Themed collection Journal of Materials Chemistry C Emerging Investigators 2026

Cephalopods (e.g., octopus, squid, and cuttlefish) are a class of soft-bodied marine invertebrates renowned for their ability to dynamically alter their color and appearance for camouflage in complex environments.

This review highlights recent advances in wireless technologies for stretchable bioelectronics, including wireless power transfer, wireless data communication, material selection, integration approaches, and applications in bioelectronic devices.

This review highlights emerging chiral molecular carbon materials for circularly polarized luminescence, emphasizing chirality control, property tuning, integration challenges, and future opportunities in chiroptoelectronic technologies.

We show that the conditions for cluster and molecular orbital formation in kagome materials are set by an interplay of optimal electron correlation strength, electron number and molecular orbital symmetry.

This work highlights the dual-functionality of PPy coatings, which simultaneously enhances electromagnetic properties and provides oxidative degradation protection in physiologically relevant environments.

A hybrid electrochemical immunosensor based on gold nanodendrimer-decorated MoS₂ nanoflowers was developed for capturing and quantifying α-fetoprotein (AFP) in the human serum matrix.

Select sulfur vacancy configurations in CdS/MoS₂ heterojunctions introduce midgap states which enhance the HER, while CdS facet termination controls interfacial charge transfer and affects overall band alignment.

Floquet engineering provides a non-contact approach to dynamically tailor electronic band structures and induce topological phase transitions via time-periodic optical fields.

Embedding dielectric microbeads into conductive polymers endows ultrathin THz absorbers with >99% absorption. The approach provides a scalable design for next-generation EMI shielding coatings.

Five pseudo-para[2.2]paracyclophane derivatives were prepared bearing different electron donating and withdrawing groups. Their optical properties in solution and upon aggregation were studied, and their rectification in the solid state was reported.

Design of polymers via Stille polymerization enables high-performance organic solar cells with improved stability, processability, and compatibility with non-halogenated solvents.

Strong light-matter coupling reshapes the vibronic energy landscape of chlorophyll a, revealing a previously unobserved middle polariton branch and suppressed disorder.

Four synergistic strategies guided the design of the medium-bandgap small-molecule acceptor Cl24-H, which exhibits excellent miscibility and complementary absorption with PM6:BTA-E3 system, resulting in ternary OSCs with a remarkable PCE of 20.2%.