http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/rss/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1521-4095

Strain engineering, by precisely modulating the electronic structure of catalysts, serves as a pivotal strategy for enhancing electrocatalytic performance. This review focuses on breakthrough strategies such as dynamic strain regulation and stabilization mechanisms, along with their applications in energy conversion reactions and future prospects.

Strain engineering plays a pivotal role in optimizing noble metal-based electrocatalysts, which are essential for advancing sustainable energy technologies. This review highlights recent breakthroughs extending beyond conventional approaches, focusing on two key innovations: 1) Core volume manipulation (CVM) in core–shell structures, enabling precise, dynamic, and reversible strain control via core contraction/expansion; 2) Stabilized strain architectures integrating strong interfacial interactions to construct exceptionally durable catalytic systems. CVM facilitates tunable strain, whereas strong interfacial interactions address strain relaxation crucially, ensuring long-term durability under harsh conditions. These advanced strategies deliver exceptional performance in key reactions, including oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), and CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR), achieving significant enhancements in mass activity and dramatically improved stability over benchmark catalysts. It is critically discuss how these complementary strategies, CVM for tunability and strong interfacial interactions for inherent stability, offer unprecedented control and durability. Finally, current challenges and future directions for next-generation high-performance, durable electrocatalysts are outlined.

Addressing the dual challenges of global water scarcity and carbon neutrality goals, this paper systematically reviews research progress on interfacial solar steam evaporation (ISSE) technology from the perspective of multi-scale energy transfer and mass transport. The content covers photothermal material selection, structural design, system integration, and multifunctional coupling strategies such as thermoelectric synergy, water–hydrogen co-production, and metal salt recovery. Ultimately, it proposes building an intelligent water circulation system integrating “water collection-purification-co-production” through AI-enabled and modular design.

In response to the dual challenges posed by global water scarcity and carbon neutrality targets, conventional desalination technologies struggle to satisfy the requirements of high energy consumption and inherent limitations associated with centralized water supply systems. Within this context, interfacial solar steam evaporation (ISSE) technology has emerged as a promising solution to mitigate the uneven spatial and temporal distribution of water resources, owing to its advantages of highly efficient photothermal conversion, zero carbon emissions, and modular design. Although ISSE has been developed for tens of years, there are still many challenges to be faced, from fundamental research to practical applications. It is noticed that the energy conversion and mass transport are the core issues in multi-scale levels of ISSE, no matter of the material design or the system assembly, and the optimization of them is beneficial for the whole process of ISSE. Herein, the research progress is tried to understand and summarize from the material chosen, structural architecture, and system integration with the view of energy and mass transfer. Furthermore, the successful integration of thermoelectric conversion, simultaneous water–hydrogen cogeneration, and metal salt recovery has concurrently enhanced the efficiency of energy utilization. Furthermore, a collaborative operation framework integrating discrete water networks and ISSE technology has been predicted. Through AI empowerment and modularized design, it eventually forms a smart water cycle system with the trinity of “water collection-purification-cogeneration.” At the end of this review, the thoughts on the development of ISSE are also provided.

This work reports a novel InSe crystal grown on the China Space Station, exhibiting an expanded lattice structure and reduced defects. These lattice variations contribute to unique electronic characteristics and facilitate carrier transport, significantly boosting electrical and photoelectrical performance. The findings offer valuable insights for developing promising electronic materials in the post-Moore era.

Intrinsic defect plays a crucial role in the electrical and photoelectrical performance of InSe-based FETs. Here, a space-growth InSe on China Space Station with reduced intrinsic defects is reported and high-performance InSe field-effect transistors are developed. Spherical aberration corrected transmission electron microscope analysis reveals that the space grown InSe presents lattice expansion of 1.29% along the intralayer direction (a,b plane) and 3.65% along the interlayer direction (c-axis). Density functional theory calculations reveal that the defect generation energy of expanded space InSe is larger than that of ground InSe, improving lattice integrity. The lattice variations in space InSe contribute to unique electronic properties with a narrower bandgap, smaller effective mass of electrons, and increased electronic states near the Fermi level, which reduces carrier scattering and facilitates electron transport. Space InSe FET presents better electrical characteristics (Ion of 6.0 µA µm−1, on/off ratio of 108 and hysteresis voltage of 0.6 V) and photoelectrical performance (responsivity of 5316 A W−1 and detectivity of 1.38 × 1012 Jones) than the ground InSe FET, in which InSe is grown on the ground. This study provides unique insights into the investigation of crystal structure and promotes the development of high-performance 2D FETs.

Cantilever ncAFM resolves the atomic structure of grain boundaries in graphene, revealing coexisting stable and metastable types. Both contain pentagon/heptagon defects, but metastable GBs show irregular geometries. Modeling shows metastable GBs form under compression, exhibiting vertical corrugation, while stable GBs are flat. Metastable GBs can be manipulated toward stability. Their localized distortions impact properties over extended scales.

Grain boundaries (GBs) are ubiquitous in large-scale graphene samples, playing a crucial role in their overall performance. Due to their complexity, they are usually investigated as model structures, under the assumption of a fully relaxed interface. Here, cantilever-based non-contact atomic force microscopy (ncAFM) is presented as a suitable technique to resolve, atom by atom, the complete structure of these linear defects. These experimental findings reveal a richer scenario than expected, with the coexistence of energetically stable and metastable graphene GBs. Although both GBs are structurally composed of pentagonal and heptagonal rings, they can be differentiated by the irregular geometric shapes present in the metastable boundaries. Theoretical modeling and simulated ncAFM images, accounting for the experimental data, show that metastable GBs form under compressive uniaxial strain and exhibit vertical corrugation, whereas stable GBs remain in a fully relaxed, flat configuration. By locally introducing energy with the AFM tip, the possibility of manipulating the metastable GBs, driving them toward their minimum energy configuration, is shown. Notably, the high-resolution ncAFM images reveal a clear dichotomy: while the structural distortions of metastable grain boundaries are confined to just a few atoms, their impact on graphene's properties extends over significantly larger length scales.

This review highlights recent advances in the urea oxidation reaction (UOR), emphasizing molecular mechanisms, rational material design (doping, nanostructuring, defect and heterostructure engineering), and diverse engineering applications including urea sensors, hydrogen production, urea purification, and direct urea fuel cells (DUFCs) under various pH conditions.

The urea oxidation reaction (UOR) serves as a pivotal process for sustainable wastewater remediation and renewable energy conversion, yet its practical implementation faces pH-dependent challenges that demand systematic understanding. This review comprehensively examines UOR mechanisms across alkaline, neutral, and acidic electrolytes, elucidating fundamental correlations between pH environments, catalytic activity, and reaction pathways. While alkaline media enhance kinetics via adsorbate evolution mechanisms, they often induce catalyst structural reconstruction that undermines stability; conversely, neutral and acidic media suffer from kinetic limitations due to inefficient proton-coupled electron transfer processes. Based on these insights, this review outlines several key optimization strategies for catalyst development, tailored to each pH environment, and explores the potential for scaling up alkaline UOR for energy-related applications. Finally, several critical future research directions that provide a roadmap for overcoming existing limitations and advancing UOR toward practical applications are proposed, which can serve as a timely framework for future developments in pH-tailored UOR systems of both environmental and energy sectors.

This review presents an in-depth analysis of the underlying mechanisms and critical performance parameters of the metal cluster scintillators (MCS). Subsequently, effective strategies to enhance scintillation performance are systematically summarized. In addition, it discusses various preparation methods for MCS screens. Finally, the opportunities and challenges that the field currently faces are explored.

X-ray detection technology utilizing scintillators is pivotal across various applications, including medical diagnostics and industrial inspections. Recently, metal clusters have emerged as a novel class of scintillator materials, demonstrating promising potential in X-ray imaging due to their superior X-ray absorption capabilities, tunable optical properties, and excellent stability against moisture and oxygen. This review addresses the current lack of comprehensive evaluations in the domain of coinage metal cluster scintillators. It begins with an in-depth analysis of the underlying mechanisms and critical performance parameters of these scintillators. Subsequently, effective strategies to enhance scintillation performance are systematically summarized. The review also delves into various preparation methods for metal cluster scintillator screens. Lastly, it identifies the opportunities and challenges that the field currently faces. This review aims to serve as a theoretical foundation and a methodological guide for future studies focused on the structural design and performance optimization of coinage metal cluster scintillators, advancing X-ray imaging technologies to address application challenges in this evolving field.

The reaction heterogeneity is tailored precisely within Li-rich cathode materials, which not only helps alleviate the notorious oxygen release as well as parasitic interfacial side reactions, but also improve the Li+ diffusion kinetics by means of highly ordered cationic arrangement and enhanced mechanical stability, thereby boosting the electrochemical properties.

The practical application of Li-rich Mn-based layered oxides (LLO) cathode is hindered by severe capacity and voltage degradation resulting from severe oxygen release and irreversible phase transition. Herein, the reaction heterogeneity, which describes the spatially resolved electrochemical divergence within individual cathode particles, is engineered through compositional gradient design to couple Li+ transport kinetics and the anion redox activity between particle interiors and surfaces. It is revealed that Co/Mn concentration gradient within particles creates heterogeneous phase content distribution and structural ordering, inducing surface-bulk reaction heterogeneity that significantly impacts the overall electrochemical performance. Specifically, Li2MnO3-poor and Co-enriched surface effectively mitigates the oxygen loss and enhances electrochemical reaction kinetics, benefited from the reduced surface redox reactivity and induced highly ordered intra-layered cationic arrangement. Meanwhile, the Li2MnO3-enriched core with slight Li/Ni intermixing provides high reversible capacity and strong mechanical stability. Consequently, the greatly enhanced anion redox reversibility, Li+ diffusion dynamics, and structure stability endow LLO with exceptional electrochemical properties, showing a capacity retention of 86.0% and a reduced voltage decay of 0.518 mV per cycle after 500 cycles at 1 C. This work provides a valuable strategy to tailor the redox chemistry and achieve robust LLO.

Bidentate malondiamidine hydrochloride enables oriented crystallization and strain relaxation in wide-bandgap perovskites for 29.0% efficient all-perovskite tandem solar cells (TSCs).

Wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells (WBG-PSCs) are essential for high-performance all-perovskite tandem solar cells. However, their efficiency and stability are limited by inhomogeneous crystallization, which induces disordered crystal orientation and detrimental lattice strain. Herein, malondiamidine hydrochloride (MAMCl) is introduced as a new ligand that simultaneously controls crystal nucleation orientation and passivates grain boundaries in WBG perovskites while relieving lattice strain. MAMCl's unique molecular structure – featuring amide and amidine terminal groups connected by a short carbon chain, exhibits strong binding affinity with lead ions, promoting preferential (100)-oriented nucleation. The ligand's compact molecular structure, devoid of sterically hindering groups, facilitates charge extraction and transport at the perovskite/charge transport layer interface. During thermal processing, MAMCl preferentially anchors at grain boundaries through strong coordination bonding, effectively mitigating lattice strain and enhancing thermal stability. As a result, single-junction 1.77 eV WBG-PSCs achieve a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.4% with an exceptional open-circuit voltage (V OC) of 1.369 V. When incorporated into tandem devices, a high PCE of 29.0% (certified 28.06%) is obtained. Notably, the encapsulated all-perovskite tandem devices retain 93% of initial efficiency after 700 h and over 80% after 1320 h of continuous maximum power point tracking (MPPT) under 1-sun illumination in ambient conditions.

A dual-phase organic synaptic sensor detects human respiration and ambient UV light, enabling a wearable neuromorphic system for real-time exercise monitoring.

With the advancement of wearable and mobile devices, demand for the real-time, low-power processing of physiological and environmental signals is growing rapidly. To achieve this, neuromorphic systems that employ artificial synapses for analog signal processing and parallel computing represent a promising strategy. In this study, a synaptic sensor is developed that simultaneously responds to human respiration and ambient ultraviolet (UV) light, enabling multimodal analog data processing. The proposed device is fabricated using the organic semiconductor 5,5′-Di(4-biphenylyl)-2,2′-bithiophene, which has distinct bulk and channel phases. Human respiration-induced airflow is converted into a synaptic current via charge trapping triggered by the interaction between molecules of water and the bulk phase, leading to real-time detection of the respiratory rate. The inherent photosensitivity of the device also allows for simultaneous UV detection, thus capturing the environmental exposure conditions. Using these multimodal sensing and processing capabilities, a real-time feedback system is implemented that supports exercise monitoring by integrating physiological and environmental information. This work demonstrates the potential use of synaptic sensors as front-end components in wearable neuromorphic platforms, offering a compact, energy-efficient, and intelligent interface for healthcare and personalized information services.

A poly(benzimidazobenzophenanthroline) (BBL) ladder-type covalent organic framework (HAQ-COF), featuring extended π-conjugation and densely packed carbonyl/imine redox sites, is synthesized, which represents the first application of COFs as cathodes in aqueous iron-ion batteries (AIIBs). Notably, HAQ-COF cathodes demonstrate high specific capacity, excellent rate capability, and long-term cycling stability, enriching the application of BBL-ladder-type COFs in AIIBs.

Aqueous iron-ion batteries (AIIBs) have demonstrated fascinating advantages in large-scale energy storage, whereas the development of high-performance Fe2+ hosting cathode materials is still at its infancy. Herein, two hexaazatrinaphthyalene (HATN)-based poly(benzimidazobenzophenanthroline) (BBL)-ladder-type covalent organic frameworks (COFs) (namely HAQ-COF and HAB-COF) are synthesized and for the first time served them as cathodes for AIIBs. The rigid backbones and delocalized π-electron networks endow them with stable structure and fast charge transport, while the dense arrangement of redox-active groups in HAQ-COF generates more chelating sites, which can facilitate the storage of multivalent metal ions. As a result, HAQ-COF cathodes for AIIBs delivers a high specific capacity of 226 mAh g−1 at 0.2 A g−1, excellent rate capability, and long-term cycling stability with 87% capacity retention over 26 000 cycles at 2 A g−1. Combined experimental (in situ/ex situ spectroscopy) analyses and DFT calculations uncover a dual-site 24-electron redox mechanism with Fe2+ sequentially coordination by carbonyl and imine moieties. This work not only establishes BBL-type COFs as high-performance cathodes for AIIBs but also provides mechanistic insight into Fe2+ storage, thereby informing rational design of sustainable and high-performance cathode materials for multivalent-ion energy storage systems.

The first 2D van der Waals molecular ferroelectric is reported, in which coordination bonded molecule-based monolayers are knitted together by weak van der Waals forces. It can be mechanically exfoliated into ultrathin flake with room-temperature ferroelectricity down to 9 nm, which has never been achieved in traditional molecular ferroelectrics.

2D van der Waals (vdW) ferroelectrics have aroused great interest for their novel structures and functionalities in many applications such as in-memory computing and ferroelectric detectors. However, the documented 2D ferroelectrics remain very rare, mainly limited to inorganic ones represented by transition metal thio/selenophosphates. Constructing new 2D vdW ferroelectric categories may bring interesting phenomena, but it has always been a challenge. Here, a molecular 2D vdW ferroelectric sodium 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoropropionate (2,2,3,3-TFPS) is successfully designed through H/F substitution, which adopts a unique stable layered structure where each coordination bonded molecule-based 2,2,3,3-TFPS monolayers knitted together by weak vdW forces between protruding (−CHF2) cantilevers in the adjacent two monolayers. More strikingly, it can show robust room-temperature ferroelectricity even in a mechanically exfoliated ultrathin flake as thin as 9 nm, which has never been achieved in traditional molecular ferroelectrics with ferroelectricity mainly in the bulk form and micron-scale thin film. To the best of the knowledge, 2,2,3,3-TFPS is the first molecular 2D vdWs ferroelectric showing robust ferroelectricity in sub-10 nm thickness. This work expands the diversity of 2D vdW ferroelectrics and sheds light on the exploration of molecular 2D vdW ferroelectrics with promising low-dimensional ferroelectricity for applications in nanoscale devices.

Thermal annealing enhances organic electrochemical synaptic transistors by improving molecular order, yielding stable multilevel conductance with long-term reliability under ambient conditions. The devices unify memory, sensing, and computation, demonstrated in logic gates, biosignal recording, and neuromorphic activity classification, offering a pathway toward robust bio-inspired electronics.

Organic electrochemical synaptic transistors (OESTs) based on organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs) present a promising platform for bio-inspired neuromorphic computing and bioelectronics. However, achieving long-term memory retention and precise conductance modulation under ambient conditions remains a key challenge. Here, a solid-state OEST gated by a semi-solid ionic liquid gel, in which thermal annealing significantly enhances memory characteristics and operation reliability by tuning the thin film microstructure and ion-polymer interactions, is reported. The optimized devices exhibit stable multilevel conductance with 82% retention over 1000 s across five distinct states, and negligible drift over 20000 operation cycles under ambient conditions. These devices are integrated into non-volatile logic gates (NOT, NAND, NOR) and applied in high-fidelity recording and storage of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals for up to 1200 s, with reusability over 7 days. They are also used for neuromorphic computing of photoplethysmography (PPG) signals for activity classification. This work advances the development of reliable, high-performance bio-inspired neuromorphic devices, offering a route toward in-sensory processing and logic-in-memory architectures for bioelectronic applications.

A universal microemulsion approach using calcium dodecylbenzenesulfonate as surfactant and calcium source enables the synthesis of diverse calcium-based nanomaterials. Calcium succinate nanoparticles (PCS NPs) induce pyroptosis via calcium overload, and upregulate MHC-I expression, enhancing immune response and alleviating immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments. This strategy offers a novel platform for tumor microenvironment (TME)-regulated immunotherapy with broad applications.

Calcium-based nanomaterials have gained significant attention in biomedical fields due to their critical roles in biological processes and excellent biocompatibility. In this study, a universal and simple microemulsion approach is presented using calcium dodecylbenzenesulfonate as both surfactant and calcium source, enabling the synthesis of diverse calcium-based nanomaterials (e.g., calcium succinate, calcium hypophosphite, calcium metatungstate, calcium gluconate, calcium formate, and calcium citrate). To address the challenges of inadequate immune response in tumor immunotherapy, calcium succinate nanoparticle (PCS NP) is investigated as an example. The PCS NP exhibit enhanced immunotherapeutic potential by activating the caspase-1/GSDMD-mediated pyroptosis pathway via calcium overload, which in turn enhanced the immune response. Additionally, the anionic succinate component upregulates major histocompatibility complex-I (MHC-I) expression, enhancing antigen presentation and alleviating the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). This microemulsion strategy provides a novel platform for calcium nanomaterial fabrication, opening new avenues for TME-regulated immunotherapy enhancement, demonstrating a broad application prospect.

Integrating high toughness and persistent room-temperature phosphorescence in crystalline-induced dynamic RTP materials represents a fundamental challenge. Here, a crystalline confinement strategy is developed using ionic comonomers to precisely modulate crystalline domains. Hydration competition tailors crystalline domains to achieve exceptional toughness (12 MJ m−3) while electrostatic anchoring stabilizes triplet excitons to extend phosphorescence lifetime to 598.79 ms, overcoming the intrinsic materials limitation.

Dynamic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials present promising applications in optoelectronic fields.  However, conventional dynamic RTP hydrogels typically suffer from an inherent performance trade-off, where enhancement of flexibility comes at the expense of phosphorescence lifetime and vice versa. Herein, a universal crystalline confinement strategy is reported to overcome this fundamental limitation by employing ionic comonomers to regulate crystalline domains. By incorporating ionic comonomers such as 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt (SPM), the hydration competition and disruption of crystalline packing enable precise control over crystal dimensions, yielding hydrogels with exceptional stretchability (634%) and toughness (12 MJ m−3, 107-fold improvement). The ionic comonomers also serve as electrostatic anchoring sites for chromophores, stabilizing triplet excitons and significantly prolonging the phosphorescence lifetime to 598.79 ms. This approach overcomes traditional trade-offs between flexibility and phosphorescence lifetime, demonstrating broad applicability across various ionic comonomers with ≈100-fold toughness enhancements and prolonged phosphorescence lifetime. These results establish a generalizable framework linking crystalline domain dynamics with photophysical properties in dynamic hydrogels. The design opens avenues for advanced dynamic RTP materials in stretchable optoelectronics, dynamic encryption, smart sensors, and reagent thermal history monitoring.

A flexible, ultrathin (0.1 mm), and thermally robust graphene@silica fabric metasurface with tunable impedance for aerospace EMW absorption via chemical vapor deposition and laser “erasing” technique. This metasurface is directly integrated onto the aircraft thermal-insulation layer and ensures excellent durability under high temperatures, high-speed airflow scouring, and mechanical stress, making it ideal for aerospace applications.

Modern high-speed aircraft require materials that can absorb electromagnetic waves (EMWs) while remaining lightweight, flexible, and resistant to extreme heat flux. Although graphene@silica fabric (G@SF) is a promising metasurface in this regard, its EMW dissipation capacity is limited by its uniform sheet resistance distribution, which leads to mismatched interfacial wave impedance. In this study, a subtractive laser “erasing” technique is applied to G@SF grown via chemical vapor deposition to develop a scalable, flexible, ultrathin (0.1 mm), and thermally robust (up to 1000 °C) metasurface with tunable impedance for aerospace EMW absorption. This metasurface is directly integrated onto the aircraft thermal-insulation layer to obtain an integrated absorber that minimizes radar reflection (down to −42 dB) without adding significant weight or altering aircraft structure. The all-inorganic design ensures excellent durability under high temperatures, high-speed airflow scouring, and mechanical stress, making it ideal for aerospace applications. The proposed method is a promising approach for fabricating next-generation EMW-absorbing materials that combine performance, resilience, and manufacturability.

Bridging chirality and materials science, this review charts how mirror-image building blocks enable stable biomaterials and therapeutics and propel efforts toward mirror cells. Applications in chiral biomaterials and therapeutics are surveyed, alongside engineering strategies toward mirror cells and protocells, and a pragmatic biosafety/ethics and containment roadmap for orthogonal, materials-based life systems.

Biological homochirality, defined by the exclusive use of L-amino acids and D-sugars in terrestrial life, is essential for molecular recognition, enzymatic specificity, and cellular function. Recent advances in synthetic chemistry and molecular engineering have enabled the creation of mirror-image biomolecules such as D-peptides, L-DNA, and L-RNA, laying the foundation for orthogonal biological systems. These systems encompass engineered bacteria, viruses, and protocells composed entirely of D-amino acids and L-nucleotides. Mirror organisms represent a novel class of synthetic life with transformative potential in biomedicine. They may be used to develop protease-resistant drugs, nuclease-stable genetic elements, biosensors, and tissue engineering scaffolds, applications where biological durability and immune invisibility are advantageous. However, their unnatural chirality raises significant biosafety concerns. These organisms may escape immune detection, resist host antimicrobial defenses, and evade ecological regulators such as predation and microbial competition. This introduces the risk of uncontrolled proliferation in clinical or environmental settings. This review examines stereoselective synthesis of mirror biomolecules, construction of functional mirror subsystems, and engineering of mirror-life architectures. It also discusses recent progress in chiral biomaterials, including L-DNA hydrogels, nanostructures, and metamaterials, with potential applications in drug delivery, sensing, and regenerative medicine.

The TOC graphic highlights the newly fabricated PAA37 membrane, which exhibits exceptional ion selectivity. This membrane enables, for the first time, the practical application of using osmotic energy to directly power water electrolysis for hydrogen production. Furthermore, the PAA37 membrane can be mass-produced via a roll-to-roll process, demonstrating its significant potential for large-scale applications in osmotic power generation and hydrogen production.

Harnessing renewable energy for green hydrogen production is critical for decarbonization. An ideal, sustainable route involves self-powered hydrogen production without additional energy input. Here, the osmotic energy between seawater and river water is used to continuously generate electricity to directly produce hydrogen. Efficient hydrogen production is successfully achieved by connecting the osmotic energy device composed of the polyamide acid PAA37 ion selective membrane and the water electrolysis device in series. The PAA37 membrane, featuring engineered sub-nanometer channels, exhibits an ultra-high cation transference number (t+ = 0.96). Targeting the critical challenge of scaling up osmotic power generation, the HLZ equation is introduced. It theoretically establishes that the decline in power density under large-area conditions is primarily attributed to the electrode impedance within the low-concentration zone. This finding offers a theoretical foundation for guiding the optimization of large-scale device designs. Consequently, the PAA37 membrane achieves a power density of 6.0 W m−2 over a macroscopic area of 3.14 mm2 under a 50-fold KCl. Furthermore, by stacking 110 RED units in series, a remarkable output voltage of 24.3 V is generated. By arranging this stack in series and parallel, the system successfully powers an electrolyzer for direct hydrogen production.

A light-activated, in situ spatially programmable bioadhesive (STICH) enables microscale, site-selective integration of bioelectronic devices with wet tissue. It achieves robust mechanical bonding and low-impedance electrical coupling, enabling reconfigurable neuromodulation and directional electromechanical sensing in vivo and ex vivo.

Precise intraoperative integration of bioelectronic devices with wet tissue surfaces remains a challenge due to the limited spatial control of adhesion sites. Here, an in situ spatially programmable electrical bioadhesive (termed “STICH”) is reported that enables site-selective adhesion and functional coupling via light-activated bonding with wet biological tissue. Upon irradiation with patterned green light, Rose Bengal in a chitosan/silver nanowire hydrogel matrix generates singlet oxygen, which oxidizes amino acid residues into carbonyl groups on the tissue surface. The covalent bonding is then formed between the newly formed reactive carbonyl group and amine groups on chitosan. The spatially programmable adhesive allows robust tissue bonding with a lap-shear strength of 160 kPa and precise adhesion regions at ≈2 µm resolution. The light-patternable adhesive enables spatially resolved mechanical coupling for directional electromechanical sensing on ex vivo cardiac tissue. The low impedance adhesive interface also provides spatially programmed electrical coupling for in vivo neuromuscular stimulation on intraoperatively selected muscle groups. This platform advances microscale device-tissue integration and paves the way for reconfigurable bioelectronic therapies.

This study reports alternating-current (AC) driven magnetization reversal in a semi-magnetic topological insulator (Cr,Bi,Sb)2Te3/(Bi,Sb)2Te3, with low current density. Time-domain Hall voltage measurements reveal a nonlinear and rectified Hall effect, along with higher-harmonic responses and hysteresis. These findings, including asymmetric frequency mixing, offer potential for spintronic applications like signal processing and frequency conversion.

Spin–orbit torque arising from the spin–orbit-coupled surface states of topological insulators enables current-induced control of magnetization with high efficiency. Here, alternating-current (AC) driven magnetization reversal is demonstrated in a semi-magnetic topological insulator (Cr,Bi,Sb)2Te3/(Bi,Sb)2Te3, facilitated by a low threshold current density of 1.5 × 109 A m−2. Time-domain Hall voltage measurements using an oscilloscope reveal a strongly nonlinear and rectified Hall response during the magnetization reversal process. Fourier analysis of the time-varying Hall voltage identifies higher-harmonic signals and a rectified direct-current (DC) component, highlighting the complex interplay among the applied current, external magnetic field, and magnetization dynamics. Furthermore, a hysteretic behavior in the current-voltage characteristics gives rise to frequency mixing under dual-frequency excitation. This effect, distinct from conventional polynomial-based nonlinearities, allows for selective extraction of specific frequency components. The results demonstrate that AC excitation can not only switch magnetization efficiently but also induce tunable nonlinear responses, offering a new pathway for multifunctional spintronic devices with potential applications in energy-efficient memory, signal processing, and frequency conversion.

A pH-dependent phosphate conformal coating capable of effectively suppressing the electrolyte decomposition and considerably enhancing the mechanical stability of graphite cathode via a bonding interaction with binder enables 5.0 V graphite cathodes over 10,000 cycles with an exceptional capacity retention of 80.7% in dual-ion batteries.

Dual-ion batteries (DIBs) composed of a graphite cathode and a lithium anode are promising candidates for high-energy and high-power energy storage systems. However, graphite cathode undergoes rapid failure during the extended cycling and rapid charge/discharge mainly because of its structural breakdown and drastic resistance rise of cathode/electrolyte interphase (CEI) arising from the violent electrolyte decomposition at high voltage (4.5–5.0 V). Unlike the mainstream CEI modification strategy solely solving the problem of electrolyte decomposition, this work proposes a bifunctional CEI construction strategy that not only inhibits the electrolyte decomposition but also enhances the mechanical stability of graphite cathodes. Three pH-variable phosphates (LiH2PO4, Li2HPO4 and Li3PO4) are artificially coated on the surface of natural graphite (NG) particles through a green and low-cost wet coating route. The acidic LiH2PO4 coating not only effectively suppresses the electrolyte decomposition through the formation of a conformal coating layer, but also considerably enhances the mechanical strength of NG cathode via a strong bonding between LiH2PO4 and binder. The underlying mechanisms are elucidated through both theoretical calculations and empirical experiments. The optimized NG cathode is able to withstand fast charge/discharge at 60 C and exhibits exceptional capacity retention of 80.7% after 10,000 cycles 2 C.