Themed collection Journal of Materials Chemistry A Recent Review Articles

This highlight focuses on the advancements in high-entropy coordination compounds and their derivatives. It explores their synthesis strategies, effectiveness in catalyzing water electrolysis, and electrochemical performance in secondary batteries.

This review highlights recent advances in high entropy metal sulfides and phosphides (HEMSs/Ps), their classification, synthesis approaches, crystal structures and morphologies, and applications in electrochemical water splitting.

The relationship between molecular design strategies, the packing information of small molecule acceptors is demonstrated. This review highlights the recent advances in the study of single crystal structures of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs).

Sodium doping has multifaceted effects in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂, some of which remain unsolved since 1993. Here, we propose a thought experiment to unravel them. The Frank–Turnbull alkali ion diffusion hypothesis brings about anisotropy-induced fluctuations.

This perspective discusses battery safety. A reaction zone model linking thermal runaway and fire is proposed for liquid electrolytes. On solid electrolytes, five issues require further study. Safety modelling that accelerates R&D is also mentioned.

Over the past few decades, extensive research on photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has been conducted as a promising solution to meet the increasing demand for cleaner and renewable energy in a sustainable manner.

This Perspective highlights past achievements, knowledge gaps and future research directions for M-N-C catalysts for PEMFCs.

This article presents progress and challenges in the development of photocatalyst sheets for scalable efficient production of renewable hydrogen via water splitting reaction.

Energy-efficient hydrocarbon separation is of great significance. In this perspective, we discuss three main strategies in the design of MOF materials for hydrocarbon separation: surface engineering, molecular docking, and size exclusion.

Thin-film composite membranes demonstrate tremendous potential for energy-efficient CO₂ capture from power generation, but many technical hurdles are to be overcome before practical, better-performing and cost-effective designs could be realized.

Band gap tunability and good electronic conductivity makes 2D MPX₃ systems as potential candidates for photocatalytic and electrocatalytic HER. The generation of heterojunction between 2D MPX₃ with other HER active materials further enhances the MPX₃ activity and stability.

This review comprehensively explores the diverse strategies of Li₂S engineering and examines potential avenues for enhancing structural stability and electrochemical performance.

Detection and sensing of lithium ions are very important in chemical, environmental, and biological processes. Photochemical sensors including fluorescent compounds have been used as smart systems to detect and sense lithium ions.

Type III COFs are constructed using sub-stoichiometric synthesis and result in unconventional topologies and active functional groups with a variety of applications.

This review highlights key features of PDA-NFA: molecular design, diverse grafting sites, advanced synthesis, morphology control, and optimized device performance. This review provides a vision for high-performance PDA-NFA for NF-OSCs.

The versatility and tunability of nanocomposites revolutionize the performance of SOCs for more efficient and reliable energy conversion systems. This review sheds light on their unique advantages over conventional materials as a gamechanger.

This review summarizes recent advances in the pore engineering of metal–organic framework-based materials for boosting carbon dioxide capture by highlighting the structure–performance relationships.

The potential threats of lead to the environment and biological species are discussed, followed by a summary of the advances in developing functional materials and effective techniques to prevent lead leakage.

By investigating the technological development of metal–air batteries in terms of specific energy, cycle life, fast charging, environmental adaptability and flexibility, we propose the application of metal–air batteries for powering robotic devices.

Highly efficient small organic triphenylamines (TPAs) molecules used in DSCs and OSCs with their cost-effectiveness and straightforward synthesis methods.

Janus materials with asymmetrical wettability for on-demand oil/water separation.

Post-synthesis modification (PSM) is an efficient means to introduce functional chemical groups into metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) by modifying metal clusters or ligands after MOFs have been synthesized.

This review summarizes the research progress of wearable friction nanogenerators (W-TENG). Its perspective comprehensively covers the friction layer, the electrodes, and strategies for improving the triboelectric output of the W-TENG.

In this review, five common preparation methods of TMDs are summarized, and then the mechanisms of five regulatory strategies are analyzed from the perspective of density functional theory, suggesting the potential of TMDs as HER electrocatalysts.

This study provides deep insights into how computational methods complement and enhance experimental investigations.

Metal oxides have been extensively used in environmental monitoring, breath analysis, and food quality assessment. This review summarizes the effects of nanoscale heterojunctions on enhancing the gas-sensing performance of metal oxide devices.

This review provides a comprehensive overview of the significant advancements made in CZTS monograin powder technology and its applications in flexible solar cells over the past decade.

Defect engineering is an effective strategy to control the performance of photocatalyst and electrocatalyst. This review highlights the key role of cationic vacancy from the aspects of synthesis methods, testing techniques and applications.

Polymer nanosheets (CMPs, COFs, CTFs and carbon nitrides) have many unique advantages. This review summarizes the recent advances in polymer nanosheets for efficient photocatalysis including water splitting, pollutant degradation and CO₂ reduction.

Carbon dot-engineered nanocomposite membranes: an emerging membrane separation technology.

We report many factors that affect the uptake and conduction of ions of triple conducting perovskites (TCPs) and the current research progress of TCPs by dividing TCPs into three categories.

From the perspective of the size of Cu species on supported substrates, this review summarizes the size effects of supported Cu-based single atoms, diatoms, clusters and nanoparticles on the catalytic activity and selectivity of the CO₂ reduction reaction.

This review describes the recent developments on the synthesis methods and properties of boron carbon nitride (BCN). The supercapacitor electrode preparation and testing of BCN and BCN-based hybrids/heterostructures/nanocomposites are also included.

This review interprets the electro-oxidation/reduction and paired electrochemical reactions of furfural from the perspective of energy optimization, with a focus on the study of electrocatalysts, mechanisms, and reactors.

The metal–support interaction effect in the carbon-free PEMFCs cathode catalysts are summarized in this review.

This review summarizes recent approaches for stabilizing metal halide perovskites in water, including surface engineering, common-ion effect, and intrinsic water stability as well as their photocatalytic applications.

The competitive advantages and limitations based on the infrastructure of reticular materials for wastewater treatment applications were systematically evaluated.

TThe review summarizes progress in ultrasound-assisted photocatalyst synthesis and piezo-photocatalysis, including principles, advantages, applications in water splitting, CO₂ conversion, water purification, VOCs removal.

Our analysis of the current literature shows that advances in extractive technologies for U/Li recovery lie at the intersection between molecular simulation, nanotechnology and materials science, electrochemistry, and membrane engineering.

We summarize the important progress in the electroreduction of N₂ to NH₃ using state-of-the-art two-dimensional (2D) electrocatalysts. Emerging 2D materials that could potentially serve as viable NRR electrocatalysts are presented.

This review summarizes the safety challenges in LIBs and LMBs and outlines the recent safety advances in electrolytes for safer batteries. These novel approaches were further evaluated critically to determine their effectiveness for safer batteries.

The distinct electronic structure of the Cu₃BiS₃ compound (wittichenite) leads high optical absorption and suitable bandgap, making it promising for photovoltaics and photoelectrochemical applications.

Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (SAWH) can turn humidity into liquid water to provide clean freshwater. This review aims to summarize the recent progress on water vapor sorbents and water production devices of SAWH.

Coordination modulation is an easy and effective procedure to control the properties of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) in order to increase their potential application and/or desirable structural properties.

Metal halide perovskite (MHP) materials have garnered significant interest in the realm of energy conversion and storage amid the push for carbon-neutral energy solutions due to the tunable band gap, high light collection efficiency, high photogenerated carrier mobility, and high defect tolerance.

All-inorganic metal halide perovskites have been actively investigated as promising energy-converting materials for abundant applications owing to their excellent electronic and optical properties.

This review provides a detailed overview of the application of MOFs and COFs for photocatalytic H₂O₂ production from O₂ and/or H₂O.

This review emphasizes the fundamentals of MEA construction, different technical routes, and remaining challenges and opportunities for MEA for large-scale electrochemical CO₂ reduction applications.

Various strategies for improving the photocatalytic performance of covalent triazine frameworks, including molecular design, structural regulation and the creation of heterostructures, are summarized.

An overview of recent advancements in anion exchange membranes (AEMs) and their performance in water electrolysis is provided, and the progress of an electrocatalyst for anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) is also discussed.

Liquid interfaces are versatile platforms to enable both chemical and physical reactions, which offers great opportunities to realize energy conversion and harvesting, thus providing more opportunities for obtaining clean energy.

Garnet-type Li₇La₃Zr₂O₁₂ (LLZO) has emerged as a promising candidate to supersede the liquid electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries.

This review summarizes the advances in rational design and synthesis of 3D COFs guided by reticular chemistry and briefly discusses recent progress in gas storage and separation, catalysis, fluorescence, batteries, conductivity, and drug delivery.

The potential commercial uses of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are intriguing.

Hydrotalcites and their related materials hold great potential to unlock seawater splitting effectively.

The present review outlines a comprehensive overview of the research on silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) materials, which are synthesized by various synthetic routes and are investigated as alternatives to crystalline silicon anodes.

2D polyphase molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has become a popular material for energy conversion and interdisciplinary applications.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are amongst the most interesting scientific research materials in the twenty-first century.

Recent advances and perspectives in utilizing various supports to maximize the HER performance of Pt species are reviewed, along with the strategies for tailoring supports and future challenges and opportunities for regulating supports.

This article focuses on the preparation of cerium-based oxide catalysts with vacancies/defects and their catalytic purification properties for air pollutants.

The review focuses on the use of in situ/operando Raman spectroscopy to explore electrodes, solid electrolytes, and electrode–solid electrolyte interfaces in all-solid-state Li batteries.

In this work, we reviewed the progress of magnetic resonance in gas sensing, by providing advancements in magnetic resonance-based techniques for investigating gas sensors, encompassing the determination of the structure of sensing materials and the elucidation of sensing mechanisms.

This article comprehensively reviews the recent progress in chemical compound synthesis and detection using triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). Current limitations and challenges important for future development in these fields were also addressed.

Reactive intermediates and their transformations in photocatalytic and electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction are reviewed to get highly selective multicarbon production.

This article starts with the working mechanism and combines the research history to introduce the modification methods and applications of photoassisted batteries. Finally, the challenges and prospects in this field were summarized.

Cutting-edge approaches to prepare PEDOT:PSS films/electrodes, significant progress on related devices are summarized; advantages, plausible questions, challenges, and suggestions are also presented for the continued development of modern electronics.

Recent advances in two-dimensional bifunctional electrocatalysts for full water splitting are systematically reviewed, discussing challenges and opportunities for further research.

The moisture-responsive actuator converts the hygroscopic swelling of a material into controllable mechanical motion, which can be used as a high-performance actuator component to harvest electrical energy from environmental moisture.

Films with nanoengineered surfaces can be generated by the bubble-induced self-assembly (BISA) for a variety of energy-related applications.

This review outlines recent progress in aqueous zinc–sulfur batteries, highlighting electrolyte modification, additive engineering, and cathode enhancements. It also proposes future research directions to inspire solutions for overcoming challenges.