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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

The size effect of Ni–N–C catalysts from nanoparticles to clusters to single atoms on electrochemical CO₂ reduction is investigated. The Ni single atoms are active for CO formation, while Ni NPs and Ni clusters enable syngas production.

Over 29%-efficient monolithic perovskite/Si tandem solar cells based on a poly-Si/SiO₂ passivating contact solar cell.

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.

Catalytically dynamic NSP-CF@NCW electrode engineered by strategic integration of 3D Se and P-fused NSP microflakes with CF cubes docked NCW was studied as a trifunctional electrocatalyst for urea sensing and urea-assisted water splitting.

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.

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.

The combustion synthesized Na₄Fe₃(PO₄)₂(P₂O₇) cathode exhibited outstanding electrochemical performance due to its higher purity, thin and dense carbon layer, and optimized pore structure compared to the one synthesized by the sol–gel method.

The O3-type cathode of NaNi_0.4Fe_0.2Mn_0.4O₂ stands out for its remarkable theoretical capacity, straightforward production process, affordability, and ecological compatibility for sodium-ion batteries.

BT@PDA powder catalysts are gradually anchored onto the surface of porous PVDF via hydrogen bonding. The piezocatalytic performance is comparable to that of using only powder catalysts and limits secondary pollution.

A wave-driven closed polytetrafluoroethylene tube TENG (PT-TENG) with enhanced output is proposed, utilizing interface charge transfer principles, which can generate stable high output current and be used to design a new cathodic protection system.

A polydopamine amphiphilic compatibility layer was applied to meliorate filler dispersion, and enhance the electrochemical performance and stability of all-solid-state sodium metal batteries.

Enhancing electrochemical CO₂ reduction of Cu₂SnS₃ via surface polarization manipulation proves effective for designing efficient CO₂-to-formate electrocatalysts.

V can exist as three vanadium-based species, i.e., doped V^III in LDHs laminates, intercalated VO₃⁻ between LDHs interlayers, and free VO₃⁻ as an additive in KOH electrolyte. The study shows their role in altering the OER performance of NiFe-LDHs.

Solid state NMR and SCXRD analysis characterises the low-dimensional structures of hybrid metal halide perovskites (MHPs) templated by xylylenediammonium isomer cations, providing insight into the structure and dynamics of archetype 3D MHPs.