Themed collection Journal of Materials Chemistry A HOT Papers

The latest advancement in developing MOF adsorbents for effective separation and purification of propylene from propane is summarized, with a focus on molecular exclusion based separation mechanism and propane-selective adsorption.

Engineering metallic active sites (nano-scale/low-coordination/isolated metal active sites and active metal oxide/sulfide) into CTFs is an effective strategy for high-performance and large-scale industrial catalysis.

Silica/silicate-based nanocatalysts have shown great potential for catalytic hydrogenation of CO₂ to various value-added chemicals. This review presents the recent development of siliceous matter in this important field of heterogeneous catalysis.

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) as a promising bio-plastic will decompose to small molecule flammable volatiles via chain scission, which thus exhibit poor fire safety and highly restrict its real-world applications.

We reconfigure the sodiation/desodiation process of P3-type layered cathodes by a local symmetry tuning strategy to enhance their stability. The cathodes exhibit long-term cycling stability with a higher capacity retention of 74% after 2000 cycles at 1C.

Under ambient conditions, using low concentration NO (1%), ultrahigh nitrate formation rates in a two-electrode system can be achieved via the eCOR-NOOR. The structure changes of electrode materials under real reaction conditions are revealed.

The PDI-EH molecule was synthesized and integrated into ternary OSCs to obtain miscibility-driven morphology optimization. The relationship between the optimized morphology and charge carrier dynamics was explored by PiFM and TP-AFM characterization.

An ultrahigh zT of 2.5 at 723 K is achieved in an entropy driven Ge_0.84Pb_0.025Sn_0.025Sb_0.11Te sample showing a promising output power density (PD_max) of ∼590 mW cm⁻² at ΔT = 448 K in a fabricated double leg device.

rGO-FeF3 composites are synthesized by an in situ solvothermal approach to build efficient electronic/ionic conduction pathways and suppress active material dissolution for ASSBs with high-ionic-conductivity sulfide electrolytes.

Porous flexible iridium nanosheets (Ir-PFNSs) with compressive strain were obtained by annealing 3R phase iridium oxide (3R-IrO₂) in a hydrogen atmosphere, which can exhibit excellent acid HER activity by a new three-hydrogen-involved mechanism.

A new type of artificial neural network to predict the reaction rate constant from two molecular structures. An explainable model was constructed using the multi-head intermolecular attention technique.

By alternating the substituted position in the terminal end group, two asymmetric non-fullerene acceptor isomers are designed, showing a better device performance for the γ-substituted fashion.

A novel and efficient strategy was developed to enhance the stability, control the catalytic activity, and improve the selectivity of Cu(I) cyclic trinuclear unit (Cu-CTU)-based metal–organic frameworks by steric modification of copper nodes.

A layered silicon disulfide (SiS₂) was synthesized on a large-scale via a solid–gas phase reaction and applied as an anode material for Li-ion batteries and solid-state electrolytes for all-solid-state batteries.

The density of storable charge (DOSC) is introduced as the number of charges stored in a surface faradaic layer of a semiconductor, and it can be used to describe the charge transfer kinetic process in semiconductor/electrolyte interfaces.

A lead-free perovskite/MOF catalyst shows a high CO selectivity of 99.5% for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction, stemming from efficient charge separation, formation of *COOH intermediates, and prompt CO desorptionof the catalyst.

Cu₂S/ZnIn₂S₄ and Ru₂S/ZnIn₂S₄ composites are constructed to achieve highly selective divergent synthesis of imines and secondary amines via the tunable visible light-driven amine dehydrogenation coupling reaction.

TTE (1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoropropyl ether) shows better performance than BTFE (bis(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)ether as diluent in a localized highly concentrated electrolyte based on lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide in triethylposphate.

Converting Bi₂S₃ into an efficient PHER catalyst by defect engineering to form solid solutions with the incorporation of Ce and O into Bi₂S₃ for bimetal–chalcogen (Bi,Ce)₂(O,S)_3−x catalysts.

A flower-like copper sulfide anode with NH₄⁺ interlayer intercalation, chloride-doping and rich vacancy defects is developed for sodium-ion batteries, demonstrating high reversible capacity and excellent rate capability.

Regioselective acylation was used to prepare aromatic substituted benzodithiophenediones (BDDs) and then construct new nonfullerene acceptors. Nonfullerene Ph-BDD with a bare benzene ring exhibited a high efficiency of 13.64% and good thermal and storage stabilities.

Spin engineering is an effective strategy to improve the performance of catalysts, but it has been rarely demonstrated for the acetonitrile reduction reaction (ARR) to date.

Like batteries, the proposed LI-TENGs are compact and can be rapidly assembled and spliced without additional wires.

The synergistic design of 1D core–shell V₃S₄@C hosts and homogeneous catalyst Co(C₅H₅)₂ is proposed to promote the chemisorption and conversion kinetics of polysulfides towards advanced Li–S batteries with high areal S loading and low E/S ratio.

An S-scheme heterojunction of core–shell MoO_3−x@ZnIn₂S₄ is first constructed for photothermal-coupled solar photocatalytic CO₂ reduction with high efficiency and selectivity.

A hierarchical Ni₂P/Zn–Ni–P nanosheet array with unique structure and interfacial characteristics shows excellent catalytic performance in energy-saving hydrogen evolution and hydrazine oxidation.

A HER//SOR hybrid water electrolysis system for hydrogen production by using CuCoN/CC as the cathode electrode and CuCoS/CC as the anode electrode.

Metal−organic layers (MOLs), with well-defined, abundant active sites and good electron transport capabilities, are ideal platforms for studying the photoreduction of CO₂ to value-added chemicals feedstocks in 2D/2D assembled materials.

A series of “turn-on” type NIR materials are developed with two-stage superlarge redshifted absorption in the first and second NIR window under the stimulation of protonation for smart photothermal conversion.

An atomic-level orbital coupling strategy was presented to effectively regulate the electronic structures of ultra-small tri-metal Fe–Co–Ni alloy nanoparticles to fabricate an efficient and robust bi-functional oxygen electrocatalyst.

Indium is introduced to δ-MnO₂ for the first time. The conductivity of δ-MnO2 can be doubled and a high specific capacity can be achieved at a commercial-level mass loading.

Stabilizing N–H bonds by the hydrogen-bonding interaction in polymerization or transforming the deprotonated –N⁺– species into C–N bonds by calcining polypyrrole-based catalysts can improve the electrochemical two-electron oxygen reduction reaction.

Several theories have been proposed to explain the co-existence of high conductivity and high salt concentration for water-in-salt electrolytes. Here, we fill the gap related to the structural, physical, and electrochemical properties of the LiTFSI–H₂O binary system at high mol kg⁻¹.

The strong doping effect of Fe on MoNi₄ has been demonstrated, which achieves a bifunctional water splitting activity and a two-electrode device can be driven by a 1.5 V AAA battery.

The conduction type of CuAgSe can be tuned by chemical composition. The positron technique indicates that n–p transition is controlled by vacancy.

The high energy barrier of D–O bond breakage leads to a slow kinetic reaction rate in the electrocatalytic deuterium evolution reaction (DER).

Donor–acceptor carbon-linked conjugated polymers (DA-CCPs) with thiophene-S active sites have been used for the first time as cathodes in rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors, exhibiting a performance surpassing the state of the art.

A stepwise optimization route yields a general way to design synthetic ESP ceramics. NBT-BST-BMS-VPP ceramics obtain an ultrahigh W_rec of 7.5 J cm⁻³ under 440 kV cm⁻¹.

During their lifetime, the electrocatalytically active NiFe LDH platelets show impressive, but unstable water-splitting capabilities due largely to compositional degradation.

Two D–A type polymers for organic cathodes were designed and synthesized for dual-ion batteries. Among them, the full cells assembled by BPyPz and bismuth provides a satisfactory voltage of 3 V.

Synergistic photo-driven plastic waste oxidation and CO₂ reduction on Bi₄V₂O₁₁ nanorods with abundant oxygen vacancies.

An efficient nitrogen doping strategy is developed to accelerate the disorder-to-order phase transition of Pt₃Co catalyst, and the as-prepared ordered Pt₃Co shows a PEMFC power density of 1.27 W cm⁻² at 0.6 V.

This work presents red emissive CDs as a promising fluorescent sensor with excellent photostability, high fluorescence quantum yield, and negligible cytotoxicity for real-time sensing and visualizing polarity changes in mitochondria and lysosomes.

The self-assembly of metal–organosilicate shells on silica substrates and their derived CuZn-catalysts for MeOH synthesis from CO₂ hydrogenation.

Computational study of Pr-based perovskites supported by experiments uncovering insights and design principles for chemical expansion. Hole location on oxygen is highlighted as a route to achieving near-zero chemical expansion.

Synergism of oxygen–iodine binary vacancies to interfacial electric field was developed by a cascade electrospray-annealing preparation, which enhanced CO₂ photoreduction over V_O–I-BiOCl/BiOI atomic-thin nanosheets.

Post cobalt doped NbSSe was synthesized by combining chemical vapor transport and the hydrothermal method, which exhibited excellent HER performance due to the synergistic effect of cobalt doping and S/Se vacancies.

NaCl crystals are employed as a substrate to grow MoS₂ nanosheets. On dissolving NaCl, the nanosheets are introduced to silicon nanoparticles using layer-by-layer assembly forming robust MoS₂@Si anodes for lithium-ion batteries.

A large size BiVO₄ photoanode with high stability for efficient photoelectrochemical water oxidation and TCH degradation coupled with H₂ evolution.

Hollow porous fibers with low emissivity and conductivity aluminum platelets skin for thermal insulation.

Herein, we developed an unsintered LaCo_0.6Ni_0.4O_3−δ-Er_0.4Bi_1.6O₃ cathode for IT-SOFC. The cathode/electrolyte interface is induced via polarization, and competitive performance is achieved.

Thermal runaway and dendrite growth in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) induce serious safety hazards and impede their further applications.

A uniform Cs-promoted Ni/Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst prepared by using a reliable automatic system shows extremely high productivity as well as good stability and coke resistance. The improved stability with doped Cs was elucidated by computational studies.

Zn vacancy ZnIn₂S₄ tuned Gibbs free energy of *COOH which is the rate determining step of phototcatalytic CO₂ reduction from endothermic to exothermic process.

High-performance all-solid-state fiber supercapacitors assembled with MXene/RGO/PEDOT:PSS hybrid fiber electrodes with radially oriented channels and an anti-freezing electrolyte exhibit excellent capacitance retention at ultralow temperatures.

A polyimide-based single-ion polymer PI-LiCPSI was prepared. PI-SIGPE obtained by compounding of PI-LiCPSI and PVDF-HFP showed good mechanical properties due to the rigid frame and strong interface, and also possessed excellent electrochemical and cycling performance.

Based on the reduction and oxidation product property study of lithium difluorobis(oxalato) phosphate, a gomphosis-like solid electrolyte layer is constructed, and proven to be rigid-soft coupling, increasing the stability of interphases.

The O vacancies of ultra-thin bismuth tungstate confine Pd atoms to produce a Pd-V_O-UBWO SAC, which exhibits high photocatalytic activity for NO oxidation and RhB degradation.