Themed collection Recent Review Articles

Overview of design strategies and adsorption interactions in stable covalent organic frameworks (COFs) featuring functionalized 3D Schiff base C–N linkages, emphasizing their effectiveness in CO₂ capture applications.

Graphene-based two-dimensional heterostructures are gaining attention as promising solutions for supercapacitor applications.

This review summarizes the design, antimicrobial mechanisms, and infection-model applications of phage–nanomaterial platforms, highlighting strategies for synergistic antibacterial activity and perspectives for clinical translation.

Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) ferroelectric (FE) materials have recently emerged as promising candidates for advanced synaptic devices in brain-inspired neuromorphic computing systems.

Quantum dots (QDs) have emerged as promising platforms for physical unclonable functions (PUFs), where their nanoscale heterogeneity, emission variability, and spectral tunability enable robust, unique, and secure authentication.

The optical properties of carbon dots produced from polymers are reviewed. The synthesis, structure and optical properties of polymer-derived carbon dots are highly varied and are explored for a wide range of applications.

This work systematically compares solid–solid and solid–liquid–solid conversion mechanisms in aqueous batteries and provides new insights into designing high-performance aqueous energy storage systems.

Three aspects that piezoelectric materials promote wound healing are as follows: (A) electrical stimulation promotes tissue repair, (B) piezoelectric catalytic antibacterial action, and (C) drug-loaded piezoelectric dressings.

The Hf_1−xA_xO₂ films demonstrate strong piezoelectricity, exhibiting either positive or negative d₃₃ values. Consequently, they are utilized in novel MEMS/NEMS devices, including actuators, resonators, and sensors.

The growing demand for sustainable energy and environmental remediation has intensified the search for efficient, metal-free catalysts.

This work reviews carbon nanomembranes (CNMs) from self-assembled monolayers to composite membranes, focusing on their development and potential in separation applications.

This review introduces key concepts and tools for modelling 2D magnets with DFT, covering magnetism basics, challenges like spin order, and methods to extract Hamiltonian parameters and critical temperatures for various anisotropies.

Recent advances in understanding photocarrier dynamics of fullerenes in PSCs, focusing on charge transport, interfacial interactions, and the impact of functionalized derivatives on efficiency and stability.

This review discusses key factors influencing photoluminescence fluctuations of single perovskite nanocrystals and highlights surface passivation strategies to enhance their stability.

This review integrates theoretical and computational advances to identify active sites and key intermediates in NO_x electroreduction, offering mechanistic insights and guiding principles for selective ammonia synthesis.

MXenes are 2D materials with high conductivity and tunable surfaces, ideal for energy storage and flexible electronics.

This review highlights the therapeutic potential of metal-based and metal oxide nanoparticles in IVDD by leveraging their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and microenvironment-modulating properties to enhance tissue repair. The ToC was created in BioRender. Zhang, L. (2025) https://BioRender.com/6fzdcqv.

This review highlights iron-based nanozymes including iron oxides, single-atom nanozymes, and MOFs that induce ferroptosis via ROS generation and Fenton chemistry, achieved by POD-, CAT-, OXD- and SOD-like activities.

This review highlights recent stimulus-responsive antimicrobial nanotherapeutics for ocular infections, focusing on their design, progress, and advantages/limitations.

Mechanisms of graphene growth via chemical vapor deposition on oxide ceramics such as Al₂O₃, MgO, CaO, and SiO₂ are discussed, with a focus on substrate-specific methane activation processes, toward versatile three-dimensional graphene synthesis.

This review systematically compiles studies on redox reactions during SLFP regeneration, which are crucial for enhancing the understanding the regeneration of SLFP batteries.

This review focuses on the recent application progress of polymer additives in liquid electrolytes for lithium batteries.

This review highlights the recent progress in structural engineering of noble metal-based nanozymes and their enzyme-like properties in various enzyme-mimicking reactions and diverse biomedical applications.

This review explores the spin effects in both achiral and chiral metal halide perovskites and their opto-spintronic applications.

This review explores advancements, applications, challenges, and future prospects of flexible fibrous electrodes for implantable biosensing, highlighting their potential in biomedical monitoring and human–machine interfaces. Images reproduced with permission, full details in paper.

The ion-selective transport property of biological systems has inspired the development of biomimetic ion channels. This mini-review highlights the mechanisms, recent fabrication strategies and applications of biomimetic ion channels.

This review emphasizes the groundbreaking potential of MXene-based microrobots in developing targeted drug delivery and synergistic therapeutic approaches.

Cu-based bimetallic catalysts show enhanced electrochemical CO₂ reduction performance via the tandem effect. This review traces their progress, highlighting design advances, mechanisms, and challenges to guide efficient CO₂ conversion.

This review explores the development of biomedical nanomaterials based on rod-shaped plant viruses, providing insights into the design of innovative biomaterials for applications related to drug delivery, bioimaging and immune-therapy. Created in https://BioRender.com.

Hydrogen bubble evolution presents both challenges and opportunities in Zn-based batteries. While bubble evolution induces electrode instability and dendrite formation, it can also optimize mass transfer through controlled fluid dynamics.

Polymeric nanoparticles represent an innovative approach to drug delivery, particularly for addressing complex diseases like cancer.

External strategies such as electrode design, stress/heat transfer improvements, microstructure optimization, and multifunctional synergy show great potential for improving sensing performance of PVDF-based sensors. Images reproduced with permission, full details in paper.

The increasing demand for sustainable solutions to address environmental and energy challenges has driven the development of advanced materials. This paper highlights recent advancements in the development of sustainable nanofibrous membranes.

Multifunctional coupling and signal decoupling achieved through nanostructure and supramolecule design, enable multimodal mechanoluminescent materials to play an increasingly important role in interdisciplinary applications and cutting-edge fields.

DNA nanomaterials offer promising advancements in addressing the challenges of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) through targeted drug delivery, biomarker detection, and therapeutic innovation.

Laser diodes based on solution-processed semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) present an economical and color-tunable alternative to traditional epitaxial lasers.

The dual role of ROS in liver diseases, and the potential of nanomaterials with catalytic activity for therapeutic applications are examined.

This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent biomedical applications of upconversion nanomaterials specifically within the near-infrared two-region (NIR-II) window (1000–1700 nm).

Mathematically inspired structure design has emerged as a powerful approach for tailoring material properties, especially in nanoscale thermal transport, with promising applications both within this field and beyond.

The emerging integrated power supplies for self-powered bioelectronic devices over the past few years are summarized. Additionally, the challenges and future perspectives in self-powered device design and manufacturing are also indicated.

Lithium metal is considered one of the most promising anode materials for lithium batteries due to its high theoretical specific capacity (3860 mA h g⁻¹) and low redox potential (−3.04 V).

This minireview highlights recent progress in BHJ-based photoelectrochemical cells and photocatalysts for solar-to-chemical conversions.

Chiral nanomaterials are emerging as a promising class of vaccine adjuvants with the potential to significantly enhance vaccine efficacy, especially in the context of cancer immunotherapy.

Dilute and single-atom alloy catalysts have attracted tremendous attention in heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, we discuss recent progress on simulating their stability and catalytic behavior.

We summarize the latest developments in NIR-CPL generated by chiral inorganic nanomaterials and provide new perspectives for constructing NIR-CPL materials and developing new applications for chiral nanomaterials.

Solid-state nanochannel sensors consisting of recognition elements and nanochannels are capable of detecting a wide range of small molecules including gas molecules, drug molecules and biomolecules.

This mini-review focuses on how super-resolution techniques uncover the detailed interactions between nanoparticles and immune cells.

Chirality is an intriguing property of molecules, and exciting area of study involves the generation of chirality in nanographenes (NGs), also known as graphene quantum dots.

AI surrogates are displacing brute-force simulations in meta-optics; we review strategies from CNNs to LLMs that speed design, capture coupling, and yield fabrication-friendly, multifunctional devices.

Heterostructured OER electrocatalysts overcome kinetic limits via interfacial electronic redistribution, optimizing intermediate adsorption. This review examines their design, mechanisms, advantages, and challenges for sustainable energy conversion.

This review outlines the basic principles of a chemical strategy for obtaining arrays of open vase-like microcapsules (VLMs) with walls made of metal oxyhydroxides on the surface of substrates.

Metal phosphides, which have been extensively explored for energy storage applications such as batteries and supercapacitors, possess unique physicochemical, morphological, and electrochemical properties.

In this review, mass-sensing humidity sensors are comprehensively summarized from the aspects of humidity sensing mechanisms, humidity sensing materials, and emerging applications. Images reproduced with permission, see Figure 1 for details.

The transformation of plastic waste into valuable products remains a significant challenge for sustainable manufacturing.

This review highlights recent advancements in Vis-light activated photocatalysts for the degradation of nitrogen oxides in air, emphasizing key strategies to boost their performances for environmental remediation.

This review summarizes advances in the design, synthesis, and application of Cu SACs in photocatalysis. Special emphasis is placed on structure–activity relationships and the underlying mechanisms governing charge dynamics and surface reactions.

This review summarizes the design and research progress of multifunctional inorganic photothermal nanomaterials and multi-mode synergistic therapy, providing guidance for novel diagnostic and therapeutic materials and insights into future PTT development.

Water purification and a variety of electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices, such as fuel cells, electrolyzers, and redox flow batteries, depend heavily on ion-conductive polymer membranes.

In this mini-review, we reviewed the role played by 2D materials as additives in PSCs and their effects on carrier transport and stability and put forward some prospects for the preparation of high-performance PSCs.

Dendrimer-based nanocarriers are emerging as transformative platforms to overcome the challenge of crossing the blood–brain barrier (BBB) in the treatment and diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The ToC was created in BioRender. Roullin, V. (2025) https://BioRender.com/r9c9tw8.

Continuous advancements in technology and industry have resulted in the discharge of toxic and hazardous gases that pose a threat to human health and the environment.

This work breaks new ground by linking catalyst design with engineering needs for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers, providing a roadmap for non-precious catalysts in acid conditions.

This study establishes a mechanism-driven framework that guides material and device design strategies aimed at suppressing noise. This approach leads to substantial enhancement in detectivity for high-performance organic photodetectors.