Themed collection Journal of Materials Chemistry A HOT Papers

Pourbaix diagram is a critical tool in electrocatalytic research, driving innovation and improving the reliability of catalyst development.

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 manuscript comprehensively reviews the recent advancements in Cu-based atomic site catalysts in the NO₃RR, following a sequential order with six sections: Introduction, Mechanism, Cu-based SACs, Cu-based SAAs, Cu-based DACs, and Perspectives.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

The unique piezoelectric effect of Exp-MoS₂ significantly promotes NH₄⁺ transfer and leads to a faster diffusion rate, making Exp-MoS₂/CC act as an outstanding anode of an integrated ammonium-ion asymmetric supercapacitor.

The d-band center of Pt nanoparticles has been demonstrated as an effective parameter for modulating their catalytic activity for toluene hydrogenation, thereby promoting the H₂ strong in liquid organic molecules.

The Mg@DL-Ti₂CCl_x composite, synthesized using MXene with partially removed terminal groups, shows enhanced hydrogen storage properties by forming a direct Ti–Mg interface which promotes charge transfer and weakens the Mg–H bond.

We first investigate the electrochemical dealloying effect and mechanism of a high-chromium alloy in alkaline NaNO₃ solution at oxygen evolution potential.

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.

The mutual restriction between hydroxide ions' conductivity and alkaline stability is the main obstacle for the practical application of anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) in anion-exchange membrane fuel cells.

The nickel atoms were introduced into the porous h-BN matrix through Ni–B bonds; this Ni/Ni_xB@MgH₂ exhibits an capacity of about 7.0 wt% at 200 °C, releasing H₂ of approximately 4.5 wt% H₂ within 10 min, with stable reversible cycling.

A new synthesis strategy of continuous structure transformation has been studied to construct ordered vacancies for enlarging the pores and enhancing the stability of MOFs. The structure transformation was confirmed by single crystal diffraction.

An enhanced catalytic performance for selective methanol electrooxidation to formate was achieved derived from the “shuttle-like” role of Se and the bimetallic synergism in NCS/CF.

A g-C₃N₄ isotype heterojunction photo-electrode is reported for high-performance photo-accelerated zinc-ion capacitors.

The proposed film has a good light modulation capability within the solar spectrum (ΔT_lum = 75.13 and ΔT_sol = 66.41), and the maximum cooling power during the day and night reaches 97.63 W m⁻² K⁻¹ and 136.24 W m⁻² K⁻¹, respectively.

Conjugated porous polymers (CPPs) incorporating donor–acceptor (D–A) structures are gaining significant interest for their potential in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).

Glucose biofuel cells (GBFCs) are special energy conversion devices using naturally abundant glucose as fuel.

A novel electron-rich alkynyl-functionalized HOF material was designed and synthesized for efficient C₂H₆/C₂H₄ separation. The alkynyl groups serve as functional binding sites to result in high C₂H₆ adsorption capacity and selectivity.

The ORR catalytic performance of penta-coordinated FePc/N-CNTs was significantly influenced by the local surface structure surrounding the axial ligand on the functionalized CNTs.

Extended π-conjugated COFs containing imine linked active sites have been synthesised and found to accelerate the ORR. The mechanism of the ORR reaction has been explored via in situ FTIR and push–pull interaction in alkaline media.

Here we report the demonstration of protonic ceramic electrochemical cells for hydrogen production through seawater vapor electrolysis. The single cells achieve excellent electrochemical performance and maintain good stability during testing.

We developed a hydroxyl-rich fibrous membrane that can undergo controllable in situ gelation to create a porous integrated interface between hydrogel electrolytes and electrode, resulting in ultra-thin all-in-one electrochemical capacitors.

The rapid development of technology has resulted in increased electromagnetic radiation, causing significant impact on human health. This work provides inspiration for the development and design of microwave absorbing materials.

A solid hot-injection solvent-recycle method is developed for cost-effective synthesis of Cu-based metal oxide nanocrystals towards CO₂ hydrogenation with the recovery of organic ligands and solvents.

A universal descriptor was constructed by combining DFT calculations and machine learning to predict highly active NRR electrocatalysts based on transition metal atom anchored 2D carbon nitrides with varied C/N ratios (TM@CN_x).

A high-entropy design enhances ORR activity via structure and surface properties. An SOFC with a high-entropy cathode has a peak power density of 787.15 mW cm⁻² at 800 °C and is stable for 100 hours.

A PCMs-enhanced thermostat capable of dynamically adjusting its thermal regulation performance along with the ambient temperature is developed, showing great potential for all-day temperature-adaptive thermal management in energy-saving buildings.

A dual-mode composite textile prepared with white hyperbranched flame retardants and black phosphorus nanosheets features adjustable personal thermal management and multiple synergistic flame retardant properties.

A dual-pronged strategy involving electrolyte manipulation and separator functionalization is proposed to improve the electrochemical magnesium storage performance of organic small molecules.

O_d-ZnO/NHCFs as an oxygen-vacancy catalyst exhibit enhanced desulfurization capability with the in situ construction of an S@O_d-ZnO/ZnS/NHCF heterostructure, which is used as a cathode for LSBs.

Alkali metal-doped cerium manganese-based three-dimensional ordered macroporous catalyst exhibit the formation of more oxygen vacancies and unsaturated structures.

The surface of a zinc metal anode was mapped using SECM. Slow Zn²⁺ transport can be caused by an insulating SEI (ZHS or ZnO) or horizontally plated zinc. Fast Zn²⁺ transport can be caused by a protruding morphology or a more conducting SEI.

A new method of utilizing carbon nanotubes as the electrolyte additive for lithium–oxygen batteries has been designed to overcome the shortcomings due to insulating discharge products.

This work theoretically studies the photovoltaic performance and carrier dynamics of S-scheme CsSnBr₃/SnS_x (x = 1, 2) heterostructures. The V_Br(6.3%)–CsSnBr₃/SnS-based solar cell device exhibits the highest power conversion efficiency (26.58%).

We demonstrated that the spin moment of magnetic metals in 2D MOFs is correlated with the stability and catalytic activity of 2D MOFs, which can guide the rational optimization of catalytic activity by tuning the spin states of the metal center.

A reduced Cu_0.75Zn_0.15Mg_7.1Al₁Sc₁O₁₁-HEO catalyst was highly active and stable for the dehydrogenation of cyclohexanol, and the conversion of cyclohexanol could be evidently enhanced when acetone was used as the solvent and/or hydrogen acceptor.

A novel four-way diffusion structure for Reverse Electrodialysis (RED), named compact RED (cRED), addresses the stability and power density challenges of the conventional series design, leading to substantial improvements in both metrics.