Themed collection 2023 Materials Chemistry Frontiers Review-type Articles

The mechanical properties of binders are emphasized: the intrinsic mechanical properties of binders and the adhesive strength of the binders with current collectors and active materials. The electronic and ionic conductivities of binders are introduced.

Perovskite and layered perovskite oxynitrides are regarded as promising visible-light-responsive semiconductors for efficient artificial photosynthesis to produce renewable value-added energy resources, including H₂, formic acid, and ammonia.

In this review, we discuss progress in the field of pillar[n]arene-based optical response systems, focusing on color, fluorescence, circular dichroism, and circularly polarized luminescence signal changes via host–guest interactions.

Recent advances in 3DOM metal oxide-based photoelectrodes for PEC water splitting are summarized. The advantages of an ordered structure from the perspective of photo-electrocatalysis mechanism and morphological design are also introduced.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising water adsorbents with a controllable absorption humidity range, superior water capacity, and tailorable regeneration conditions.

A schematic illustration of ZIF-90 nanocomposites applied to anticancer therapy, biomedical imaging and other fields for the treatment of different diseases.

This review summarizes the recent advances in the design of MOF-based 2e-ORR electrocatalysts for H₂O₂ production with the current challenges and future perspectives discussed, aiming to inspire the further development of this emerging field.

This review mainly summarizes the research advances in synthetic strategies, optical properties, and biomedical applications of red-emissive carbon dots in recent years.

We present a comprehensive understanding of the alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR), ammonium oxidation reaction (AOR), and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) based on metal catalysts for H₂ or NH₃-fueled alkaline exchange membrane fuel cells.

This review presents an overview of the carrier separation and extraction mechanism influenced by the built-in electric field (BEF) in PSCs and various strategies used to enhance the BEF.

This paper reviews the recent advances in transition metal phosphide-based heterostructure electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction.

Interface engineering is an important way to prepare high performance catalysts. In this review, we discuss synthesis strategies, the main types of interface engineering for efficient nitrate electrocatalysis and their special effects.

Solid-state electrolytes not only avoids volatility, flammability, and short-circuits, but also inhibits the crossover of active species in various lithium-metal batteries, such as Li–sulfur, Li–organic and Li–air batteries.

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a key anode reaction for many renewable energy devices, such as electrocatalytic water splitting devices, Zn–air batteries and CO₂ electrolyzers.

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers play a vital role in sustainable energy conversion and storage.

Recent progress of applications of multifunctional MOFs in achieving efficient, durable and eco-friendly perovskite photovoltaics is systematically reviewed, and the profound prospects of MOFs inadvancing development of optoelectronics are outlined.

In this review, we summarize the recent advances about self-assembled molecules (SAMs) applied as selective hole or electron contacts for perovskite solar cells.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth profiling combined with ion beam etching methods is a primary tool to study the chemical composition of functional materials at different scales from the surface to the bulk.

This paper summarizes and compares the principles, advantages and disadvantages of various characterization techniques for lithium batteries. The challenges faced by various characterization techniques and future development directions are also given.

This article provides a comprehensive review of the strategies for passivating defects in wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells.

By discussing the interactions between water and perovskites, this review offers both a theoretical foundation and practical guidance for enhancing the stability and optoelectronic performance of perovskite photovoltaic devices.

In this review, cosensitization, concerted companion and other strategies, enabling porphyrin sensitizers to achieve panchromatic absorption and the resulting high photovoltaic performance, are briefly summarized and discussed.

This review highlights the significant roles of POMs in electrocatalysis and energy storage, and summarizes the recent advances of POM-based materials and their derivatives in water-splitting, the CO₂RR, the NRR, SCs, and rechargeable batteries.

Thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) materials shown great attention in Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Herein, we have systematically reviewed the Acceptor–Donor–Acceptor based TADF materials with electroluminescent characteristics.

This review provides recent progresses in bimetallic carbides (Bi-TMCs) catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water splitting.

Fundamental theory and monitoring techniques of the OER mechanism: a review.

The recent advance of high-safety separators with high mechanical strength, high thermal stability and good lithium dendritic resistance is the main focus in this review. The future challenges and perspectives of separators are provided for building high safety rechargeable lithium batteries.

In this review, we comprehensively summarize the recent advancements in the controlled fabrication as well as relationship between 2D nanoarchitectures and electrochemical performances in the electro-oxidation of small molecules used in DLFC.

This review focuses on the recent advances in spin-related catalysts to provide an insightful view of the origins of the enhanced catalytic activity.

In this review, we systematically provide an overview of anti-freezing multifunctional conductive hydrogel-based flexible electronics and summarize the design strategies, properties, applications and perspectives.

Functional dielectric materials can regulate the migration, diffusion and deposition of cations in solid-state batteries, leading to high performance.

This review has summarized recent iron series elements-based electrocatalysts (ISEEs) progress for Zn–air batteries, and the advantages, challenges, and improvement strategies relating to monometallic, dual, and ternary ISEEs are discussed.

Key issues regarding the syntheses of polypyrrole nanomaterials and their recent application were discussed. Polypyrrole derived dispersions, hydrogels, membranes and composites were outlined by considering improved conductivity and processability.

This article provides an overview of solid hybrid electrolytes based on Li⁺-conductive oxide and polymer electrolyte for all-solid-state lithium batteries and discusses their composition, conduction mechanism, progress, and perspectives.

We reviewed recent theoretical progress in MXenes as HER electrocatalysts, covering structural and electronic properties, terminal group tunability, heteroatom doping, crucial activity descriptors, and advances in theoretical computational methods.

This review presents recent advances and future challenges of emerging and potential alternative anodic reactions with high energy-efficiency and value-added products in overall CO₂ electrolysis.

Nano-based theranostic platforms constructed from various nanomaterials possess unique advantages in tackling bacterial and fungal infections while detecting pathogenic cells, making them a potential modality for addressing global healthcare burdens.

The application of metal porphyrins and metal phthalocyanines as model catalysts in electrocatalytic reactions provides important insights into understanding the catalytic mechanism and structure–activity relationship.

The disorder of metal ion levels can have a significant impact on the ecological environment and human health due to their crucial role in complex biological metabolism processes and the overall ecological balance. Multiple magnetic resonance probes are used for detecting these metal ions.

This review provides a clear overview of the multi-stimuli responsive properties of tetraphenylethene derivatives in the solid state.

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.

Alkaline electrolysis technology, which enables the production of “green hydrogen,” holds significant importance in the global pursuit of carbon neutrality.

We herein briefly review the recent advances in transition metal ion-doped cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals including the typical strategies for effective doping and optical properties manipulation.

With the development of renewable and clean energy, hydrogen energy is booming as an alternative to fossil energy.

This review highlights the crucial role of organic spacers in the fabrication process and formation mechanism of different types of 2D/3D perovskites for PSCs including the bulk incorporation model, surface treatment model, and the coexisting model.

With the rapid development of n-type and ambipolar OECT materials, OECTs have been widely used in constructing logic circuits, electrophysiological recording, biosensing, and neuromorphic computing.

High-entropy catalysts (HECs) have been increasingly used in various catalytic applications.

This review presents comprehensive details on recent developments in the fabrication of different amorphous–crystalline heterostructures, their compositions, and the resulting physicochemical properties for OER, HER, and overall water splitting.

Tuning the metal size in loaded catalysts to increase the activity and selectivity of desirable products in CO₂ hydrogenation is widely investigated in heterogeneous catalysis.

This review presents recent progress in alkaline HERs, covering mechanistic insights, catalyst development, and device performance. It also addresses challenges and future directions for high-performance alkaline HER catalysts.

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) are a new class of electrocatalysts for the electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction.

The applications of porous adsorbents with tailored pore microenvironment and functionality for CO₂ capture under important scenarios such as flue streams, biogas and direct air capture and efficient regeneration technologies are demonstrated.

This review aims to elucidate how the regulation of chiral metal cluster structures affects their circular dichroism or circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) signals, with the ultimate objective of providing a reference for the rational design of CPL materials in the future.

This review aims to provide an overview of existing research on the use of various nucleic acid-based nanocarriers for drug delivery and summarize recent advances, including targeting strategies of DNA-based carriers, and the types of drugs that can be incorporated into the carriers.

Polymer-based electrolytes with regulated molecular structures demonstrate excellent temperature tolerance and are ideal for solid-state lithium batteries.

In this paper, synthesis methods of fullerene-based electrocatalysts, their performance and their possible catalytic mechanism are reviewed and discussed. Development of novel fullerene-based catalysts for future investigation are also discussed briefly.

Acid-scavenging separators are an efficient way to inhibit the acidification of traditional LiPF₆-containing electrolytes. This paper reviews the development and achievements of acid-scavenging separators to enhance their practical application capabilities and future developments.

The recent developments in organic field-effect transistors based on metal–organic coordination materials and related applications are reviewed.

Programmable 3D shape morphing of stimuli-responsive hydrogels is of great interest for the fabrication of soft actuators and robots. The corporation of hydrogel matrices and functional additives is discussed in this review.

To avoid the interlayer erosion challenge in the IJP process and direct patterning process of the QD emissive layer (EML), cross-linking strategies have been introduced to construct solvent-resistant films (hole transport layers or QD EMLs) upon exposure to heat or light.

Challenges and design strategies of electrocatalysts for high-current–density water electrolysis.

Reviewing the performance improving strategies of solid polymer electrolytes from the microscopic perspective.

An overview of recent advances in 2D materials-based electrocatalysts with hetero-layered structures is provided, along with research examples to demonstrate their versatility.

This review summarizes the four main synthesis strategies of MOF-derived materials, and the feasibility and challenges of MOF-derived materials in ECO₂RR are discussed.

This review emphasizes how the dimensionality, coordination number and bond length of halide perovskites (HPs) regulate their photoluminescence. HPs have good application potential due to their sensitivity to light, solvent, heat etc., facilitating anti-counterfeiting and encryption/decryption.

This review paper summarizes the current methods to reduce the operating temperature of solid-state lithium batteries.

Because the absorption layer materials in solar cells have different dimensions, they have different material properties. Defect formation energy can increase with the increase of material dimensions.

Several methods are summarized for controlling the excited states of TADF conjugated polymers, covering: (a) maintaining suitable ΔE_ST; (b) localized triplet excited state assisted reverse intersystem crossing; (c) hyperfine coupling facilitates reverse intersystem crossing.

The practical application of hybrid solid-state electrolytes involves the incorporation of polymers. This review focuses on the fabrication process of sheet-type solid-state electrolytes utilizing appropriate polymer binders.

This review highlights recent research progress in MOF materials for the important separation of gaseous hydrocarbons, especially for ethylene, propylene, and butadiene. The uniqueness of MOFs to achieve those progress is also outlined.