Themed collection Journal of Materials Chemistry A Recent Review Articles

We highlight how DTEM reveals catalytic dynamics and outline key advances, challenges, and future opportunities.

The convergence of photoelectrode engineering and organic synthesis offers a new paradigm for sustainable chemical transformations.

A failure-cascade framework organizes degradation in aqueous Zn cathodes (Mn oxides, V hosts, and PBAs) by linking chemistry-specific triggers to sequential damage, guiding high-leverage intervention strategies.

Flexible dual-linker-based three-component self-assembly provides a new paradigm for constructing functional 2D and 3D MOFs and understanding their structure–property-relationships in heterogeneous catalysis and environmental remediation.

Recycled polymers from e-waste are good candidate materials for sensors from the point of view of circularity and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The binding energy in clusters (BEC) serves as an effective bridge connecting the microscopic structure and macroscopic properties of molecular crystal materials.

How M–O bonding governs the transition between charge storage and catalytic activity.

This perspective discusses how advances in quantum science and technology can be utilized to improve, design, and better understand heterogeneous catalysis.

Research on high-energy-density materials (HEDMs) has largely centered around molecules derived from the classical CHNO framework.

This perspective defines quantitative ‘target design windows’ for contact resistivity and shear strength, mapping four dominant strategies to guide the transition from empirical metallization to engineered reliability.

The sustainable production and efficient utilization of hydrogen are central to achieving global carbon neutrality.

Artificial intelligence promises to revolutionise materials discovery through accelerated prediction and optimisation, yet this transformation brings critical data integrity challenges that threaten the scientific record.

Two‑dimensional (2D) hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) exhibit pressure‑tunable structures and properties that enable optimized performance in energy and optoelectronic devices.

Alloy-type anodes are promising for K-ion batteries: multi-electron reactions, high capacity, suitable potentials and abundance. This review summarizes advances and synthesis, outlining a roadmap, mechanism and engineering guided future directions.

A schematic representation of charge-storage mechanisms in transition metal chalcogenide supercapacitors by integrating in situ/operando spectroscopy and DFT studies.

Strategies to enhance the supercapacitance performance of rising 2D MXenes through defect engineering, doping, hybridization, and magnetic field assistance.

LiF-dominated interphase is uniquely critical due to the high shear modulus for physical dendrite suppression, ultra-low electronic conductivity to prevent electrolyte depletion, and high interfacial energy for uniform planar lithium plating.

This review summarizes positive electrode materials and design strategies for aqueous magnesium batteries, including Mn/V-based, PBAs, polyanionic, LDHs, and organic materials, for high voltage and long cycle life.

Constructing high-energy batteries through three structural design strategies of LMAs using pure Li, alloys and composite structures.

Solar-driven photocatalysis enables coupled H₂ production and degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater. This waste-to-energy approach uses contaminants as sacrificial donors, enabling efficient purification and supporting a circular economy.

Polyamines have emerged as a leading materials platform for sorbents in direct air capture (DAC) of CO₂ and membranes for post-combustion capture (PCC) due to their reactions with CO₂.

Illustration of TMDs based supercapacitor and their engineered structures for advanced supercapacitor performance.

Solar-driven photocatalytic water-splitting offers a promising route toward sustainable hydrogen (H₂) production and decarbonization.

This review summarizes recent advances in TENGenabled cathodic protection, covering self-powered and direct TENG systems, DC-TENG architectures, self-healing materials, dualmode outputs, and multilayer strategies for sustainable corrosion mitigation.

This review rethinks the traditional dichotomy between homogeneous single-phase and heterogeneous multi-phase HER electrocatalysts. An extended Sabatier principle is proposed to optimize the entire reaction pathway across catalytic domains.

This review focuses on the progress of perovskite/C₆₀ interface engineering in high-efficiency and stable perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells, including their functionalities and future application directions.

Amorphous (red) are disordered with defects and active sites; crystalline (blue) are ordered, conductive, and stable; A–C heterostructures combine both for superior UOR performance.

The rapid development of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has led to an urgent need for efficient recycling.

This review highlights recent advances in the synthesis, surface/interface modification, and performance optimization of monometallic Ni HER electrodes, emphasizing how rational engineering can elevate their reactivity toward state-of-the-art levels.

This review highlights recent advancements in antimony-based solar cells, focusing on non-radiative recombination mechanisms. It discusses strategies to mitigate these losses and provides critical insights into future research directions.

Metal–oxygen coordination environments dictate band structure, charge transport, and surface stability in transition metal oxide (TMO) photoanodes, providing design principles for robust photoelectrochemical seawater splitting.

Coordination chemistry enables descriptor-driven control of electronic and thermal transport in metal–organic coordination polymers, closing the theory – experiment gap in organic thermoelectrics.

Surface defect engineering, including the creation of surface vacancies, heteroatom doping and other defect strategies, is leveraged to enable the efficient photocatalytic conversion of NO into N₂, NH₃, and NO₃⁻.

The review summarizes the classification of high entropy materials from thermodynamic aspects, different synthesis techniques, and specific focus on PGM based HEMs as electrocatalysts for various energy conversion applications.

This review introduces a mechanism-oriented framework for polymer protective layers in Zn batteries. It covers two functions, six mechanisms, a structure–property database, failure coupling, and trade-offs for rational material design.

This review summarizes the fundamental mechanisms of photocatalytic C–H bond activation and recent advances in ethane-to-ethylene and propane-to-propylene conversion, with emphasis on the catalyst engineering strategies involved.

A mechanism-driven and material-centered framework is proposed to advance CDI technologies toward targeted anion removal for sustainable water treatment.

This review provides a timely summary of the design of stimulus-responsive materials and their applications in the construction of smart supercapacitors, with a focus on the influence of external forces/stimuli on electrochemical performance.

A meta-analysis of 200+ studies maps MXene strategies for Li–S batteries, linking composition and synthesis to stability and performance trends to guide next-gen battery design.

This article reviews important advances in designing Ruddlesden–Popper perovskite oxides as emerging air electrodes for protonic ceramic cells, aiming to present critical insights for the widespread applications of this technology.

ALD serves as a transformative tool for PEMFCs engineering, enabling atomic-scale design of core-shell catalysts, functional membranes, and GDLs interfaces, bridging lab-scale innovations to high-performance, durable MEAs.

A review on the construction of a reaction system based on Ni-based catalysts for the dehydrogenation of HCOOH to generate hydrogen radicals, and its application in the efficient reduction of Cr(VI).

This review integrates borophene, metal borides, and MBenes into a unified boron-based platform for high-performance supercapacitors, linking multicenter bonding, electronic structure, and charge-storage mechanisms to guide durable energy storage.

Importance of in situ/operando characterization techniques.

This review highlights how infiltration, exsolution, and atomic layer deposition modify SOFC anodes to improve direct methane/ammonia conversion, enhance electrochemical performance, and combat degradation via coking and nitridation.

Triptycene-based materials combine rigid 3D geometry, intrinsic free volume, and tunable functionality for CO₂ capture and separation. ANN–RSM modeling links porosity and operating conditions to uptake and guides predictive materials design.

A comprehensive review highlighting all the recent strategies and perspectives in enhancing C–C coupling selectivity in electrocatalytic CO₂RR.

Various polymer substrate membranes with excellent performance for CO₂ capture.

MXenes are promising two-dimensional materials with high electrical conductivity, large surface area, and tuneable surface terminations, enabling efficient electrocatalytic, photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance.

Asymmetric fibre supercapacitors (AFSCs) offer higher voltages and energy densities than symmetric designs. This review discusses electrode materials, fabrication technologies, device designs, and future outlooks of AFSCs for soft textile wearables.

This review summarizes recent progress in zero-dimensional lead-free double perovskites, highlighting their crystal structure, optical properties, and potential applications.

Cellulose has evolved as a pivotal triboelectric layer, driving the development of sustainable triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) for enhanced sensor performance and improved energy harvesting systems.

This review systematically summarizes multi-scale collaborative strategies, encompassing electrolyte engineering and electrode material design, to achieve highly reversible MnO₂/Mn²⁺ dissolution/deposition chemistry in aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

SEI formation is a universal electrochemical phenomenon governing both batteries and supercapacitors. Battery-derived design principles are translated into predictive strategies enabling high energy, high power, and long lifetime.

Aqueous batteries are analysed from an interfacial-centric perspective, where electrolyte solvation, local proton activity, and electric double-layer organization collectively determine electrochemical stability and device performance.

Integrating ceramic films onto high-surface-area 3D substrates boosts specific surface area, expands charge storage interfaces, and thus markedly enhances energy storage density versus conventional 2D configurations.

This review summarizes experimentally confirmed polymorphs (β-, γ-, δ-, bixbyite-, and related metastable phases) and computationally-predicted structures, synthesis routes, optoelectronic properties, and solar water splitting performance of TaON.

This review systematically summarizes recent advancements in efficient strategies for the exploration and design of advanced manganese chalcogenide-based anodes for sodium-ion hybrid capacitors.

This work explores the synergistic effects of bimetallic electrocatalysts, including their applications in CO₂ reduction, water splitting, and ammonia production, highlighting key advancements in catalyst design and performance.

This review analyzes degradation of layered oxide cathodes in sodium-ion batteries on bulk and interface failure. The strategies of elemental doping, structural engineering, and surface modification are discussed for practical sodium-ion batteries.

Computational insights from DFT and MD reveal how borophene polymorphism governs performance in batteries and electrocatalysis, offering guidance for structure-driven design while addressing stability and scalability challenges.

This review summarizes mechanistic insights into biomass-to-carbon conversion strategies, highlighting catalytic pathways, impurity control, heteroatom tolerant catalysis, and AI guided design for scalable, high-performance carbon materials. Figure elements reprinted with permission; see article for details.

This review article highlights the engineering of MoSe₂-based catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction.