Themed collection Journal of Materials Chemistry A HOT Papers

The novel hybridized and integrated nitrogen fixation system has been demonstrated based on the self-power triboelectric nanogenerators as the power generator, which supplies the new framework for future energy harvesting and conversion.

Using homogeneous and heterogeneous metalloporphyrin-based catalysts for electroreduction of CO₂ to value-added materials.

The recent advances in oriented MOFs as electrode materials and solution to poor conductivity as well as random orientations have been discussed.

This review, for the first time, systematically summarizes the application of C, Si, Sn, Bi, metal hydrides and lithium titanate as anode materials in solid-state lithium batteries.

The synthesis methods, properties and applications for energy storage and electrocatalysis of MBenes were summarized. Furthermore, discussions and perspectives on the existing problems, major challenges and future development of MBenes were provided.

This review about the recent advances in oxygen vacancies for catalytic oxidation of volatile organic compounds considers the construction strategies, characterization methods and catalytic effects of oxygen vacancies in catalysts.

The rational design of integrated electrodes and the strategies for improving their performances are reviewed to advance high-rate alkaline water electrolysis. Such electrodes could be extended for other emerging electrocatalytic hydrogen production systems.

Lead-free hybrid perovskites (LFHPs) have sparked considerable research interest in photocatalysis. This review introduces the surface engineering and photophysical behaviors of LFHPs for diverse solar-induced photocatalytic applications.

The review overviews the mechanism of C–H activation through electron–hole mediated pathways in photo and electrocatalysis, and introduces various strategies to increase the conversion of CH₄ as well as the selectivity to desired products.

In this review, recent electrolyte design strategies and progress are given, along with the discussion of relative key features and properties, as well as the practical design and considerations.

The currently strategies for activating the TMDC basal planes toward hydrogen evolution reaction were summarized, which are divided into internal and external regulation, depending on whether the pristine structure is altered or not.

Since the advent of double network (DN) hydrogels nearly 20 years ago, they have flourished as smart soft materials.

In this review, we focus on the recent applications of Ni–Co–S materials (NCSs) in energy storage devices, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, sensors and microwave absorption, and highlight the intercommunity of NCSs in different application fields.

This review provides a route for constructing advanced IR-ECDs towards real-world applications in smart windows, IR sensors, thermal control and military camouflage.

With a special emphasis on chemistry, this study presents a comprehensive review of the various molecular design, structural properties, and organic synthesis of novel small molecule HTMs, as well as their impact on photovoltaic performance.

Printing techniques promote the development of solid-state batteries by constructing high performance cathodes, dendrite-free anodes, and ideal solid-state electrolytes with versatile structures and configurations.

A comprehensive overview of the research progress toward non-lithium metal ion capacitors, including the mechanisms, electrode materials, electrolytes, and novel device designs, is presented with further perspectives.

The progress in the synthesis of porous carbon fibers and their performance improvement mechanisms for energy and environmental applications are comprehensively reviewed, providing guidelines for the future development of this emerging material.

An oriented strategy to build efficient intrinsic proton transport pathways in MOF-808 by functionalizing the MOF skeleton has been proposed.

One-shot transformation of ordinary polyesters into vitrimers is demonstrated, based on a novel cross-linking mechanism involving three distinct steps of hydrolysis, epoxy-opening, and trans-esterification reactions.

Using polyelectrolyte materials, a simple and effective artificial light-harvesting system is constructed. This work promotes the application prospect of artificial light-harvesting system based on polyelectrolyte materials in photocatalysis.

Two polymerized small molecule acceptors with wide bandgaps of ∼1.65 eV and high-lying LUMO energy levels above −3.70 eV were designed by introducing a novel terminal unit. Efficient all-PSCs with high V_OC over 1.10 V were achieved.

Modulation of anisotropic facets and surface charge properties of semiconductor photocatalysts play significant roles in accelerating the photogenerated charge separation in heterogeneous photocatalysis.

A method through the SMSI and heterostructure of Pt–RuO₂@KB to construct a stable charge redistribution is first proposed, showing superior overall water splitting performance, with excellent intrinsic activity, catalytic activity and stability in 0.1 M HClO₄ electrolyte.

The NiFe-oxyhydroxide/C OER catalyst is prepared through the hydrolysis of nickel and iron salts in the presence of carbon black. It exhibits an overpotential of 269.6 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and a mass activity of 593.1 A g⁻¹ at an overpotential of 320 mV.

With a duetting electronic structure modulation of Ru atoms, H* adsorption and water dissociation energies are optimized, allowing RuSe₂@NC catalysts with higher HER activity than that of Pt catalysts and promising industrial-scale applications.

Atomically precise metal nanoclusters (NCs) are judiciously stabilized as simultaneous charge relay mediators and photosensitizers for photocatalytic organic transformation.

Fe₂O₃/CP acts as an electrocatalyst enabling efficient NH₃ generation via NO reduction, capable of attaining a faradaic efficiency of 86.73% and an NH₃ yield of 78.02 μmol h⁻¹ cm⁻². The Fe₂O₃-based Zn–NO battery offers a power density of 1.18 mW cm⁻².

The incorporation of free halide ions into MOF-808 makes it a promising water-harvesting material with high working capacity and good cycle stability.

10Cu/TiO_2−x exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic performance toward nitrate reduction to ammonia due to the abundant oxygen vacancies at the interface.

Near-backbone manipulation of the alkyl chain branching point yields an efficient polymer donor L3 for organic solar cells.

Herein, Ni³⁺ and oxygen vacancies were synergistically integrated on NiO@TiO₂ by magnetron sputtering, providing nearly 10-fold higher yield and faradaic efficiency.

A type of all-in-one hypergolic MOF has been described, in which CTB ligands as triggers impart active sites for the ignition reaction and imidazole ligands with different substituent groups as bandgap mediators could optimize the hypergolicity.

Stable PdCoH nanosheets for efficient EOR were designed by introducing oxophilic metal cobalt and interstitial hydrogen into the Pd lattice. The synergistic effect of Co and H atoms boosts EOR performance with high CO tolerance and C1 selectivity.

Doping the Co element into the traditional La_0.5Sr_0.5MnO_3−δ cathode material triggers the activity of the cathode/electrolyte interface in the composite cathode, leading to impressively high cell performance for proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cells.

This study clarifies the heat generation and release of a 57.5 Ah HED (266.9 W h kg⁻¹) Li-ion cell with a nickel-rich cathode and SiO_x/graphite anode. Significant heat accumulation and delayed heat release effects in large-format cells are uncovered.

Uniform peanut-like P3-type K_0.45Mn_0.5Co_0.5O₂ hierarchical microparticles are fabricated through an elegant self-templating method, demonstrating enhanced potassium storage performance.

The newly discovered high-temperature ferrielectric phase in NaNbO₃ is stabilized at room temperature by compositional modification, providing the basis for obtaining a giant electrocaloric effect in a wide temperature range.

Few-layered V₂C MXene derived 3D V₃S₄ nanocrystal functionalized carbon flakes are controllably fabricated as an integrated host of sulfur for Li–S batteries, thanks to their strong chemical/physical adsorption and high catalytic activity.

Electrolysis systems constructed by anodic urea oxidation reaction (UOR) and cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) have received considerable attention in sustainable energy and waste utilization.

Lignin-rich black liquor produced from paper-making industries causes severe eco-issues, and how to make full use of it to gain an environmental and economic balance has been gaining increasing attention.

The interfacial hydrogen migration on binary Pt-based alloy nanowires is thermodynamically and kinetically boosted by P-doping to enhance the supply of dissociated hydrogen, resulting in a substantially improved alkaline HER.

A N-doped graphene microlattice aerogel fabricated by a 3D printing technology followed by N₂ plasma treatment is employed as Na metal host. Experimental and calculation results show the sodiophilic site is mainly originated from pyrrolic-N defects.

Model groove structures of molten salt-promoted MgO-based CO₂ sorbents. The number of nucleation sites are not affected by the depth of the groove, while there is a large dependence of crystal growth on groove depth.

A hybrid-DFT study shows Y₂Ti₂O₅S₂ is a promising earth-abundant thermoelectric with maximum ZT of 1.18 at 1000 K.

Porous imidazole polymerized ionic liquids (PILs-Im) with fast Li⁺ diffusion kinetics and numerous molecular pores have been used as anodes in lithium-ion batteries for the first time.

CH₄-assisted synthesis of ZSM-5 enhances deoxygenation of oleic acid with methane as a co-reactant. Synthesis under CH₄ environment produces a potential memory effect, yielding benzylic site and CO₂ incorporation of the CH₄ species.

The zinc L-cysteine functional layer was constructed by in situ etching Zn anode in 1 M L-cysteine solution. This functional layer not only improves the hydrophobicity and corrosion resistance of zinc anode, but also guides uniform zinc deposition.

A portable waterbomb origami pattern-based tower-like structure, named an “origami tower”, works as a convertible photothermal evaporator floating on water for efficient solar-driven interfacial desalination under one sun illumination.

Double-shelled Cu₂MoS₄@NC nanoboxes, composed of an outer shell of N-doped carbon supported on the inner shell of hierarchical Cu₂MoS₄ nanosheets, are synthesized by a delicate template-based strategy and exhibit enhanced sodium storage performance.

This work demonstrates a cost-effective and large-scale strategy for preparing a superhydrophobic F-SiO₂/epoxy resin coating based self-powered synergistic anti-corrosion system for effectively protecting metals from corrosion.

A novel noble-metal-free WO₃@ZnIn₂S₄ heterojunction showed outstanding photocatalytic H₂-production activity resulting from S-scheme electron/hole separation and a lower H₂-evolution barrier as evidenced by DFT calculation, in situ XPS and TRPL.

We developed an N-doped carbon material as a low-cost K-ion battery anode from sustainable coffee grounds via a simple pyrolysis process. Combined with a Prussian blue/graphene composite, the anode demonstrated practical acceptability.

Ce³⁺ ion doped NiCoLDHs have applied as a promising electrocatalysts for water splitting. 9.715 times high TOF has observed as a result of Ce doping. DFT study shows that Co-3d states are highly responsible for catalytic activity of the catalyst.

Spent LIB cathode active materials (spent LCO/LMO/LFP), which have undergone many cycles and Li electrochemical tuning, show promising results as an electrocatalyst with a change in the electronic structure and an increase in oxygen vacancies.

The defects of conductive hydrogels, such as high internal friction, poor performance at freezing temperatures, and evaporation during long-term storage, restrict their application in wearable electronics.

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) strongly depends on the electronic structure and local microstructures of active sites on the real catalytic surface.

An air-permeable and flexible wearable textile with excellent antimicrobial activity (>99.99%), exceptional heating performance (dual-driven energy conversion and fast thermal response), and outstanding EMI shielding efficiency is reported.

The r-N-GDY filter can be switched between a high-flux “open” state (up to 81.8 L per cm² per day per MPa) and a “closed” state (4% along the ZZ-direction) by applying tensile strain along different directions, yielding a highly tunable nanopore interface.

A type II heterojunction CdS/TpPa-1 with enhanced photocatalytic N₂ fixation performance was constructed by anchoring ultrafine CdS nanoparticles in the TpPa-1-COF matrix.

It illustrates the process of the continuous fabrication of a high-performance TENG by a UV-induced polymerization strategy.

Fabrication of hybrid trimetallic-organic framework-derived N, C co-doped Ni–Fe–Mn–P ultrathin nanosheet electrocatalyst demonstrating excellent performance with low overpotentials and cell voltage for HER, OER and overall water splitting.

A novel, highly active perovskite catalyst Pr_0.5Ba_0.5Fe_0.8Ni_0.2O_3−δ was developed. Thanks to its phase transition and exsolved nanoparticles, the quasi symmetric solid oxide cells show favorable electrochemical performance and stability.