Themed collection Recent Review Articles

Programmable interlayer charge transfer in two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures underpins a wide range of emergent quantum phenomena, ranging from excitonic dynamics and light–matter interactions to various correlated electron states.

Schematic illustration of the chiral-induced spin selectrivity effect. An unpolarized current acquires a finite spin polarisation by flowing through a chiral molecule whose geometrical chirality imbalances the two spins' transmission rates. Graphical abstract image refined using Microsoft Copilot.

Cavitation-inducing materials convert ultrasound into a mechanobiological platform by controlling cavitation, enabling therapeutic activation, immune modulation, and real-time molecular imaging for precision oncology.

Electrochemical active chlorine synthesis enables sustainable wastewater treatment via on-site, reagent-free generation. This review surveys recent advances in chlorine evolution reaction catalyst design, system coupling, and reactor engineering.

This review covers how intrinsic defect-driven polarity in 2D transition metal dichalcogenides can be reconfigured through counter-doping strategies, providing a unified framework and enabling CMOS, optoelectronic, and neuromorphic platforms.

Hydrogen spillover has emerged as a pivotal mechanism enabling the directional transport of active hydrogen species (*H) in electrocatalytic systems, providing a fundamental design strategy for advanced catalyst engineering.

We survey covalent functionalization of solution-processed transition metal dichalcogenides through the lens of predominant basal-plane versus edge binding, and show how these chemistries enable covalent vertical and lateral (hetero)structures.

This article focused on the key bottlenecks in the in vivo applications of AIEgens and systematically reviewed strategies for combining nanocarriers with them to address issues such as biocompatibility and biosafety.

High-entropy strategy has attracted researchers’ attention for obtaining NASICONs with outstanding electrochemical performance while maintaining a simple synthesis route and low costs, paving the way for mass production of sodium ion batteries.

Ultratrace PFAS detectors employing organic, polymeric, and nanomaterials transduce molecular recognition into optical, electrochemical, or resistive signals.

This review explores how copper-based nanomaterials target dysregulated copper metabolism in bladder cancer to trigger synergistic cell death, covering design, applications, and challenges for precision intravesical nanomedicine.

The value-added utilization of photogenerated holes.

Multimodal imaging and mass spectrometry together provide quantitative, single-cell insight into nanoparticle uptake and intracellular fate.

This minireview presents a mechanistic perspective linking molecular-level reaction pathways in MLD- and SIS-derived hybrid resists to lithographic performance, and offers design guidelines for next-generation EUV resists for high-NA lithography.

Gas transformations can occur inside metal–organic cages, where confinement boosts reactivity and selectivity by concentrating molecules, optimizing spatial arrangements, co-encapsulating catalysts and substrates, and exploiting cage metal properties.

This Minireview highlights the recent advancements, challenges and future prospects in the field of the application of functionalized graphene-family materials in cement composites.

This review summarizes the progress in Cr³⁺-doped NIR CPs and proposes a multi-scale engineering strategy that enhances thermal and luminescence properties for high-performance NIR light sources.

This minireview outlines proton-based synaptic mechanisms by describing proton involvement and proton–electron coupling as two conceptual modes that elucidate how protons regulate synaptic behavior in bio-realistic devices.

Transition metal phosphides enable highly active and selective liquid formate production, offering added value without gaseous emissions or catalyst poisoning.

This review consolidates 2D-nanomaterial-enabled antibiotic-sensing platforms and provides a head-to-head performance comparison. It further shows how next-gen formats support the development of point-of-care sensors for environmental monitoring. The ToC was created, in part, with BioRender.

A overview of the mechanisms of CO₂-to-CO on Ag-based catalysts is summarized and recent advances in Ag-based catalysts are discussed according to key regulation strategies, including morphology engineering, non-metal doping, and metal alloying.

Low-temperature single dot spectroscopy enable us to understand the size dependence of the excited states of perovskite nanocrystal quantum dots.

This review describes how ruthenium complexes can be transformed into smart diagnostic and therapeutic platforms responsive to the chronic wound microenvironment through ligand engineering.

This Review integrates precision-guided pair construction, adjacency effects, and machine-learning-assisted identification and screening to establish a structure–function framework for rational catalyst design.

Review synthesis and nanoscale characterization to elucidate composition, structure, and property links in HEOs. Summarize applications in thermal/electro/photocatalysis and energy storage, as well as challenges for materials design and scale-up.

This review underscores the advanced chemical alterations to merge the EC and PC HER efficacy of LDH-based catalysts. The mechanistic insights via DFT and operando/in-situ studies for providing an understanding of HER on LDH surface are highlighted.

Atomically precise metal nanoclusters have emerged as efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions (HER). This review features the key strategies that can be employed to improve HER performance.

Surface instability drives structural degradation and interfacial side reactions in high-nickel layered cathodes, leading to rapid capacity fading. This review outlines the key challenges and surface engineering strategies to stabilize the cathodes.

Nanoparticle-mediated metabolic reprogramming modulates immune cell metabolism, offering a promising strategy for treating various inflammatory diseases including gastrointestinal, rheumatic, and dermatological autoimmune disorders.

Chiral nanomaterials enable precise tumor theranostics through tumor imaging, biomarker detection, immunotherapy, and catalytic therapy, establishing chirality as a powerful design dimension for precision oncology.

Various technologies have been developed to detect per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances present in trace amounts in aqueous environments.

Focusing on alkaline HER/OER, this review outlines degradation in Fe-, Co-, and Mo-based nanoelectrocatalysts and highlights interface engineering, defect tuning, alloying, and self-supported designs to improve activity and durability.

This mini-review elucidates the electronic structure and catalytic mechanisms of heteronanostructured metal oxide catalysts using advanced X-ray spectroscopy. Graphical abstract image: water image by rawpixel.com via Freepik (www. freepik.com).

This review summarizes advances in inorganic catalysts for CO₂ cycloaddition, highlighting acid-base cooperation and strategies such as doping, defects and facet control, addressing challenges in cyclic carbonate synthesis under mild conditions.

In this Review, we highlight recent advances in multivariate characterization of extracellular vesicles with visible light-based analytical techniques.

Bioinspired multi-compartment mesoporous nanoreactors.

Biomacromolecule-regulated MXene composites form hierarchical structures with stable transport pathways, enabling multifunctional systems for EMI shielding, actuation, biomedicine, energy storage, electronics, and water purification.

This review introduces a unified framework of sustainable ZnO nanoparticles bridging human health and environmental remediation for the first time.

Vapor deposition bypasses solvent limits for precise perovskite growth. We connect stoichiometry with crystallization kinetics across high/low vacuum and vapor-assisted routes, clarifying phases, defects, and scalable process windows.

Intelligent magnetic nanomaterials (I-MNMs) represent a new generation of functional materials capable of sensing, learning, and adapting to dynamic environments.

This review discusses wettability concepts, applications, theory, experiments, and atomistic simulations, identifies key knowledge gaps and limitations, and proposes a roadmap to guide future research in designing functional surfaces. This figure was created using Google Gemini (via Google Cloud).

BeN₄, a remarkable new N-based two-dimensional nanomaterial having anisotropic Dirac cones, has recently been synthesized.

This review discusses strategies to optimize CO₂ electroreduction by tuning the electronic structure and adsorption behavior of metal nanoclusters via size control, support interactions, and doping.

Nonoxidative coupling of methane to value-added hydrocarbons remains a major challenge in catalysis. Computational modeling plays a crucial role in uncovering the fundamental chemistry and guiding the design of efficient catalysts for this reaction.

This review summarizes electrocatalytic PET upcycling to C1/C2 oxygenates, covering PET depolymerization, EGOR pathways, catalyst design, paired electrolysis, plus outlooks on durability, separation, and system design.

This review offers a comprehensive discourse on prominent advances achieved in the development of high-valent nickel oxide cathodes and strategies to tune critical nanoscale phenomena to realise superior performance in primary alkaline batteries.

This review covers recent advances in spacer cations as molecular switches for perovskite solar cells, focusing on design strategies and how they tune 2D perovskite structures, properties, and performance for efficient, stable devices.

Outlining programmable DNA-based biomaterials for precise immunomodulation within tumor and lymphoid tissues, activating antigen-presenting cells and T cells to drive synergistic antitumor immunity.

This review summarizes the construction strategies and key properties of DNA condensates, highlighting their emerging applications in artificial cells, biosensing and diagnostics, cellular regulation, and drug delivery.

Classification of different LIG precursors, along with a plot of speed vs. resolution highlighting the typical trade-off that exists in LIG microelectrode manufacturing and state-of-the-art printing technologies.

Heteroatom doping with metallic and non-metallic elements changes the electronic structure, increasing active site density, conductivity and surface area for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction.

The factors influencing the thermal conductivity of polymer composites with graphene-based fillers.

This review systematically summarizes the research progress on perovskite-based materials for microwave absorption applications and presents critical perspectives on this kind of material.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have emerged as highly multifunctional nanomaterials capable of addressing pressing challenges in energy conversion and environmental remediation.

Grape (Vitis vinifera), a globally cultivated fruit, generates substantial by-products (seeds, peels, pomace, and stems) during wine and juice production.

This critical review provides a concise summary of carbon quantum dot (CQD)–polymer composites, highlighting their synthesis methods and synergistic properties and emphasising emerging applications, recent advancements and future prospects.

Multifunctional conductive MOFs with engineered charge-transport pathways enable broad utility from energy storage to catalysis and electronics.

This article reviews the application progress of transparent electrode materials in F-PSCs, detailing their advantages, disadvantages, and commercialization prospects, aims to explore the potential application of F-PSCs in wearable devices and B-IPV.

This review explores the application of FCOFs in hazardous gas sensing, focusing on their 2D and 3D frameworks, diverse bonding strategies, and synthesis methods, to advance their broader utilization in detection technologies.