Achieving high energy densities for all-solid-state lithium batteries is restricted by the poor high voltage stability of solid electrolytes. Herein, F-doping strategy is successfully employed on Li₃InCl₆ to obtain enhanced voltage stability and electrode compatability towards bare LiNi_0.7Mn_0.2Co_0.1O₂ at high voltages. The optimized Li₃InCl_5.5F_0.5 electrolyte exhibits a decreased conductivity of 1.00 mS/cm, a wider voltage window, and improved electrochemical performance in solid-state batteries when cycled at upper cut-off voltages of 4.5 and 4.8 V (vs. Li⁺/Li⁰). The generation of more stable LiInF₄ phase in the cathode mixture of Li₃InCl_5.5F_0.5-based battery ensures superior electrochemical performances compared to the Li₃InCl₆-based battery. The former battery exhibits a higher discharge capacity of 218.9 mAh/g and coulombic efficiency of 86.7% for the first cycle, and retains 80.0% of its original value after 100 cycles when cycled in the range of 3.0–4.5 V (vs. Li⁺/Li⁰). In contrast, the Li₃InCl₆-based battery exhibits lower capacities and faster degradation under the same conditions due to the formation of InCl₃ phase with poor electrochemical stability. This work facilitates the advancement of high energy density solid-state battery technologies by utilizing high-voltage cathodes.

Conductive hydrogel membranes with nanofluids channels represent one of the most promising capacitive electrodes due to their rapid kinetics of ion transport. The construction of these unique structures always requires new self-assembly behaviors with different building blocks, intriguing phenomena of colloidal chemistry. In this work, by delicately balancing the electrostatic repulsions between 2D inorganic nanosheets and the electrostatic adsorption with cations, we develop a general strategy to fabricate stable free-standing 1T molybdenum disulphide (MoS₂) hydrogel membranes with abundant fluidic channels. Given the interpenetrating ionic transport network, the MoS₂ hydrogel membranes exhibit a high-level capacitive performance 1.34 F/cm² at an ultrahigh mass loading of 11.2 mg/cm². Furthermore, the interlayer spacing of MoS₂ in the hydrogel membranes can be controlled with ångström-scale precision using different cations, which can promote further fundamental studies and potential applications of the transition-metal dichalcogenides hydrogel membranes.

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) plays a vital role in determining the ground state and forming novel electronic states of matter where heavy elements are involved. Here, the prototypical perovskite iridate oxide SrIrO₃ is investigated to gain more insights into the SOC effect in the modification of electronic structure and corresponding magnetic and electrical properties. The high pressure metastable orthorhombic SrIrO₃ is successfully stabilized by physical and chemical pressures, in which the chemical pressure is induced by Ru doping in Ir site and Mg substitution of Sr position. Detailed structural, magnetic, electrical characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the substitution of Ru for Ir renders an enhanced metallic characteristic, while the introduction of Mg into Sr site results in an insulating state with 10.1% negative magnetoresistance at 10 K under 7 T. Theoretical calculations indicate that Ru doping can weaken the SOC effect, leading to the decrease of orbital energy difference between J_1/2 and J_3/2, which is favorable for electron transport. On the contrary, Mg doping can enhance the SOC effect, inducing a metal-insulator-transition (MIT). The electronic phase transition is further revealed by DFT calculations, confirming that the strong SOC and electron-electron interactions can lead to the emergence of insulating state. These findings underline the intricate correlations between lattice degrees of freedom and SOC in determining the ground state, which effectively stimulate the physical pressure between like structures by chemical compression.

Silicon-air batteries (SABs), a new type of semiconductor air battery, have a high energy density. However, some side reactions in SABs cause Si anodes to be covered by a passivation layer to prevent continuous discharge, and the anode utilization rate is low. In this work, reduced graphene oxide (RGO) fabricated via high-temperature annealing or L-ascorbic acid (L.AA) reduction was first used to obtain Si nanowires/RGO-1000 (Si NWs/RGO-1000) and Si nanowires/RGO-L.AA (Si NWs/RGO-L.AA) composite anodes for SABs. It was found that RGO suppressed the passivation and self-corrosion reactions and that SABs using Si NWs/RGO-L.AA as the anode can discharge for more than 700 h, breaking the previous performance of SABs, and that the specific capacity was increased by 90.8% compared to bare Si. This work provides a new solution for the design of high specific capacity SABs with nanostructures and anode protective layers.

The ultra-high nickel cathode material has important application prospect in power lithium-ion batteries. However, the poor structural stability and serious surface/interfacial side reactions during long cycles severely hinder the material's practical application. In this paper, Cs⁺ doping and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) coating are used to synergistically modify the NCM955 material. The results show that the corresponding discharge specific capacity of NCMCs-2@P-2 material reaches 152.02 mAh/g at 1 C (1 C = 200 mA/g) and 125.66 mAh/g at 5 C after 300 cycles, and the capacity retention is 78.11% and 72.21%, respectively. In addition, it still maintains 156.36 mAh/g discharge specific capacity at 10 C, and these rate and cycle properties exceed those reported on ultra-high nickel cathode material. Moreover, NCMCs-2@P-2 material has higher migration energy barrier of Ni²⁺ and lower migration energy barrier of Li⁺ than that of NCM955 material. Therefore, NCMCs-2@P-2 material has excellent electrochemical properties, which has been proved by a series of structural characterization, theoretical calculation and performance test. The synergistic enhancement of Cs⁺ doping and PMMA coating accelerates lithium ion diffusion kinetics, stabilizes crystal structure, and inhabits surface/interface side reaction.

Flexible zinc-ion batteries (FZIBs) have been acknowledged as a potential cornerstone for the future development of flexible energy storage, yet conventional FZIBs still encounter challenges, particularly concerning performance failure at low temperatures. To address these challenges, a novel anti-freezing leather gel electrolyte (AFLGE-30) is designed, incorporating ethanol as a hydrogen bonding acceptor. The AFLGE-30 demonstrates exceptional frost resistance while maintaining favorable flexibility even at −30 ℃; accordingly, the battery can achieve a high specific capacity of about 70 mAh/g. Cu//Zn battery exhibits remarkable stability at room temperature, retaining ~96% efficiency after 120 plating/stripping cycles at 1 mA/cm². Concurrently, the Zn//Zn symmetric batteries demonstrate a lifespan of 4100 h at room temperature, which is attributed to the enhancement of Zn²⁺ deposition kinetics, restraining the formation of zinc dendrites. Furthermore, FZIBs exhibit minimal capacity loss even after bending, impacting, or burning. This work provides a promising strategy for designing low-temperature-resistant FZIBs.

The sluggish reaction kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) remain obstacles to the commercial promotion of water splitting and direct methanol fuel cells. Considering the vital role of noble metals in electrocatalytic activity, this work focuses on the rational synthesis of Ni-noble metal composite nanocatalysts for overcoming the drawbacks of high cost and susceptible oxidized surfaces of noble metals. The inherent catalytic activity is improved by the altered electronic structure and effective active sites of the catalyst induced by the size effect of noble metal clusters. In particular, a series of Ni-noble metal nanocomposites are successfully synthesized by partially introducing noble metal into Ni with porous interfacial defects derived from Ni-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH). The Ni₁₀Pd₁ nanocomposite exhibits high OER catalytic activity with an overpotential of 0.279 V at 10 mA/cm², surpassing Ni₁₀Ag₁ and Ni₁₀Au₁ counterparts. Furthermore, the average diameter of Pd clusters gradually increases from 5.57 nm to 44.44 nm with the increased proportion of doped Pd, leading to the passivation of catalytic activity due to the exacerbated surface oxidation of Pd in the form of Pd²⁺. After optimization, Ni₁₀Pd₁ delivers significantly enhanced OER and MOR electroactivities and long-term stability compared to that of Ni₂Pd₁, Ni₁Pd₁ and Ni₁Pd₂, which is conducive to the effective utilization of Pd and alleviation of surface oxidation.

Sodium metal has been widely studied in the field of batteries due to its high theoretical specific capacity (~1,166 mAh/g), low redox potential (-2.71 V compared to standard hydrogen electrode), and low-cost advantages. However, problems such as unstable solid electrolyte interface (SEI), uncontrolled dendrite growth, and side reactions between solid-liquid interfaces have hindered the practical application of sodium metal anodes (SMAs). Currently, lots of strategies have been developed to achieve stabilized sodium metal anodes. Among these strategies, modified metal current collectors (MCCs) stand out due to their unique role in accommodating volumetric fluctuations with superior structure, lowering the energy barrier for sodium nucleation, and providing guided uniform sodium deposition. In this review, we first introduced three common metal-based current collectors applied to SMAs. Then, we summarized strategies to improve sodium deposition behavior by optimally engineering the surface of MCCs, including surface loading, surface structural design, and surface engineering for functional modification. We have followed the latest research progress and summarized surface optimization cases on different MCCs and their applications in battery systems.

For large-scale energy storage devices, all-solid-state sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have been revered for the abundant resources, low cost, safety performance and a wide operating temperature range. Na-ion solid-state electrolytes (Na-ion SSEs) are the critical parts and mostly determine the electrochemical performance of SIBs. Among the studied ones, inorganic Na-ion SSEs stand out for their good safety performance and high ionic conductivity. In this review, we outline the research progress of inorganic SSEs in SIBs based on the perspectives of crystal structure, performance optimization, synthesis methods, all-solid-state SIBs, interface modification and related characterization techniques. We hope to provide some ideas for the design of future high-performance Na-ion SSEs.

Sodium metal batteries (SMBs) have drawn much attention as complement to lithium metal batteries for next generation high-energy batteries. However, it is still a big challenge to enhance their cycling stability without sufficient sodium reserve in anode, due to the non-uniform Na plating/stripping and uncontrolled Na dendrite growth. Herein, a dual layer host consists of sodiophilic graphene@antimony nanoparticles bottom layer and 3D polyacrylonitrile nanofiber top layer (PAN-G@Sb) is employed to enable highly reversible Na plating/stripping. Thanks to the uniform Na deposition, PAN-G@Sb delivers an outstanding average Coulombic efficiency of 99.8%, highly reversible Na plating/stripping for 1000 cycles at 2.0 mA/cm², as well as over 1000 h of stable operation in symmetric cells. When paired with a high mass loading Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃ (NVP) cathode (16.2 mg/cm²), the full cell (N/P ratio = 1.4) also displays prominent capacity retention of 98.7% after 250 cycles with a high energy density of 284.6 Wh/kg. Moreover, PAN-G@SbNVP anode-free full cell also shows an excellent capacity retention of 91.0% after 50 cycles at 0.5 C, exhibiting the stable operation of high energy SMBs.

Solid-state batteries (SSBs) with thermal stable solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) show intrinsic capacity and great potential in energy density improvement. SSEs play critical role, however, their low ionic conductivity at room temperature and high brittleness hinder their further development. In this paper, polypropylene (PP)-polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-Li_1.3Al_0.3Ti_1.7(PO₄)₃ (LATP)-Lithium bis(trifluoromethane sulphonyl)imide (LiTFSI) multi-layered composite solid electrolyte (CSE) is prepared by a simple separator coating strategy. The incorporation of LATP nanoparticle fillers and high concentration LiTFSI not only reduces the crystallinity of PVDF, but also forms a solvation structure, which contributes to high ionic conductivity in a wide temperature. In addition, using a PP separator as the supporting film, the mechanical strength of the electrolyte was improved and the growth of lithium dendrites are effectively inhibited. The results show that the CSE prepared in this paper has a high ionic conductivity of 6.38×10^–4 S/cm at room temperature and significantly improves the mechanical properties, the tensile strength reaches 11.02 MPa. The cycle time of Li/Li symmetric cell assembled by CSE at room temperature can exceed 800 h. The Li/LFP full cell can cycle over 800 cycles and the specific capacity of Li/LFP full cell can still reach 120 mAh/g after 800 cycles at 2 C. This CSE has good cycle stability and excellent mechanical strength at room temperature, which provides an effective method to improve the performance of solid electrolytes under moderate condition.

Lithium metal batteries, with their light mass anode and high theoretical specific capacity of 3860 mAh/g, have great potential for development in achieving high energy density. However, the generation of lithium dendrites and the loss of dead lithium pose a serious threat to the safety and long-cycle stability of batteries. Herein, we utilize the Lewis acid-base interaction principle for lithium-ion migration regulation. Through loading solid-acids onto molecular sieves to immobilize Lewis base (PF₆⁻), we achieve accelerated dissociation of lithium salts and successfully increase the lithium ion transference number to 0.44. Lewis acid-base interaction helps lithium metal batteries achieve more uniform lithium deposition, with an average CE improved to 92.8%. The symmetrical cells can be plated/stripped stably for more than 800 h of cycling. Full cell with high surface-loaded LFP cathode (14 mg/cm²) exhibits impressively high capacity retention of 90.7% after 120 cycles at 0.5 C.

Rationally design the morphology and structure of electroactive nanomaterials is an effective approach to enhance the performance of aqueous batteries. Herein, we co-engineered the hollow architecture and interlayer spacing of layered double hydroxides (LDH) to achieve high electrochemical activity. The hierarchical hollow LDH was prepared from bimetallic zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF) by a facile cation exchange strategy. Zn and Cu elements were selected as the second metals incorporated in Co-ZIF. The characteristics of the corresponding derivatives were studied. Besides, the transformation mechanism of CoZn-ZIF into nanosheet-assembled hollow CoZnNi LDH (denoted as CoZnNi-OH) was systematically investigated. Importantly, the interlayer spacing of CoZnNi-OH expands due to Zn²⁺ incorporation. The prepared CoZnNi-OH offers large surface area, exposed active sites, and rapid mass transfer/diffusion rate, which lead to a significant enhancement in the specific capacitance, rate performance, and cycle stability of CoZnNi-OH electrode. In addition, the aqueous alkaline CoZnNi-OH//Zn showed a maximum energy density/power density of 0.924 mWh/cm², 8.479 mW/cm². This work not only raises an insightful strategy for regulating the morphology and interlayer spacing of LDH, but also provides a reference of designing hollow nickel-based nanomaterials for aqueous batteries.

With the development of science and technology, there is an increasing demand for energy storage batteries. Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are expected to become the next generation of commercialized energy storage devices due to their advantages. The aqueous zinc ion battery is generally composed of zinc metal as the anode, active material as the cathode, and aqueous electrolyte. However, there are still many problems with the cathode/anode material and voltage window of the battery, which limit its use. This review introduces the recent research progress of zinc-ion batteries, including the advantages and disadvantages, energy storage mechanisms, and common cathode/anode materials, electrolytes, etc. It also gives a summary of the current research status of each material and provides solutions to the problems they face. Finally, it looks at the future direction and methods to optimize the performance of zinc-ion full batteries.

High-capacity Ni-rich layered cathodes LiNi_xCo_yMn_1−x−yO₂ (NCM) have been widely recognized as highly promising candidates for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, NCM cathodes are suffered from sluggish Li-ion kinetics and fast capacity decay. Herein, the Nb/Ti co-doping strategy has been proposed by formation energy analysis to enhance the mechanical and chemical integrities of NCM cathode. Nb/Ti co-doping facilitates Li-ion transport of NCM cathode for boosting the rate ability. Furthermore, the structure stability is prominently improved for the stronger Nb–O and Ti–O bonds, resulting from the suppressed sharp contraction of c axis, inhibited microcracks formation, and alleviated electrolyte corrosion. Inspired by the synergistic effect of Nb/Ti co-doping, the modified NCM exhibits superior comprehensive electrochemical performances. The Nb/Ti co-doping NCM exhibits an increased discharge capacity of 144.3 mAh/g at 10 C and an outstanding capacity retention remained 92.7% after 300 cycles at 1 C. This work offers a promising approach to developing high-performance cathode materials.

For realizing the goals of “carbon peak” and “carbon neutrality”, lithium-ion batteries (LIB) with LiFePO₄ as the cathode material have been widely applied. However, this has also led to a large number of spent lithium-ion batteries, and the safe disposal of spent lithium-ion batteries is an urgent issue. Currently, the main reason for the capacity decay of LiFePO₄ materials is the Li deficiency and the formation of the Fe³⁺ phase. In order to address this issue, we performed high-temperature calcination of the discarded lithium iron phosphate cathode material in a carbon dioxide environment to reduce or partially remove the carbon coating on its surface. Subsequently, mechanical grinding was conducted to ensure thorough mixing of the lithium source with the discarded lithium iron phosphate. The reaction between CO₂ and the carbon coating produced a reducing atmosphere, reducing Fe³⁺ to Fe²⁺ and thereby reducing the content of Fe³⁺. The Fe³⁺ content in the repaired LiFePO₄ material is reduced. The crystal structure of spent LiFePO₄ cathode materials was repaired more completely compare with the traditional pretreatment method, and the repaired LiFePO₄ material shows good electrochemical performance and cycling stability. Under 0.1 C conditions, the initial capacity can reach 149.1 mAh/g. It can be reintroduced for commercial use.

Urea-assisted water electrolysis offers a promising route to reduce energy consumption for hydrogen production and meanwhile treat urea-rich wastewater. Herein, we devised a shear force-involved polyoxometalate-organic supramolecular self-assembly strategy to fabricate 3D hierarchical porous nanoribbon assembly Mn-VN cardoons. A bimetallic polyoxovanadate (POV) with the inherent structural feature of Mn surrounded by [VO₆] octahedrons was introduced to trigger precise Mn incorporation in VN lattice, thereby achieving simultaneous morphology engineering and electronic structure modulation. The lattice contraction of VN caused by Mn incorporation drives electron redistribution. The unique hierarchical architecture with modulated electronic structure that provides more exposed active sites, facilitates mass and charge transfer, and optimizes the associated adsorption behavior. Mn-VN exhibits excellent activity with low overpotentials of 86 mV and 1.346 V at 10 mA/cm² for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR), respectively. Accordingly, in the two-electrode urea-assisted water electrolyzer utilizing Mn-VN as a bifunctional catalyst, hydrogen production can occur at low voltage (1.456 V@10 mA/cm²), which has the advantages of energy saving and competitive durability over traditional water electrolysis. This work provides a simple and mild route to construct nanostructures and modulate electronic structure for designing high-efficiency electrocatalysts.

In the practical operations of the sodium ion (Na⁺) batteries (SIBs), the fast transport of Na⁺ is desired for the rate performance, because the other ions in an electrolyte are electrochemically inert. In this study, we use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the partial conductivity of Na⁺ (σ_Na⁺) in the salt-in-ionic liquid electrolytes (SILEs) composed of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium (EMIM⁺) and bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (FSI⁻) with various molar fraction of NaFSI. The simulations show that while the ionic conductivity of the SILE decreases monotonically with the increase of salt fraction of NaFSI, σ_Na⁺ peaks in the SILE with 0.5 molar fraction of NaFSI. Detailed analyses indicate that with the increase of salt fraction, the coordination structure of FSI⁻ around Na⁺ changed from bidentate manner to monodentate manner which weakens the binding of FSI⁻ to Na⁺. The effects are two folds. On one hand, the increased monodentate coordinations cause a large aggregate that hinders the transport of Na⁺ within the aggregate; on the other hand, the large aggregate captures most FSI⁻ to form percolating ion network, and thus leaves a small portion of Na⁺’s that are not in the large aggregate to be more "free" to transport in the SILE.

Multi-metal porous crystalline materials (MPCM), integrating the functions of both multi-metal centres and porous crystalline materials (e.g., metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs)), are an extended class of porous materials that have attracted much attention for a broad range of applications. Owing to the advantages of these materials, they generally display high porosity, multi-metal active sites, well-tuned functions, and pre-designable structures, etc., serving as desired platforms for the study of structure-property relationships. In view of the clean and sustainable target, a series of MPCM have been explored as electrocatalysts for electrocatalytic reactions like hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction and electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction. Concerning the progress achieved for MPCM in electrocatalytic field during past years, this review will provide a brief introduction on the recent breakthrough of MPCM based electrocatalysts including their synthesis methods, structure design, component/morphology tuning, electrocatalytic property and structure-property relationship, etc. Besides, it will also conclude the current challenges and present perspectives for the MPCM based electrocatalysts, which might promote the development of porous crystalline materials in electrocatalysis and hope to provide new insights for scientists in related fields.

Transition metal selenides are considered promising electrochemical energy storage materials due to their excellent rate properties and high capacity based on multi-step conversion reactions. However, its practical applications are hampered by poor conductivity and large volume variation for Na⁺ storage, which resulting fast capacity decay. Herein, a facile metal-organic framework (MOF) derived method is explored to embed Cu_2-xSe@C particles into a carbon nanobelts matrix. Such carbon encapsulated nanobelts' structural moderate integral electronic conductivity and maintained the structure from collapsing during Na⁺ insertion/extraction. Furthermore, the porous structure of these nanobelts endows enough void space to mitigate volume stress and provide more diffusion channels for Na⁺/electrons transporting. Due to the unique structure, these Cu_2-xSe@C nanobelts achieved ultra-stable cycling performance (170.7 mAh/g at 1.0 A/g after 1000 cycles) and superior rate capability (94.6 mAh/g at 8 A/g) for sodium-ion batteries. The kinetic analysis reveals that these Cu_2-xSe@C nanobelts with considerable pesoudecapactive contribution benefit the rapid sodiation/desodiation. This rational design strategy broadens an avenue for the development of metal selenide materials for energy storage devices.

Nickel-rich cathode materials have received widespread attention due to their high energy density. However, the poor rate capability and inferior cycle stability seriously hinder their large-scale application. The traditional co-precipitation method for preparing them has a long process and easily arises agglomeration leading to inhomogeneous element distribution. Here, a novel precursor containing Li element was prepared by ultrafast spray pyrolysis (SP) in 3–5 s. Then the precursor was used to synthesize pristine LiNi_0.9Co_0.05Mn_0.05O₂ (NCM90) and 1% Mg modified LiNi_0.9Co_0.05Mn_0.05O₂ (NCM90-Mg1). This method gets rid of mixing Li/Mg source and the precursor prepared by common co-precipitation, thus could achieve homogeneous lithiation and Mg²⁺ doping. The cell parameter c is expanded, and the cation disorder is reduced after Mg²⁺ doping. Furthermore, the harmful H2-H3 phase transition in NCM90-Mg1 is also well suppressed. As a result, the obtained NCM90-Mg1 shows better electrochemical performance than NCM90. Within 2.8–4.3 V (25 ℃), the specific discharge capacity of NCM90-Mg1 at 5 C is as high as 169.1 mAh/g, and an outstanding capacity retention of 70.0% (10.0% higher than NCM90) can be obtained after 400 cycles at 0.5 C. At 45 ℃, a capacity retention of 81.9% after 100 cycles at 1 C is recorded for NCM90-Mg1. Moreover, the NCM90-Mg1 also exhibits superior cycle stability when cycled at high cut-off voltage (4.5 V, 25 ℃), possessing the capacity retention of 79.2% after 200 cycles at 1 C. Therefore, SP can be proposed as a powerful method for the preparation of multi-element materials for next-generation high energy density LIBs.

Despite significant progress has been achieved regarding the shuttle-effect of lithium polysulfides, the suppressed specific capacity and retarded redox kinetics under high sulfur loading still threat the actual energy density and power density of lithium-sulfur batteries. In this study, a graham condenser-inspired carbon@WS₂ host with coil-in-tube structure was designed and synthesized using anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane with vertically aligned nanopores as template. The vertical array of carbon nanotubes with internal carbon coils not only leads to efficient charge transfer across through the thickness of the cathode, but also provides significant confinement to polysulfide diffusion towards both the lateral and longitudinal directions. Few-layer WS₂ in the carbon coils perform a synergistic role in suppressing the shuttle-effect as well as boosting the cathodic kinetics. As a result, high specific capacity (1180 mAh/g at 0.1 C) and long-cycling stability at 0.5 C for 500 cycles has been achieved at 3 mg_S/cm². Impressive areal capacity of 7.4 mAh/cm² has been demonstrated when the sulfur loading reaches 8.4 mg/cm². The unique coil-in-tube structure developed in this work provides a new solution for high sulfur loading cathode towards practical lithium-sulfur batteries.

The excited state dynamics and critically regulated factors of reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) in through-space charge transfer (TSCT) molecules have received insufficient attention. Here, five molecules of through space/bond charge transfer inducing thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) are prepared, and their excited state charge transfer processes are studied by ultrafast transient absorption and theoretical calculations. DM-Z has a larger ∆E_ST, leading to a longer lifetime of intersystem crossing (ISC), resulting in the lowest photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY). Oppositely, ISC and RISC are demonstrated to take place with shorter lifetimes for TSCT molecules. The face-to-face π-π stacking interactions and electron communication enable DM-B and DM-BX to have an efficient RISC, increasing the weight coefficient of RISC from 1.7% (DM-X) to close to 50% (DM-B and DM-BX) in the solvents, which make DM-BX and DM-B to have a high PLQY. However, partial local excitation in the donor center is observed and the charge transfer is decreased for DM-G and DM-X. The triplet excited state (DM-G) or singlet excited state (DM-X) mainly undergoes inactivation through a non-radiative relaxation process, resulting in less RISC and low PLQY. This work provides theoretical hints to enhance the RISC process in the TADF materials.

Protein glycosylation and phosphorylation, as two of the most important protein post-translational modifications (PTMs), play key roles in living organisms. However, glycopeptides and phosphopeptides have low abundance in biological samples. In addition, the low ionization efficiency and the severe signal interference in the presence of other peptides present great difficulties for their direct mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. Therefore, it is important to develop feasible enrichment strategies to pretreat glycopeptides and phosphopeptides in complex samples before MS detection. This paper reviews the application of various magnetic nanomaterials (MNMs) in glycopeptides and phosphopeptides in the last decade, with emphasis on the enrichment principles, the design and synthesis process of the materials, and the effectiveness of the application in biological samples. In addition, possible future trends and potential challenges are presented.

TiO₂ has been widely studied as one of the most promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to good structural stability and small volume changes. However, its applications are still greatly affected by its poor electrical conductivity. In this work, ultrasmall TiO₂ quantum dots (QDs) are firmly grown onto 2D Ti₃C₂T_x nanosheets (A-TiO₂/Ti₃C₂T_x), benefiting from the positive regulation of (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES). Interestingly, SiO₂ nanoparticles produced by the hydrolysis of APTES can strengthen the strong coupling of TiO₂ QDs with Ti₃C₂T_x, thereby enhancing the structural integrity of the composite. As expected, the A-TiO₂/Ti₃C₂T_x composite demonstrates an exceptional lithium storage performance, achieving a high capacity of 425.4 mAh/g for 400 cycles at 0.1 A/g, and an outstanding long-term cycling stability. In-situ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and theoretical analysis unconver that the superior lithium storage performance is attributed to its unique heterostructure and in-situ N doping derived from APTES, which not only reduces the Li⁺ adsorption energy, but also gives the fast charge transfer dynamics.

As a kind of emerging energy storage devices, Aqueous zinc ion batteries possess the characteristics of safety, low cost and environmental friendliness. However, their further application is restricted by the sluggish electrochemical reaction kinetics and low conductivity. In this work, we prepare two H_3.78V₆O₁₃ electrode materials with many active sites, which promotes the kinetics of ion diffusion and then improves the capacity of the cell. The as-obtained HVO-PVP electrode possess a capacity of 393.2 and 285.9 mAh/g at 0.2 and 5.0 A/g, respectively. Moreover, the assembled Zn//HVO-PVP cells also indicate excellent specific capacity and cycle stability at different operating temperatures (0–60 ℃).

Sulfide solid electrolytes with an ultrahigh ionic conductivity are considered to be extremely promising alternatives to liquid electrolytes for next-generation lithium batteries. However, it is difficult to obtain a thin solid electrolyte layer with good mechanical properties due to the weak binding ability between their powder particles, which seriously limits the actual energy density of sulfide all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs). Fortunately, the preparation of sulfide-polymer composite solid electrolyte (SPCSE) membranes by introducing polymer effectively reduces the thickness of solid electrolytes and guarantees high mechanical properties. In this review, recent progress of SPCSE membranes for ASSLBs is summarized. The classification of components in SPCSE membranes is first introduced briefly. Then, the preparation methods of SPCSE membranes are categorized according to process characteristics, in which the challenges of different methods and their corresponding solutions are carefully reviewed. The energy densities of the full battery composed of SPCSE membranes are further given whenever available to help understanding the device-level performance. Finally, we discuss the potential challenges and research opportunities for SPCSE membranes to guide the future development of high-performance sulfide ASSLBs.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are thought to be an attractive drug delivery material because of their advantages including high specific surface area, tunable pore size and morphology, easy surface modification and good biocompatibility. However, as a result of the poor biodegradability of MSNs, their biomedical applications are limited. To break the bottleneck of limited biomedical applications of MSNs, more and more researchers tend to design biodegradable MSNs (b-MSNs) nanosystems to obtain biodegradable as well as safe and reliable drug delivery carriers. In this review, we focused on summarizing strategies to improve the degradability of MSNs and innovatively proposed a series of advantages of b-MSNs, including controlled cargo release behavior, multifunctional frameworks, nano-catalysis, bio-imaging capabilities and enhanced therapeutic effects. Based on these advantages, we have innovatively summarized the applications of b-MSNs for enhanced tumor theranostics, including enhanced chemotherapy, delivery of nanosensitizers, gas molecules and biomacromolecules, initiation of immune response, synergistic therapies and image-guided tumor diagnostics. Finally, the challenges and further clinical translation potential of nanosystems based on b-MSNs are fully discussed and prospected. We believe that such b-MSNs delivery carriers will provide a timely reference for further applications in tumor theranostics.

Natural phytoconstituents exhibit distinct advantages in the management and prevention of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), attributed to their robust biological activity, multi-target effects, and elevated safety profile. Although promising, the clinical application of phytoconstituents have been impeded by poor water solubility, low oral bioavailability, and inadequate colonic targeting. Recent advancements in nanotechnology has offered prospective avenues for the application of phytoconstituents in the treatment of IBD. A common strategy involves encapsulating or conjugating phytoconstituents with nanocarriers to enhance their stability, prolong intestinal retention, and facilitate targeted delivery to colonic inflammatory tissues. Furthermore, drawing inspiration from the self-assembling nanostructures that emerge during the decoction process of Chinese herbs, a variety of natural active compounds-based nanoassemblies have been developed for the treatment of IBD. They exhibit high drug-loading capacities and surmount the challenges posed by poor water solubility and low bioavailability. Notably, phyto-derived nanovesicles, owing to their unique structure and biological functions, can serve as therapeutic agents or novel delivery vehicles for the treatment of IBD. Consequently, this review provides an extensive overview of emerging phytoconstituent-derived nano-medicines/vesicles for the treatment of IBD, intending to offer novel insights for the clinical management of IBD.

As one of the most common gynecological malignancies, peritoneal metastasis is a common feature and cause of high mortality in ovarian cancer (OC). Currently, the standard treatment for OC and its peritoneal metastasis is maximal cytoreductive surgery (CRS) combined with platinum-based chemotherapy. Compared with intravenous chemotherapy, traditional intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy exhibits obvious pharmacokinetic (PK) advantages and systemic safety and has shown significant survival benefits in several clinical studies of OC patients. However, there remain several challenges in traditional IP chemotherapy, such as insufficient drug retention, a lack of tumor targeting, inadequate drug penetration, gastrointestinal toxicity, and limited inhibition of tumor metastasis and chemoresistance. Nanomedicine-based IP targeting delivery systems, through specific drug carrier design with tumor cells and tumor environment (TME) targeting, make it possible to overcome these challenges and maximize local therapy efficacy while reducing side effects. In this review article, the rationale and challenges of nanomedicine-based IP chemotherapies, as well as their in vivo fate after IP administration, which are crucial for their rational design and clinical translation, are firstly discussed. Then, current strategies for nanomedicine-based targeting delivery systems and the relevant clinical trials in IP chemotherapy are summarized. Finally, the future directions of the nanomedicine-based IP targeting delivery system for OC and its peritoneal metastasis are proposed, expecting to improve the clinical development of IP chemotherapy.

Small interfering RNA (siRNA), a promising revolutionary therapy, faces delivery obstacles due to its poor targeting, strong charge negativity and macromolecular nature. Clinical-approved siRNAs can now only be delivered to the liver mediated by the chemically conjugated N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) ligand, the conjugate can be effectively uptaken into cells through interaction with asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR) highly expressed on liver hepatocytes. To further explore an efficient non-hepatic targeted delivery strategy, in this study, we designed a delivery system that chemically conjugated p53 siRNA to renal tubular cell-targeting peptides for targeting the kidney, which was suitable for industrial transformation. Results showed that peptide-siRNA conjugate could specifically enter renal tubular epithelial cells and silence target genes. In cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) mice, peptide-siRNA conjugate blocked the p53-mediated apoptotic pathway and alleviated renal damage. The innovative proposed system to conjugate kidney-targeting peptides with siRNA achieved the efficient kidney-targeted delivery of siRNA and provided a prospective choice for treating AKI.

Asperfilasin A (1), featuring a unique 5/5 cyclopenta[c]pyrrol-one bicyclic core, represents a newly discovered skeletal cytochalasan isolated from Aspergillus flavipes. The enantioselective total synthesis was efficiently accomplished from the key intermediate (S)-6 with three contiguous stereocenters in 5 steps and the synthetic 1 induced G2/M-phase cell cycle arrest of HT29 cells and apoptosis of HL60 and NB4 cells by activation of caspase-3 and degradation of PARP. (S)-6, bearing three contiguous chiral centers, was efficiently constructed by a novel Nazarov cyclization reaction containing basic nitrogen, which was less developed, primarily due to the incompatibility of basic nitrogen under acidic reaction conditions. This reaction allows a wide range of pentadienone substrates containing basic nitrogen to undergo Nazarov cyclization in a single regioselective and diastereoselective manner and is capable of generating three stereocenters simultaneously. Furthermore, the mechanism of the Nazarov cyclization and the origin of the regio- and diastereoselectivity were elucidated by DFT calculations and deuteration experiments, providing valuable insights into the reaction and serving as a guide for future applications involving substrates containing basic nitrogen.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are a kind of synthetic receptors possessing wide application prospects in proteins recognition. However, there are still great challenges in proteins imprinting due to their large size and easy conformation change. In this study, we explored epitope-oriented MIP based on host-guest interaction (hg-MIP) and constructed a novel hg-MIP-SERS (surface-enhanced Raman scatting) approach for efficiently recognizing the terminal epitopes of neuron-specific enolase (NSE), a well-known disease biomarker for small cell lung cancer, neuroblstom, and Alzheimer's disease. The C- and N-terminal epitopes of NSE were modified with 4-(phenylazo) benzoic acid, then they were used as the templates and immobilized on β-cyclodextrin-functionalized substrates. The imprinted layer was formed by polymerization of various functional monomers. Combined with SERS detection, an antibody-free sandwich assay based on hg-MIP was successfully used to detect the concentration of NSE in human serums, with the advantages of simple operation, small sample volume (5 µL), wide linear range (1–10⁴ ng/mL) and a limit of detection as low as 0.01 ng/mL. The developed epitope-oriented hg-MIP-SERS approach can also be extended to other proteins, expanding the imprinting method of proteins, and has a broad development space in the field of protein separation and detection.

Proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) has emerged as an efficient strategy to accurately control intracellular protein levels. However, conventional PROTACs are generally limited by nonspecific protein degradation and off-tissue side effects. Particularly, there is a lack of effective chemical tools for visualizing protein degradation. Herein, a near-infrared fluorescent and theranostic PROTAC (PRO-S-DCM) was designed for imaging the degradation of bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4). PRO-S-DCM could be tumor-specifically activated and exhibited favorable imaging effects both in vitro and in vivo. PRO-S-DCM was proven to be a theranostic probe, which potently inhibited growth, invasion and migration of HeLa cells and induced cell apoptosis.

The potential of metal nanoclusters in biomedical applications is limited due to aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ). In this study, an in situ self-assembled pitaya structure was proposed to obtain stable fluorescence emission through protein coronas-controlled distance between gold nanoclusters (Au NCs). Interestingly, the gold ion complexes coated with proteins of low isoelectric point (pI) nucleate at the secondary structure of proteins with high pI through ionic exchange within cells, generating fluorescent Au NCs. It is worth noting that due to the steric hindrance formed by the protein coronas on the surface of Au NCs, the distance between Au NCs can be controlled, avoiding electron transfer caused by close proximity of Au NCs and inhibiting fluorescence ACQ. This strategy can achieve fluorescence imaging of clinical tissue samples without observable side effects. Therefore, this study proposes a distance-controllable self-assembled pitaya structure to provide a new approach for Au NCs with stable fluorescence.

As PEGylated liposomes have witnessed remarkable advancements in drug delivery, their immunogenicity has emerged as a notable challenge. In this study, we discovered that a simple pre-injection of folic acid (FA) effectively mitigated the immunogenicity of PEGylated liposomes and enhanced their in vivo performance by tolerating splenic marginal zone B cells. FA specifically inhibited the internalization of PEGylated liposomes by splenic marginal zone B cells, thereby reducing splenic lymphocyte proliferation and specific IgM secretion. This modulation alleviated IgM-mediated accelerated blood clearance and adverse accumulation of the PEGylated liposomes in the skin. These findings provide new insights into the immunomodulatory effects of FA and promising avenues to enhance the efficacy and safety of PEGylated liposomal nanomedicines.

Bacterial infection, insufficient angiogenesis, and oxidative damage are generally regarded as key issues that impede wound healing, making it necessary to prepare new biomaterials to simultaneously address these problems. In this work, monodispersed CeO₂@CuS nanocomposites (NCs) were successfully prepared with tannin (TA) as the reductant and linker. Due to abundant oxygen vacancies in CeO₂ and the polyphenolic structure of TA, the TA-CeO₂@CuS NCs exhibited a remarkable antioxidant ability to scavenge excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), which would likely induce serious inflammation. In addition, the TA-CeO₂@CuS NCs demonstrated excellent antibacterial capability with near-infrared ray (NIR) irradiation, and the released copper ions could promote the regeneration of blood vessels. These synergistic effects indicated that the synthesized TA-CeO₂@CuS NCs could serve as a promising biomaterial for multimodal wound therapy.

Currently, it is still a challenge to develop an organic photosensitizer (PS) with outstanding near-infrared absorption, low O₂ dependence, precise tumor targeting and rapid clearance through the kidney to improve the overall outcome of phototherapy. In this study, we have designed an organic PS (NcPB) with an excellent near-infrared light absorption through a refined molecular strategy. Meanwhile, NcPB was assembled into nanoparticles with different sizes (NanoNcPB-1 and NanoNcPB-0) by a supramolecular modulation strategy. As the results, the nanoparticle with an ultra-small size (NanoNcPB-1) generated a large number of superoxide anion (O₂^•−) in a low-O₂-dependent manner and release plenty of heat. Furthermore, the results of in vivo experiments demonstrated that NanoNcPB-1 actively accumulated in tumor tissues and showed a 92% tumor inhibition after photodynamic and photothermal combination therapy. More importantly, NanoNcPB-1 could be rapidly cleared from the body of mice via the renal pathway, which alleviates potential side effects of prolonged retention of PS in the circulation.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are crystalline porous polymeric materials composed of organic monomers connected by strong covalent bonds and offer high stability, good crystallinity, a large specific surface area, and controllable structures. COFs are widely used in the fields of adsorption and separation, catalysis, photovoltaics, and drug-delivery. The structural regulation and performance optimization of COFs can be realized through the modification of ligands and the selection of linkage methods. In which, the types of linkage are closely related to the stability and performance of COFs. In this review, nitrogen-containing linkage-bonds (NCLBs) in COFs are divided into N-containing double bonds, N-containing conjugated rings and N-containing unconjugated rings. The association between structure and performance of COFs is elaborated and the synthesis methods of COFs are systematically summarized. Moreover, the structural design, theoretical prediction and machinable application of COFs are prospected

Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are biological enzymes expressed on cell membranes that can influence cellular signaling, and their overexpression in tumor cells makes them a key route to assess relevant tumor processes. The development of a delivery system that targets and accumulates in RTKs overexpressing-cells at the on-target site is significant for the monitoring of tumor progression and clinical applications through longer tumor site signaling response under low injection frequency. Here, a host-guest nanoscale fluorescent probe SNI@ZIF-8 based on zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) and a fluorescent probe SNI constructed from receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor was proposed and prepared for targeting RTKs and enabling prolonged fluorescence imaging in vivo. The folded conformation of the probe SNI resulted in low background fluorescence, and the unfolding of the SNI conformation upon insertion of the RTKs active pocket showed significant fluorescence enhancement thus enabling real-time detection of RTKs. The host-guest system SNI@ZIF-8 could release guest molecules due to the presence of the enzyme, emphasizing the reporting of stable fluorescent signals over time under low injection frequency. SNI@ZIF-8 could provide a signal response on the cell membrane of RTKs overexpressing cells without interference from other substances, and provided a longer fluorescent signal than SNI at equivalent number of injections in tumor-bearing mice. The host-guest system SNI@ZIF-8, with its obvious tumor site enrichment ability and clear fluorescence imaging ability, could be successfully applied to the detection of RTKs on cell membranes in biological systems, providing a new strategy for determining the process of tumor development in clinical applications.

Breath analysis can be used to diagnose diseases non-invasively. Accurate measurement of volatolomics is critical for breath analysis to be a gold standard. Tedlar bags (TB) are often used to collect breath samples, but they emit contaminants that affect accuracy. This issue was overlooked in previous studies. We found contamination issues with TB (e.g., siloxanes and aromatic impurities) that affect the identification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) due to impurities. Then, home-designed equipment (HD) made with poly-tetrafluoride (PTFE) and quartz glass for breath collection was developed and employed in clinical trials. 15 healthy individuals and 32 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients at IA stage participated in this study. 610 VOCs can be collected through TB, which is less than HD (1109 VOCs), demonstrating that the inner wall of the TB easily adsorbs VOCs, leading to decreased detection concentrations. Otherwise, utilizing orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), we identified chemical markers with significant discriminatory power (VIP > 1.5, P < 0.05). The HD method identified 12 target VOCs, surpassing the 3 target VOCs discerned by the TB method. A model combined with a machine learning algorithm for distinguishing early-stage lung cancer patients was established based on biomarkers, which were selected based on OPLS-DA. The results showed strong predictive capabilities for the HD-based model. It indicated that 12 biomarkers derived from the HD model were more effective in distinguishing NSCLC patients, with an AUC value of 0.92, compared to the AUC value of 0.5 from 3 markers obtained from the TB model. The sensitivity and specificity in the confusion matrix reached 100% and 80% for the HD test, but TB test reached only 40% and 60%. This work demonstrated that optimizing and standardizing VOCs collection methodology from breath of lung cancer patients is essential to identify actual volatiles, which could promote disease volatolomics worldwide.

Electrocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production is a key approach to tackling the current energy crisis. Among the catalysts, the traditional Pd@C catalysts are remarkable for their efficiency in hydrogen evolution. However, the high cost and scarcity of Pd catalysts, as well as the instability caused by the corrosiveness of carbon-based substrates, hinder their large-scale application. To overcome this challenge, an effective strategy is to construct highly dispersed Pd single atoms to improve palladium utilization and choose more stable materials as supports. In this study, TiO_2−x carriers with abundant oxygen vacancies were prepared and loaded with Pd by photoreduction deposition. Adjusting the palladium content resulted in three forms of Pd-loaded TiO_2−x: nanoparticles (Pd@TiO_2−x(6%, 10%)), nanoclusters (Pd@TiO_2−x(3%)) and single atoms (Pd@TiO_2−x(1.5%)). The oxygen vacancies improved the stability of the titanium dioxide materials by providing more active hydrogen adsorption sites and increasing the affinity of Pd for active hydrogen. Single atom loading increased the frequency of oxygen holes in the support and the high activity of monatomic Pd promoted the adsorption of active hydrogen and facilitated the formation of active hydrogen intermediates. The synergistic effect of single atoms and oxygen vacancies improved the stability and catalytic activity of the composite material. Pd@TiO_2−x(1.5%) showed outstanding performance in hydrogen evolution in an acidic medium with an overpotential of only 24 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm² and a low Tafel rise of 41.9 mV/dec. This study provides an effective strategy for the development of high-performance hydrogen evolution (HER) catalysts.

The efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for breast tumors is hindered by challenges such as inadequate tumor targeting, limited treatment depth, and strong oxygen dependence. Herein, a promising photosensitizer VP-B was developed to simultaneously address all the aforementioned issues for the treatment of hypoxic deep-seated breast tumors. The biotinylated photosensitizer VP-B not only exhibited precise targeting towards breast tumor tissue, but also efficiently triggered the generation of abundant ¹O₂ and O₂^−• under 690 nm red light irradiation. Indeed, the red light penetration ability enabled VP-B to achieve successful application in a mouse orthotopic breast tumor model. After intravenous administration, VP-B can selectively target tumor tissues and significantly inhibit the growth of hypoxic deep-seated tumors. Therefore, this new type Ⅰ & Ⅱ photosensitizer could boost fluorescence-guided photodynamic therapy of other hypoxic solid tumors.

Venetoclax (Vene), a BCL-2 inhibitor, is widely used as a chemotherapeutic drug in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, its treatment specificity for leukemia cells is limited, often leading to side effects and treatment resistance. In this study, we utilized l-phenylalanine as an efficient nanocarrier to enhance the delivery of Vene, forming the complex Vene@8P6. This complex was then applied to AML mouse models and human AML cell lines. The in vitro analysis showed that THP-1 and HL60 cells rapidly absorbed the Vene@8P6 nanoparticles. This absorption resulted in severe DNA damage, increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, elevated apoptosis rates, and decreased cell proliferation compared to the administration of Vene alone. In vivo studies demonstrated that Vene@8P6 more efficiently targeted leukemia cells than normal hematopoietic cells within the bone marrow and other major organs in AML mice, as evidenced by bioluminescence imaging and flow cytometry analysis. Furthermore, Vene@8P6 treatment resulted in reduced drug side effects and improved therapeutic efficacy in AML mice. Overall, Vene@8P6 represents a novel and efficient therapeutic agent for AML, offering enhanced leukemia target specificity, reduced side effects, and improved treatment outcomes.

Programmed cell death protein 1/programmed cell death 1 ligand 1(PD-1/PD-L1) protein-protein interaction represents an appealing target for cancer therapy. Several antibody drugs have been developed to target this interaction, but they are less effective in the treatment of melanoma. To overcome the limitations, the first proteolysis-targeting chimeric (PROTAC) small molecules simultaneously targeting PD-L1 and Src homology phosphotyrosyl phosphatase 2 (SHP2) were designed. By employment of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors BMS01 or BMS-37, SHP2 inhibitor SHP099 and E3 ligase ligands, a series of potent PD-L1 and SHP2 dual PROTACs were synthesized. The most promising compounds BS-7C-V2 and BS327V2 efficiently induced PD-L1 and SHP2 degradation and demonstrated significantly improved immune potency in B16-F10 and A375 cell lines. More importantly, the efficacy of BS-7C-V2 and BS327V2 in a B16-F10 transplanted mouse model was further evaluated based on their degradation ability in vivo. Taken together, our work qualifies the new dual PROTACs as a potent degrader of PD-L1 and SHP2. The biological and mechanism investigations with BS-7C-V2 and BS327V2 prove that dual PROTACs can play an anti-tumor role in vivo and in vitro, and can provide a new therapeutic strategy for melanoma.

Pollutants contained in wastewater pose serious harm to the environment. Graphene-based water treatment materials show significant advantages in wastewater treatment. However, with the development of graphene-based materials, its progress in water treatment has reached a bottleneck. The challenge lies in effectively enhancing its performance in water treatment and ensuring its practicality. By employing biomimetic approaches, some exceptional properties and structures found in nature can be mimicked in graphene materials, effectively enhancing graphene’s adsorption and mechanical properties. Current biomimetic methods include biomimetic mineralization, self-assembly, and templating. unfortunately, all of the above methods suffer from the disadvantages of complexity and poor bionic effect. Nevertheless, 3D printing, a form of additive manufacturing (AM) technology, offers integrated molding and excellent biomimetic performance in creating biomimetic materials. This paper will cover the following aspects: (1) An overview of objects suitable for bionics in terms of functional and structural aspects, along with their properties, and a discussion of various bionic objects combined with graphene materials in water treatment and related research; (2) a comparison of different methods for preparing graphene-based bionic materials; (3) an examination of the current drawbacks and limitations of graphene-based biomimetic materials; and (4) a conclusion and future prospects, exploring the potential of using 3D printing technology to produce graphene biomimetic materials. This review aims to serve as a guide for effectively leveraging natural inspirations to create graphene-based biomimetic materials and enhance graphene properties.

H₂O₂ is an environmentally friendly oxidizing agent with minimal secondary pollution; however, its application has always been constrained by factors such as storage and transportation. In this study, we propose an innovative method for storing and releasing H₂O₂ using hydrogels. Commercial hydrogels (sodium polyacrylate) can undergo swelling and absorb H₂O₂ in aqueous solutions, and the swollen hydrogel can continuously release H₂O₂ under osmotic pressure. And the characteristics of osmotic pressure drive ensure the recyclability of hydrogel for H₂O₂ storage. Experimental results demonstrate that H₂O₂ can stably exist within the hydrogel for an extended period, and this strategy helps to avoid explosion the risk and potential environmental hazards during the transportation of H₂O₂. Finally, experiments confirm that the hydrogel controlled sustained release of H₂O₂ is effective in both Fenton reactions and the process of bacterial inactivation. This work introduces new ideas for the storage of H₂O₂, and the sustained release of H₂O₂ may have significant implications in the fields of healthcare, environmental science, catalysis, and beyond.

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are a class of promising carbon-based nanomaterials that have attracted considerable interest from researchers due to their excellent physical, chemical, and biological properties. However, the high cost, toxicity, and laborious preparation process of GQDs also limit their widespread use. To address this issue, the actual research directions consist in replacing traditional non-renewable feedstocks via screening cheap, easily available, and renewable biomass materials based on the concept of resource conservation and environmental friendliness. Herein, the state-of-the-art technologies in the green preparation of GQDs using biomass as carbon source are reported. Initially, the green synthesis strategies as well as the structural, optical, and biosafety properties of GQDs are discussed in detail. Subsequently, the most representative applications of GQDs in energy and environmental remediation fields are summarized. Finally, the current challenges and future potential of the GQDs are presented.

Although the powder Fenton-like catalysts have exhibited high catalytic performances towards pollutant degradation, they cannot be directly used for Fenton-like industrialization considering the problems of loss and recovery. Therefore, the membrane fixation of catalyst is an important step to realize the actual application of Fenton-like catalysts. In this work, an efficient catalyst was developed with Co-N_x configuration facilely reconstructed on the surface of Co₃O₄ (Co-N_x/Co₃O₄), which exhibited superior catalytic activity. We further fixed the highly efficient Co-N_x/Co₃O₄ onto three kinds of organic membranes and one kind of inorganic ceramic membrane installing with the residual PMS treatment device to investigate its catalytic stability and sustainability. Results indicated that the inorganic ceramic membrane (CM) can achieve high water flux of 710 L m^-2 h^-1, and the similar water flux can be achieved by Co-N_x/Co₃O₄/CM even without the pressure extraction. We also employed the Co-N_x/Co₃O₄/CM system to the wastewater secondary effluent, and the pollutant in complicated secondary effluent could be highly removed by the Co-Nx/Co₃O₄/CM system. This paper provides a new point of view for the application of metal-based catalysts with M-N_x coordination in catalytic reaction device.

Although diverse signal-amplified methods have been committed to improve the sensitivity of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensing, introducing convenient and robust signal amplification strategy into SPR biosensing remains challenging. Here, a novel nanozyme-triggered polymerization amplification strategy was proposed for constructing highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) immunosensor. In detail, Au@Pd core-shell nanooctahedra nanozyme with superior peroxidase (POD)-like activity was synthesized and utilized as a label probe. Simultaneously, Au@Pd core-shell nanooctahedra nanozyme can catalyze the decomposition of H₂O₂ to form hydroxyl radicals (^•OH) that triggers the polymerization of aniline to form polyaniline attaching on the surface of sensor chip, significantly amplifying SPR responses. The sensitivity of SPR immunosensor was enhanced by nanozyme-triggered polymerization amplification strategy. Using human immunoglobulin G (HIgG) as a model, the constructed SPR immunosensor obtains a wide linear range of 0.005–1.0 µg/mL with low detection limit of 0.106 ng/mL. This research provides new sights on establishing sensitive SPR immunosensor and may evokes more inspiration for developing signal amplification methods based on nanozyme in biosensing.