Themed collection Journal of Materials Chemistry A Emerging Investigators 2024

As an emerging crystalline porous material constructed from organic building blocks linked by covalent bonds, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have garnered significant interest due to their well-defined pore structures.

Recent advances in wearable electrochemical bioelectronics offer promising solutions for sensitive, real-time detection of biomarkers in agriculture.

This review summarizes the developments of Pd membrane reactors to drive electrochemical hydrogenation of unsaturated compounds including gaseous reagents. It highlights the design of Pd-based catalysts and their utilization to drive hydrogenation.

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.

Single-molecule fluorescence imaging offers high spatiotemporal resolution and enables quantitative, operando studies of photocatalytic nanomaterials at the single- or sub-particle level.

This review summarizes the latest advances in material development and process design for electrochemically upgrading CO₂ to value-added C₃₊ chemicals.

Dual-atom catalysts (DACs) have emerged as highly promising and efficient catalysts for water electrolysis, primarily due to their distinct dual-atom site effects.

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.

This review comprehensively summarizes the development history of CPDT-based organic photovoltaic materials, which contributes to a deeper understanding of the revival of CPDT driven by low-cost acceptors.

In this review, we discuss the promising applications and practical considerations of thermoelectrics to harvest the unutilized thermal gradient between the plasma-facing surfaces and the molten salt coolant loop in tokamak fusion reactors.

Light-driven three-phase interface catalysts for the production of green ammonia as one of the key future energy carriers for the net-zero carbon landscape.

In this review, recent progress in the synthesis and electrocatalytic applications of hybrid nanomaterials containing low-dimensional metals was outlined and some promising future directions were proposed.

We review polythiophene and its derivative (PT)-based polymer donors for all-PSCs, focusing on material design, morphology optimization strategies, and the selection and design of polymer acceptors that complement their properties.

This review provides valuable insights and suggestions for future research on designing low-strain cathode materials for long-life and high-energy-density all-solid-state batteries under low external pressure conditions.

To enhance the economy and society's sustainability, prioritizing innovative, green energy conversion methods is essential.

This review summarizes the latest research progress in polyanionic cathodes for aqueous Zn-ion batteries from the perspectives of crystal structure, reaction mechanism, and design strategy, finally highlights potential challenges and future outlook.

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.

Increasing the oxidation potential improved electrochemical performance by inducing LiCoO₂ delithiation and restructuring into β-CoOOH. Raman spectroscopy revealed heterogeneity and dynamic phase evolution within and between particles.

Non-sticking water droplets covered with a particulate gel, namely particulate gel liquid marbles (PGLMs), exhibited high mechanical stability due to the viscous dissipation of the PG.

Through the electrochemical ion-exchange method, P2-K_0.56Na_0.11Li_0.12Ni_0.22Mn_0.66O₂ was successfully synthesized as a high-performance cathode with a single-phase reaction and K⁺/vacancy disordering for potassium-ion batteries.

Entrainment, where a solid object in a liquid bath moves towards the air phase, is common in industry and daily-life.

Histidine/tryptophan and their enantiomers were stepwise recognized by a dual-optical-response system, responding to fluorescence intensity variation and chiroptical activity regulation.

A multifunctional MoS₂/Ni₉S₈/NF catalyst, designed through heterojunction engineering and elaborate nanostructuring, has been developed for self-powered simultaneous hydrogen production and sulfur recovery.

3D-printed FeCo/TiO₂ nanotube catalysts are used for the first time in Fischer–Tropsch synthesis and demonstrate considerable catalytic activity.

We show that fine-tuning of coordination structure of Ru sites can significantly enhance performances for CO₂ hydrogenation to methane under mild conditions in a photo-thermal synergistic catalytic process.

A sodium salt monomer-based single-ion polymer electrolyte was designed, and as proof of concept, a quasi-solid-state sodium–metal cell, using Prussian White cathode, was manufactured, which delivers a capacity of 147 mA h g⁻¹.

This work benchmarks ionomers for CO₂ electroreduction to multicarbon products. Ionomers with stronger hydrophobicity or having bulkier and less hydrated ionised side chains were found to favour *CO adsorption and multicarbon product formation.

We demonstrate the post-synthetic conversion of polyethylene into functional polymer electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries. To avoid end-of-life polymer electrolytes contributing to polymer waste, we further upcycle them into useful organic acids.

In this work, CoFe nanoalloy clusters embedded into N-doped carbon nanofibers with hollow porous structures demonstrate superior electrochemical performance in sodium-ion capacitors, realizing excellent energy density and power density.

An ultralow-concentration (0.05 M) KFSI-based electrolyte can serve as the electrolyte for K-ion batteries, offering low cost, low viscosity, reduced corrosion risk, and impressive electrochemical performances over a wide range of temperatures.

A tough and recyclable polyurethane elastomer was successfully synthesized from liquified banana stems.

Al doped single-crystal nickel-rich NCMA cathode materials are considered one of the most promising candidates for automobile Li-ion batteries due to their high compacted density and superior cycling stability.

Super-resolution microscopy reveals the impact of adsorbent clustering on adsorption heterogeneity and cooperativity in pollutant removal.

A non-equilibrium high-temperature shock (HTS) strategy, accompanied with the processes of rapid heating and cooling, is reported to introduce twin boundaries (TBs) into Li_1.2Ni_0.13Co_0.13Mn_0.54O₂.

A facile, rapid Joule heating protocol for forming amorphous-structured transition metal phosphate electrocatalysts with low overpotentials, fast kinetics, and long-term stability for oxygen evolution reaction (OER).

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

Impact of SEI component variability in Li and Mg anodes on dendrite formation: influences of plating tendency and electron transfer.

Low-energy ion scattering revealed the true reactive surface composition of high-entropy alloys, differing significantly from the bulk. No significant enhancement in OER performance was observed with high-entropy alloying compared to simpler alloys.

This work provides new insights for predicting the efficiency limit of LSCs. The use of tandem LSCs based on luminophores of singlet-fission and CuInSe₂/ZnS is considered a promising method to achieve optimal efficiency.

We engineered Cu/CeO_x and Cu/CuCeO_x solid solutions, enhancing *H and *CO binding in CO₂RR. Cu/CeO_x boosts *H coverage via faster water dissociation, while Cu/CuCeO_x augments *CO adsorption, selectively reducing CO₂ to CH₄ or C₂H₄.

In rock-salt Mg_0.50TM_0.25Zn_0.25O, CuO is more effective in stabilizing rock-salt ZnO in MgO, compared to CoO and NiO. Cu incorporation creates a wide metal–oxygen bond length distribution and short-range disorder and enhances Zn stabilization.

CO₂ is reduced to methanol via the synergistic effect of expansion of the interlayer spacing and sulfur vacancies of MoS₂.

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.

An anti-freezing flexible supercapacitor (−30 °C) with good mechanical flexibility and high specific areal capacitance is developed as a green renewable power source.

An electrolyte additive with uniquely symmetric structure breaks water's hydrogen bonds and modifies the primary solvation structure of Zn²⁺ in aqueous zinc batteries, enhancing battery performance and stability.

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate (NO₃⁻) to ammonia (NH₃) is garnering increasing interest due to its potential to reduce CO₂ emissions as a substitute for the Haber-Bosch process, while also mitigating NO₃⁻ pollution.

By introducing potassium L-glutamate, residual PbI₂ at the buried perovskite interface is eliminated, leading to enhanced photoelectric performance in perovskite solar cells.

Mimicking the isolated and encapsulated active manganese sites within proteins in nature through the integration of NiFe sites and tungstic acid nanoparticles in an ordered open framework in an isolated manner.

Wrinkled Ir-doped manganese oxide (Ir-MnO_x) nanospheres have been prepared via a facile metal–organic framework-directed strategy as pH-universal OER electrocatalysts.

This study demonstrates the potential of a novel 2D-SBU COK-47-Ti MOF for visible-light-driven wastewater treatment through selective adsorption and photodegradation and shows its excellent performance superior to that of TiO₂ and MIL-125-Ti.

Atomically dispersed Ni/Cu pairs on a BiOCl substrate were fabricated by a solvothermal method. The optimal sample (Ni₁/Cu₁-BOC) exhibited superior HCO₃⁻R activity and CO selectivity, due to efficient charge transfer and HCO₃⁻ protonation.

External electric fields could affect the charge mobility properties of organic semiconductors at a great level. Such influence is realized by changing the geometry and packing structure.

Through a partial conversion route using NiFe-MOF nanosheets as precursors, a transition-metal chalcogenide@metal–organic framework (TMC@MOF) composite was fabricated as an efficient 2e-ORR electrocatalyst.

An innovative strategy for the direct construction of continuous thermally conductive networks composed of ultra-long Si₃N₄NWs is proposed.

Atomically dispersed Ru doped on IrO_x sub-nanocluster is fabricated for acidic oxygen evolution reaction, showing a low overpotential of 237 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and high durability by sustaining a current of 100 mA cm⁻² for 150 hours.

GR and Ni₂P dual cocatalysts modified ZnIn₂S₄ nanoflower has been prepared and they can simultaneously utilize photogenerated electrons and holes to actuate the oxidation of benzyl alcohol (BA) to benzaldehyde (BAD) integrated with H₂ evolution.

A heterointerface engineering strategy of immobilizing core–shell CdSe/CdS quantum dots onto SiO₂ spheres was realized to efficiently integrate CO₂ photoreduction with the oxidation of furfuryl alcohol in one system.

A design of Pt(II)–TADF emitters based on metal-perturbed intraligand charge-transfer excited states towards high-performance red organic light-emitting diodes is presented.

Schematic diagrams of the preparation process of corrosion electrodes and the formation mechanism.

Metal–defect cooperative catalysis in Ru-doped defective MOF-808 is directly visualised via combined XAS, XPDF, XRD, and IR analysis.

Computational exploration and discovery of fluoride-based weberites and perovskites as positive electrodes for calcium batteries, an important next-generation energy storage technology.

A scandium acetate electrolyte additive enables the improved stability of Zn metal anodes in an aqueous ZnSO₄ electrolyte with suppressed side reactions and Zn dendrite formation due to the buffered pH value and homogenized Zn²⁺ distribution.