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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

An yttrium-stabilized zirconia-based electrochemical sensor with LaCrO₃ as the electrode material was used to selectively detect NO.

This study shows that entropy engineering can enhance the energy-storage performance of lead-free BNT-based dielectrics, achieving a recoverable energy density of 11.24 J cm⁻³ and 88.3% efficiency, with excellent stability and rapid discharge.

The hierarchical and interconnected architecture of NiO/N-HPC promotes efficient electrolyte penetration, shortens ion transport path, and accelerates reaction kinetics, leading to a high-performance aqueous potassium-ion hybrid capacitor.

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

The flexible photo-rechargeable device with an OEE of 12.88% displays good low-temperature suitability and safety without overcharge-induced thermal runaway.

An in situ switchable photoselective polymer film, assembled from asymmetric optical nanofibers, achieves high-threshold power regulation through elimination and restoration of scattering interfaces, facilitating a wide range of temperature control.

The phase of the precursor of ELM-11 affects the steepness of its gate-opening behavior, and this phase can be controlled by solvent-mediated phase transformation.

An efficient and recyclable iron single-atom catalyst with FeN₄ sites has been fabricated, which can facilitate the formation of an Fe(IV)O intermediate and achieve scaled-up pentazolate synthesis via a three-step, one-pot process.

A novel high-entropy Sr₂Fe_0.4V_0.4Mo_0.4Ni_0.4Ti_0.6O_6−δ (SFVMNT) perovskite, coated with in situ exsolved NiFe alloy nanoparticles, is proposed as a promising cathode material for solid electrolysis cells for CO₂ electrolysis.

Ultra-small CoO_x clusters efficiently capture holes and prolong the lifetime of trapped holes, as well as boost surface water oxidation, thus remarkably improving the photocatalytic pure water splitting performance of ZnIn₂S₄.

Sb₂S₃-based two terminal tandem solar cells (2T-TSCs) are reported for the first time with the assistance of lead sulfide quantum dot rear cells. The PCE of the champion TSC reaches 10.92%. Our work opens the door for Sb₂S₃ based 2T-TSCs.

A biotopologically structured configuration constructed by an energy-saving electrodeposition method for low-temperature supercapacitors.

The Zn-doped BCF36 cathode boosts proton conductivity, lowers hydration energy and achieves a peak power density of 998.6 mW cm⁻² at 600 °C with a polarization resistance of 0.151 Ω cm² for a single cell with the BCFZ10 cathode.

Atomically ordered Ir₃Ti intermetallics on carbon nanotubes exhibit remarkable performance for pH-universal overall water splitting.

A novel LiF@LiZn10/Li composite foil was developed as an effective anode for lithium metal batteries. The uniform lithiophilic substrate and the LiF-rich SEI optimize Li⁺ deposition.

Versatile CLCEs with a loosely crosslinking density were developed, which exhibit exceptional high mechanical performances and responsive functionalities including thermochromic, mechanochromic, shape memory, and dynamic adhesion behaviors.

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.

Structurally oriented BP/Ti₃C₂T_x heterostructured fibers with high conductivity, excellent mechanical properties and high specific capacitance were fabricated via electrostatic assembly for high-performance flexible fiber supercapacitors.

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.

High-efficiency MPSCs with a PCE of 18.06% were prepared by introducing PACl to manipulate perovskite crystallization in a triple-mesoporous structure.

The surface morphology and microenvironment of GDEs could be altered through the addition of ionomers to electrodes. It was crucial to consider the potential interactions between the ionomer and the catalyst for better performance.

This work demonstrates a series of functionalization methods to enhance the utility of thermoplastic-elastomer derived ordered mesoporous carbons, including chemical activation, heteroatom doping, and the introduction of nanoparticles.

Imidazolium cations facilitate electrochemical CO₂ reduction by (1) stabilizing CO₂˙⁻ with delocalized positive charge (π⁺) and (2) tuning the transport of proton donors to the electrochemical interface.

Currently, commonly used terahertz (THz) absorbers based on metamaterials exhibit limitations in their narrow-band characteristics.

Poly(biphenyl indole)-based membranes are designed for investigating the effect of side-chain engineering on the mechanism of manipulating proton transport.

The selective oxidation of organic small molecules not only promotes cathodic hydrogen production, but also acts as an alternative reaction to the anodic oxygen evolution reaction of electrolytic water, producing value-added products at the anode.

A novel Mn-based Sp-DRX electrode engineered to initiate favorable early phase transitions, effectively delaying detrimental transitions to extend battery life.

A multiphase artificial interphase layer can induce homogeneous deposition of Na⁺ and promote rapid transport of Na⁺. Therefore, the BiCl₃-Na anode achieves uniform dendrite-free deposition and improves electrochemical performance.