Themed collection 2024 Materials Chemistry Frontiers Review-type Articles

A cathode with an areal capacity of more than 5 mA h cm⁻² is crucial for practical Li–S batteries. Besides, reducing the electrolyte weight ratio, in both liquid and solid-state Li–S batteries, is also important.

This review examines recent manufacturing technologies of solar water-splitting cells. It covered vacuum-based manufacturing, highlighting recent advances in laser-based processes and discussing their innovative potential and future perspectives.

This review summarizes recent advances in heterojunction-type catalysts for CO₂-HCOOX interconversion under different driving forces, focusing on rectifying effects at the interface and the potential for developing heterojunction-based catalysts for practical applications.

Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) shows great promising in thermoelectric field owing to its simple preparation, good stability and adjustable conductivity. Here the research progress of P3HT in thermoelectric field in recent years is reviewed.

2D organic semiconductor crystals have the advantage of ultrathin thickness, long-range ordered molecular structures, the absence of grain boundaries, and low defect and impurity densities. They are of great significance for preparing high-performance OFET devices.

This review systematically explores various strategies aimed at enhancing charge transfer at different levels—bulk, surface, and interfaces of hematite. The examination encompasses diverse approaches, and assesses their impact on mitigating the identified issues.

This review highlights the latest advances in components of proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzers.

The synthetic and modification parameters of cobalt-containing ZIF-derived catalysts for Zn–air batteries with different amounts of metal.

This review focus on the key interfaces of LLZO-based solid-state lithium metal batteries. The main challenges and corresponding strategies for interface optimization are thoroughly covered.

Emerging TEM techniques are reviewed to address challenges in three stages of electrocatalysts from synthesis, function to deactivation, offering solutions for structural characterization for different needs.

MXene-based stimuli-responsive hydrogels have emerged as a new class of smart soft materials and have shown great potential in various applications such as sensing, biomedicine, actuators and energy-related applications.

This work summarizes the synthesis of Cu₃BiS₃ and provides a comprehensive overview of the research progress concerning Cu₃BiS₃ photocathodes. We analyze the existing problems and prospects to provide some positive suggestions for the development of Cu₃BiS₃ photocathodes.

Atomically dispersed Fe/Co–N–C and their composites for fuel cells.

Challenges in the commercialization of all solid-state and next-generation batteries including strategies, key points, and application of solid-state batteries.

We provide a comprehensive review of the latest research progress and challenges associated with various tandem solar cells based on lead chalcogenide (PbX, X = S, Se) quantum dot (QD) materials (including QD/QD, organic/QD, and perovskite/QD).

Recent advances in the design strategy, healing mechanism, and potential applications of mechanically robust self-healing PU elastomers.

This work describes recent developments in near-infrared (NIR) organic light-emitting diode (OLED) emitters. We discuss applications of NIR OLEDs as well as various groups of highly luminescent materials used in the OLED emissive layer.

Nanozymes could mimic the catalytic activity of natural enzymes, then stimulate the Fenton reaction for reactive oxygen species overproduction and lipid peroxidation, ultimately induce ferroptosis to exert anticancer effects.

Amorphous inorganics have attracted much attention because of their long-range disordered structure with advantageous functional properties.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with permanent porosity, long-range order and rigid backbones offer a promising material platform for photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production.

The wood-based pretreatment strategy and active site loading strategy of wood-based catalytic electrodes make them valuable electrodes for water electrolysis, and they hold significant potential for industrial-scale water electrolysis.

In this review, the problems of the interface between lithium metal anodes and all-solid-state electrolytes are explored and the modification strategies to solve these problems are summarized.

We review the development of TT-bridged D–π–A copolymers and emphasize the role played by TT-bridge on tuning polymer properties and improving device performance.

The recent advances of trifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and their applications in Zn–air battery and water splitting, are comprehensively reviewed.

Electrocatalyst-based technologies: alkali metal–air batteries, fuel cells, and water splitting devices are the new holy grail in the next-generation energy storage landscape as they deliver higher energy densities than Li⁺/Na⁺ batteries (LIBs/SIBs).

Solid-state composite electrolytes bridge the gap between solid-state polymer electrolytes and solid-state inorganic electrolytes, which play an important role in developing the expected solid-state Li-ion batteries.

Inhibiting lithium dendrite is a big challenge for developing lithium metal batteries. The work reviews possible mechanisms of lithium dendrite growth, discuses effective strategies for inhibiting lithium dendrites and proposes future direction.

A review on the photochemical synthesis of atomically dispersed catalysts, focusing on its fundamental principles, representative examples, key parameters and major challenges.

This review discusses the recent advances in electrocatalyst design and device construction for solar-driven chemical conversion of small molecules into value-added chemicals in terms of activity, selectivity, and stability.

Magnetic transition metal halides possess rich chemical and structural diversity and thus offer a great opportunity for the search of new multifunctional magnetic materials and novel magnetic phenomena.