Themed collection Journal of Materials Chemistry A HOT Papers

This perspective summarizes recent advances in electrochemical humidity sensors and mainly focuses on three aspects: working principles; humidity sensing and power generation performances; self-powered humidity detection system.

Green hydrogen, produced by water splitting with renewables, faces water scarcity issues. Atmospheric moisture, a stable source, offers an alternative. This article reviews technologies and challenges of using atmospheric water for H₂ production.

This review summarizes the recent progress in the regulation of local reaction intermediates and protons near active sites and discusses how their microenvironment affects the C–C coupling efficiency in the electrocatalytic CO₂RR.

This review analyzes advancements in CO₂-resistant perovskite cathodes for solid oxide fuel cells, detailing CO₂-poisoning mechanisms, evaluation methods, enhancement strategies, and characterization techniques for future cathode development.

The present review gives an overview of the different state-of-the-art X-ray techniques employed for the characterisation of photoelectrocatalytic systems, focusing on the possibilities of the studied techniques, cell designs and relevant results.

State-of-the-art HEAs with outstanding water splitting performance is rationally designed, which provides a blueprint for the design of a next-generation platform for hydrogen regeneration.

In this review, we summarized the application methods of SECM in electrochemical reactions and also discussed the challenges and prospects of SECM in characterizing the activity of electrocatalysts.

Carbon-support-free platinum and non-platinum catalysts are reviewed to clarify the source of recent controversial results and to propose experimental conditions for their use in future fuel cell vehicles.

This review provides a summary of recent advancements in 1D/2D carbon materials (carbon nanotubes, graphene, MXenes, and carbon fibers) for FZIBs. It mainly introduces the functions of 1D/2D carbon materials in enhancing the performance of FZIBs.

This review summarizes the progressive understanding of the mechanism of the Pd-catalyzed CO₂ reduction reaction, together with recent advances in the rational design of Pd-based electrocatalysts.

A critical review of the regulatory mechanisms, structural design, cooling performance, and applications of hybrid cooling to advance its commercial use in passive cooling.

We summarize the influence of polymer coatings on cathode particles for electrochemical energy storage applications. We report on the effect of different polymer types, their properties, and their influence on thermo-electro-chemical behavior.

Dual-metal site catalysts embedded in a carbon matrix (referred to as DMSCs) are gaining significant interest in sustainable energy research.

The current review discusses on vanadium- and manganese-based metal–organic frameworks and their derivatives for energy storage and conversion applications along with the potential future advancements in these fields.

A comprehensive review of direct captured CO₂ electro-conversion technology, a promising Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) technology that can achieve both techno-economic and environmental viability.

Nano-sized high entropy alloy (HEA) catalysts have attracted much attention as extraordinary electrocatalysts in water-splitting applications, i.e., the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER).

This review addresses four key factors and underlying mechanisms of doping engineering from crystal-field, molecular orbital, and ligand-field theory.

Metal/covalent organic frameworks (MOFs/COFs), with orderly aligned pores and adjustable pore characteristics, offer advantages over traditional fillers in constructing thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes for task-specific separations.

The review illustrates that the magnetic field effect can promote the generation of different nanostructures in material synthesis, achieve the transition from 1D to 2D and 3D structures in material assembly and improve the energy density of supercapacitor by the direct and indirect roles.

The efficient removal of trace impurities is significant for the production of high-purity olefins. This review summarizes the latest advancements in the deep purification of ethylene and propylene using MOF materials.

We first investigate the electrochemical dealloying effect and mechanism of a high-chromium alloy in alkaline NaNO₃ solution at oxygen evolution potential.

We report a strategy of catalyst design to modulate oxygen vacancies through the control of Au/ceria interface structures, promoting Au activity for carbon monoxide production in carbon dioxide electroreduction.

Prelithiation of LiMn₂O₄ balances the low first cycle efficiency of silicon anodes for improvements in energy density and prospective cell chemistry enabled by naturally abundant elements.

Tailoring the bismuth defects in ultrathin Bi₂WO₆ nanosheets can efficiently activate the C–H bond in toluene to produce benzaldehyde under light irradiation.

A novel heat storage ionomer binder with highly efficient heat-storage ability is proposed to function as an internal temperature conditioner, which allows the battery to function steadily over a wider temperature range.

An efficient adsorptive molecular sieving strategy to separate aromatic and cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons via an intrinsic/extrinsic approach.

Three-dimensional porous NiCoP foam supported on Ni foam is a superb bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall seawater splitting, attaining a large current density of 1000 mA cm⁻² at a low cell voltage of 1.97 V with robust stability over 300 hours.

H₂O₂-assisted generation of colorless stable complex ions (FeF₆³⁻) for tunable doped iron fluoride material preparation.

TDA-COF, a triazine-based COF with an irreversible thiadiazole linkage, swiftly carries out the blue light-powered selective conversion of thioanisoles with O₂.

The subsurface Zr doping induced by diffusion in NaNi_0.8Mn_0.2O₂ is used for the Na-ion battery cathode. A uniform subsurface Zr-rich region aided by polyacrylic acid facilitates the primary particle growth of the cathode.

We manipulated the ionic defects (protons and oxygen vacancies) in perovskite nickelates through thermochemical dehydration. We quantified the correlation between the physical properties of nickelates and oxygen vacancy concentration.

The energy sum of bandgap and Fermi level shift (E_g + ΔE_shift) is a better indicator than E_g alone for judging the ease of intrinsic excitation and bipolar conduction in thermoelectric materials.

Substrate modification achieves spatial decoupling of the hydrogen evolution reaction process, thereby greatly improving the efficiency and stability of the catalyst.

The synthesized K–N, O/C catalyst demonstrates remarkable CO selectivity with over 90% Faraday efficiency (FE) in a wide potential window between −0.5 V and −0.9 V vs. RHE and the FE of CO is nearly unchanged during 24 h stability experiment.

Surface structures of Au nanocubes were tuned from concave to flat to convex using trace amounts of copper ions, and their corresponding catalytic performances were investigated.

We report conjugated microporous polytriphenylamine as a high-performance anion-capture electrode for capacitive deionization (CDI), thus opening a new pathway for the rational design of advanced polymer-based anodes in CDI and beyond.

The problem of stability degradation is solved by adjusting the lattice distortion, resulting in ceramics with the highest ceiling temperature and excellent thermal stability.

Synergy between Ti⁴⁺ and F⁻ dual-doping significantly improves the cycling stability of P2-Na_0.67Ni_0.33Mn_0.67O₂ at high voltage and enhances its rate performance by suppressing the P2–O2 transition.

Nanocrystalline *MRE zeolite domains registered in quasicrystal-like, decagonal order is generated, which has strong acidity, reduced unidimensional channel length and mesopores, exhibiting enhanced n-dodecane hydroisomerization properties.

A facile “two-in-one” strategy was proposed to achieve a V₂O₅-TEMPO cathode for large capacity and long-life zinc–organic batteries.

We report a successful preparation of a TiO₂ photoanode with dominant (211) facets on various substrates. This photoanode can be used in rooftop PEC systems due to its low cost, high stability, good durability and acceptable efficiency.

Adding N dopants (melamine or urea) to biomass during activation modulates the porosity of activated carbons to enhance CO₂ storage (up to 4.7 mmol g⁻¹ at 1 bar and 25 °C) and methane uptake (0.42 g g⁻¹ and 266 cm³ (STP) cm⁻³ at 25 °C and 100 bar).

Ag doping achieves high-quality wide-bandgap CIGS films by controlling the (In,Ga)₂Se₃ film growth preference and Ag–Cu ion exchange process.

Designing flexible single-atom catalysts with tunable single-atom centers and coordination environments is crucial for highly active and selective electrochemical catalysis.

A novel Co-FCVA device was employed to prepare a synergistic dual-functional layer-modified Cu current collector for anode-free lithium metal batteries (AFLMBs), which provides an effective solution for the large-scale commercialization of AFLMBs.

A moisture-resistant glassy plastic (MRGP) with hyperbranched structure and terminal thiocarbonyl groups is demonstrated. Its hydrogen bonding network exhibits remarkable moisture resistance and enables complete and fast healing at room temperature.

Negative magnetoresistance of in situ carbon-coated amorphous SiO₂ nanoparticles is used for controlling the electrode kinetics in lithium-ion batteries to achieve maximum electrochemical performance.

Poly(aryl quinuclidinium) AEMs with improved anion conductivity and dimensional stability were prepared by introducing twisted structural units.

The synergistic effect of PdCu alloys on TiO₂ nanosheets expands the light-absorption range, improves the adsorption of CO₂ and H₂O, and accelerates photogenerated electron migration, resulting in an increased CH₄ yield with a selectivity of 98.7%.

A weakly solvating non-flammable electrolyte system enables a safe high-voltage lithium battery by simultaneously facilitating the decomposition of anions and FEC at the electrode surface.

A thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC) harnesses the temperature effect of electrode potential to achieve efficient heat to electricity conversion but suffers from low power density.

Guanidinium acetate (GAAc) was applied to treat a perovskite film for fabricating n–i–p perovskite solar cells. The synergistic effect of GA⁺ and Ac⁻ on regulating the perovskite surface enabled high-efficiency and stable perovskite solar cells.

Understanding CO₂RR selectivity of Sn-based catalysts by considering both the real-time structural evolution of catalysts and all key intermediates involved.

The isolated Ni₁ atoms with short distances between them would aggregate and facilitate carbon removal during CH₄/CO₂ reforming.

Cs-promoted In₂O₃ has demonstrated excellent catalytic activity and selectivity in photo-thermal CO₂ hydrogenation. Mechanistic studies suggest that non-thermal effects prevail, particularly at low reaction temperatures and high light intensities.

CoMn₂O₄/C is constructed for the electrochemical NO reduction reaction toward NH₃, with a maximum NH₃ faradaic efficiency of 89.3% at −0.7 V vs. RHE. CoMn₂O₄/C can promote the hydrogenation of *NO to *NHO (PDS, 0.13 eV) and inhibit the HER.

Preparation of dynamic reversible supramolecular oil gels filled with MXene@mGLM composites, which exhibit good lubrication properties and photothermal conversion properties.

The flexibility, integration and wearability of one-dimensional carbon-based cross-linked two-dimensional MXenes can exactly meet the rapid development of microelectronic technology, thereby achieving miniaturization and multi-functionality.

The previous understanding of prelithiation is still limited to the stage of compensating the lithium loss. Herein, the further essence of electrochemical prelithiation in regulating the SEI film and stabilizing the Li_x–Si phase is put forward.

This work presents a comparative study of six types of oxide and halide solid-state electrolytes. It has been demonstrated that the electrochemical stability not only depends on metal species, but alsk the Li content and other factors.

In unbiased tandem cells, the production of C₂₊ products from CO₂ reduction on the cathode is dependent on the effective supply of charge from the photoanode.

This study introduces a one-step solid-state synthesis approach for the encapsulation of FeSe₂ nanorods within a ketjenblack (KB) carbon matrix, yielding an excellent anode material with superior rate performance for potassium ion batteries.