Performance X-Ray Detectors

Yu‑Hua Huang — 2025-07-29

Formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI₃) perovskite exhibits an impressive X-ray absorption coefficient and a large carrier mobility-lifetime product (µτ), making it as a highly promising candidate for X-ray detection application. However, the presence of larger FA⁺ cation induces to an expansion of the Pb-I octahedral framework, which unfortunately affects both the stability and charge carrier mobility of the corresponding devices. To address this challenge, we develop a novel low-dimensional (HtrzT)PbI₃ perovskite featuring a conjugated organic cation (1H-1,2,4-Triazole-3-thiol, HtrzT⁺) which matches well with the α-FAPbI₃ lattices in two-dimensional plane. Benefiting from the matched lattice between (HtrzT)PbI₃ and α-FAPbI₃, the anchored lattice enhances the Pb-I bond strength and effectively mitigates the inherent tensile strain of the α-FAPbI₃ crystal lattice. The X-ray detector based on (HtrzT)PbI₃(1.0)/FAPbI₃ device achieves a remarkable sensitivity up to 1.83 × 10⁵ μC Gy_air⁻¹ cm⁻², along with a low detection limit of 27.6 nGy_air s⁻¹, attributed to the release of residual stress, and the enhancement in carrier mobility-lifetime product. Furthermore, the detector exhibits outstanding stability under X-ray irradiation with tolerating doses equivalent to nearly 1.17 × 10⁶ chest imaging doses.

Highlights:
1 A lattice-anchoring strategy using low-dimensional perovskite addresses structural instability in α-formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI₃) by matching crystal lattice, mitigating residual stress and tensile strain.
2 Enhanced Pb-I bonding strength and reduced lattice strain improve structural stability and carrier mobility-lifetime product, enabling efficient charge transport.
3 Optimized X-ray detectors achieve high sensitivity (1.83 × 10⁵ μC Gyair^–1 cm^–2), low detection limit (27.6 nGyair s^–1), and stable performance under prolonged irradiation.

Electric-Field-Driven Generative Nanoimprinting for Tilted Metasurface Nanostructures

Yu Fan — 2025-07-28

Tilted metasurface nanostructures, with excellent physical properties and enormous application potential, pose an urgent need for manufacturing methods. Here, electric-field-driven generative-nanoimprinting technique is proposed. The electric field applied between the template and the substrate drives the contact, tilting, filling, and holding processes. By accurately controlling the introduced included angle between the flexible template and the substrate, tilted nanostructures with a controllable angle are imprinted onto the substrate, although they are vertical on the template. By flexibly adjusting the electric field intensity and the included angle, large-area uniform-tilted, gradient-tilted, and high-angle-tilted nanostructures are fabricated. In contrast to traditional replication, the morphology of the nanoimprinting structure is extended to customized control. This work provides a cost-effective, efficient, and versatile technology for the fabrication of various large-area tilted metasurface structures. As an illustration, a tilted nanograting with a high coupling efficiency is fabricated and integrated into augmented reality displays, demonstrating superior imaging quality.

Highlights:
1 The developed electric-field-driven generative-nanoimprinting technology enables direct fabrication of large-area tilted metasurface nanostructures with cost-efficiency and high-throughput advantages.
2 Real-time tuning of process parameters facilitates customized fabrication of various tilted metasurface nanostructures.
3 Integration of these custom-designed high-angle-tilted nanostructures into augmented reality displays achieves superior image quality.

A Hierarchical Short Microneedle-Cupping Dual-Amplified Patch Enables Accelerated, Uniform, Pain-Free Transdermal Delivery of Extracellular Vesicles

Minwoo Song — 2025-07-23

Microneedles (MNs) have been extensively investigated for transdermal delivery of large-sized drugs, including proteins, nucleic acids, and even extracellular vesicles (EVs). However, for their sufficient skin penetration, conventional MNs employ long needles (≥ 600 μm), leading to pain and skin irritation. Moreover, it is critical to stably apply MNs against complex skin surfaces for uniform nanoscale drug delivery. Herein, a dually amplified transdermal patch (MN@EV/SC) is developed as the stem cell-derived EV delivery platform by hierarchically integrating an octopus-inspired suction cup (SC) with short MNs (≤ 300 μm). While leveraging the suction effect to induce nanoscale deformation of the stratum corneum, MN@EV/SC minimizes skin damage and enhances the adhesion of MNs, allowing EV to penetrate deeper into the dermis. When MNs of various lengths are applied to mouse skin, the short MNs can elicit comparable corticosterone release to chemical adhesives, whereas long MNs induce a prompt stress response. MN@EV/SC can achieve a remarkable penetration depth (290 µm) for EV, compared to that of MN alone (111 µm). Consequently, MN@EV/SC facilitates the revitalization of fibroblasts and enhances collagen synthesis in middle-aged mice. Overall, MN@EV/SC exhibits the potential for skin regeneration by modulating the dermal microenvironment and ensuring patient comfort.

Highlights:
1 A bio-inspired dual-amplified patch (MN@EV/SC) was fabricated by integrating extracellular vesicle-loaded microneedles with a soft suction chamber for effective transdermal delivery.
2 The MN@EV/SC system achieved an exceptional penetration depth of 290 μm, while minimizing plasma corticosterone levels with short microneedles, ensuring patient comfort through pain-free application.
3 This system showed the potential for dermatological application by revitalizing dermal fibroblasts, and enhancing collagen synthesis through effective delivery of extracellular vesicles while preserving their biological functionality.

Metallic WO2-Promoted CoWO4/WO2 Heterojunction with Intercalation-Mediated Catalysis for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Chan Wang — 2025-07-21

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries require efficient catalysts to accelerate polysulfide conversion and mitigate the shuttle effect. However, the rational design of catalysts remains challenging due to the lack of a systematic strategy that rationally optimizes electronic structures and mesoscale transport properties. In this work, we propose an autogenously transformed CoWO₄/WO₂ heterojunction catalyst, integrating a strong polysulfide-adsorbing intercalation catalyst with a metallic-phase promoter for enhanced activity. CoWO₄ effectively captures polysulfides, while the CoWO₄/WO₂ interface facilitates their S–S bond activation on heterogenous catalytic sites. Benefiting from its directional intercalation channels, CoWO₄ not only serves as a dynamic Li-ion reservoir but also provides continuous and direct pathways for rapid Li-ion transport. Such synergistic interactions across the heterojunction interfaces enhance the catalytic activity of the composite. As a result, the CoWO₄/WO₂ heterostructure demonstrates significantly enhanced catalytic performance, delivering a high capacity of 1262 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 C. Furthermore, its rate capability and high sulfur loading performance are markedly improved, surpassing the limitations of its single-component counterparts. This study provides new insights into the catalytic mechanisms governing Li–S chemistry and offers a promising strategy for the rational design of high-performance Li–S battery catalysts.

Highlights:
1 The CoWO₄/WO₂ heterojunction was successfully constructed through hydrothermal synthesis of precursors followed by autogenous transformation induced by hydrogen reduction.
2 The synergistic effect of CoWO₄ and WO₂ promotes the catalytic conversion of polysulfides and suppresses the shuttle effect.
3 The CoWO₄/WO₂ heterojunction demonstrates significantly enhanced catalytic performance, delivering a high capacity of 1262 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 C.

Ultrahigh Dielectric Permittivity of a Micron-Sized Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 Thin-Film Capacitor After Missing of a Mixed Tetragonal Phase

Wen Di Zhang — 2025-07-21

Innovative use of HfO₂-based high-dielectric-permittivity materials could enable their integration into few-nanometre-scale devices for storing substantial quantities of electrical charges, which have received widespread applications in high-storage-density dynamic random access memory and energy-efficient complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor devices. During bipolar high electric-field cycling in numbers close to dielectric breakdown, the dielectric permittivity suddenly increases by 30 times after oxygen-vacancy ordering and ferroelectric-to-nonferroelectric phase transition of near-edge plasma-treated Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ thin-film capacitors. Here we report a much higher dielectric permittivity of 1466 during downscaling of the capacitor into the diameter of 3.85 μm when the ferroelectricity suddenly disappears without high-field cycling. The stored charge density is as high as 183 μC cm⁻² at an operating voltage/time of 1.2 V/50 ns at cycle numbers of more than 10¹² without inducing dielectric breakdown. The study of synchrotron X-ray micro-diffraction patterns show missing of a mixed tetragonal phase. The image of electron energy loss spectroscopy shows the preferred oxygen-vacancy accumulation at the regions near top/bottom electrodes as well as grain boundaries. The ultrahigh dielectric-permittivity material enables high-density integration of extremely scaled logic and memory devices in the future.

Highlights:
1 Ferroelectric-to-nonferroelectric transition occurs in a micron-sized Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ thin-film capacitor with the generation of a giant dielectric permittivity.
2 Synchrotron X-ray micro-diffraction patterns show missing of a mixed tetragonal phase in the capacitor.
3 The stored charge density of the capacitor is as high as 183 μC cm^-2 at an operating voltage/time of 1.2 V/50 ns at cycle numbers of more than 1012 without inducing dielectric breakdown.

A Promising Strategy for Solvent-Regulated Selective Hydrogenation of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural over Porous Carbon-Supported Ni-ZnO Nanoparticles

Rulu Huang — 2025-07-21

Developing biomass platform compounds into high value-added chemicals is a key step in renewable resource utilization. Herein, we report porous carbon-supported Ni-ZnO nanoparticles catalyst (Ni-ZnO/AC) synthesized via low-temperature coprecipitation, exhibiting excellent performance for the selective hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). A linear correlation is first observed between solvent polarity (E_T(30)) and product selectivity within both polar aprotic and protic solvent classes, suggesting that solvent properties play a vital role in directing reaction pathways. Among these, 1,4-dioxane (aprotic) favors the formation of 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan (BHMF) with 97.5% selectivity, while isopropanol (iPrOH, protic) promotes 2,5-dimethylfuran production with up to 99.5% selectivity. Mechanistic investigations further reveal that beyond polarity, proton-donating ability is critical in facilitating hydrodeoxygenation. iPrOH enables a hydrogen shuttle mechanism where protons assist in hydroxyl group removal, lowering the activation barrier. In contrast, 1,4-dioxane, lacking hydrogen bond donors, stabilizes BHMF and hinders further conversion. Density functional theory calculations confirm a lower activation energy in iPrOH (0.60 eV) compared to 1,4-dioxane (1.07 eV). This work offers mechanistic insights and a practical strategy for solvent-mediated control of product selectivity in biomass hydrogenation, highlighting the decisive role of solvent-catalyst-substrate interactions.

Highlights:
1 A porous carbon-supported Ni-ZnO nanoparticles catalyst (Ni-ZnO/AC) was synthesized by low-temperature coprecipitation, demonstrating exceptional catalytic activity and stability.
2 Selective hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan (97.5%) or 2,5-dimethylfuran (99.5%) is achieved over Ni-ZnO/AC catalyst by solvent-tuning.
3 Solvent-catalyst interaction jointly regulates hydrodeoxygenation behavior in HMF hydrogenation by modulating rate and pathway via a hydrogen shuttle mechanism.

A Synchronous Strategy to Zn-Iodine Battery by Polycationic Long-Chain Molecules

Da‑Qian Cai — 2025-07-21

Aqueous Zn-iodine batteries (ZIBs) face the formidable challenges towards practical implementation, including metal corrosion and rampant dendrite growth on the Zn anode side, and shuttle effect of polyiodide species from the cathode side. These challenges lead to poor cycle stability and severe self-discharge. From the fabrication and cost point of view, it is technologically more viable to deploy electrolyte engineering than electrode protection strategies. More importantly, a synchronous method for modulation of both cathode and anode is pivotal, which has been often neglected in prior studies. In this work, cationic poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (Pah⁺) is adopted as a low-cost dual-function electrolyte additive for ZIBs. We elaborate the synchronous effect by Pah⁺ in stabilizing Zn anode and immobilizing polyiodide anions. The fabricated Zn-iodine coin cell with Pah⁺ (ZnI₂ loading: 25 mg cm⁻²) stably cycles 1000 times at 1 C, and a single-layered 3 × 4 cm² pouch cell (N/P ratio ~ 1.5) with the same mass loading cycles over 300 times with insignificant capacity decay.

Highlights:
1 A long chain polycation (Pah⁺) is propos ed to simultaneously regulate Zn anode deposition , mitigate side reactions and stabilize iodine cathode chemistry.
2 The iodophilic and low diffusivity nature of Pah enables effective polyiodide immobilization, suppressing the shuttle effect and ensuring a stable redox environment.
3 The Zn iodine battery delivers high areal capacity (~4 mAh cm⁻² at 1 C) and excellent durability, with 95% capacity retained over 1000 cycles.