Front Cover

In article number 2200429, Zhou, Li, Ou, and co-workers developed a universal ion-exchange and in-situ pyrolysis strategy to co-regulate structural morphologies and chemical contents of metal-organic framework derivatives, achieving enhanced microwave absorption performances.

Inside Front Cover

In article number 2200421, Song, You, Zhang, and co-workers found that the introduction of chirality is an efficient strategy for the targeted construction of multifunctionality, which simultaneously increased the possibility of obtaining multiaxial ferroelectricity and ferroelasticity, and effectively realized a large piezoelectric response. Moreover, chirality-induced ferroelasticity would also achieve excellent magnetic or optical response driven by pressure.

Inside Back Cover

In article number 2200232, Jaklenec, and co-workers break the mold. Direct fabrication of shape-specific, discrete, and 3D microstructures is reported from any thermoplastic polymers irrespective of their chemical structures or molecular weights using a newly designed, highly non-wetting template. This exceptional surface property emanates from preferential orientation of pendant, highly fluorinated side groups of the new polymer to the surface, making it non-wetting to any organic materials.

Back Cover

In article number 2200659, Lemineur, Kanoufi, and co-workers present a machine vision automatized analysis of the electrochemistry of a thousand individual nanoparticles from multi-complementary operando optical and ex situ microscopies. Seeing the whole unveil electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution by Ni.

Ternary blend is a widely used strategy for higher efficiencies in organic photovoltaics. In this review, recent high-efficiency works applying ternary strategy from three views of morphology, energy loss, and working mechanism are summarized, thus providing a comprehensive understanding on the role of third component.

The Fe-based sodium-ion batteries with earth-abundant elements, environmental friendliness, and safety are very promising to be the substitute for lithium-ion batteries in impending grid-scale energy storage. Compared to the transition metal oxide and Prussian blue analogs, the Fe-based polyanionic oxide cathodes possess high thermal stability, ultra-long cycle life, and adjustable voltage, which will be more commercially viable in the future.

In this review, the challenges and energy storage mechanisms of zinc anodes are summarized. Importantly, 3D zinc anodes with different structures are generalized in detail, including fiber, porous, ridge-like structure, plated zinc anodes on different substrates, and other 3D zinc anodes. Furthermore, some views for 3D zinc anodes are put forward on the solutions and the future development direction.

The exotic topological phase attracts considerable attention worldwide. Herein, the current understanding of the polar topological structures in functional oxide heterostructures is summarized, for example, in the PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ superlattice. The important role of computational tools such as phase-field simulations in designing polar topological phases is highlighted.

The present applications of amorphous red and black phosphorus for the electrodes of alkali-ion batteries may lead the fibrous red and violet ones into this research field as well in the near future.

The facile ion-exchange strategy is provided to regulate the structure and microwave absorbing performance of the metal-organic frames derivative. Specifically, not only the Ni²⁺ concentration is adjusted to get a suitable cavity, but also the components, interfaces, defects, and polar groups are improved by thermodynamic regulation, thus achieving enhanced performance that results in the best impedance matching and electromagnetic attenuation.

Introducing chiral cations, a pressure-responsive hybrid rare-earth perovskites, (R-N-methyl-3-hydroxylquinuclidinium)₂RbCe(NO₃)₆, is constructed. (R-N-methyl-3-hydroxylquinuclidinium)₂RbCe(NO₃)₆ exhibits satisfactory piezoelectric properties when combined with multiaxial ferroelectricity and ferroelasticity, with a piezoelectric charge constant of 104 pC N^–1 and piezoelectric voltage constant of 420 × 10⁻³ V m N⁻¹. Furthermore, the presence of ferroelasticity, allied with single-ion magnetics (SIMs) behavior, brings about piezomagnetic on/off switching.

Break the mold! Direct fabrication of shape-specific, discrete, and 3D microstructures is reported from any thermoplastic polymers irrespective of their chemical structures or molecular weights using a newly designed, highly nonwetting template. This exceptional surface property emanates from preferential orientation of long, pendant, highly fluorinated side groups to the surface, making it nonwetting to any organic materials to be molded.

A machine-vision methodology is depicted enabling the automated identification of various descriptors of ≈1000 individual nanoparticles (size, position, composition, activity) obtained from multiple complementary operando optical monitoring and ex situ microscopy imaging of electrochemical reactions. Comparing the contribution of all individual nanoparticles with the electrochemical response unveils the electrocatalysis of hydrogen evolution by Ni metal.

Chitin Nanocrystal Structure

In article number 2200320, Yurtsever, Fukuma, and co-workers provided the molecular-scale structural details of chitin nanocrystals in water by combining 3D atomic force microscopy experiments and molecular dynamics simulations. The characterization of chitin nanocrystal surfaces at the molecular scale could pave the way for assessing the chemical and enzymatic activities on chitin nanocrystals, offering an understanding of the mechanisms of chitin degradation.

The molecular-scale structural details of the chitin nanocrystal–water interface are characterized using the 3D atomic force microscopy combined with molecular dynamics simulations. The characterization of chitin nanocrystal surfaces at the atomic/molecular resolution paves the way for assessing the chemical and enzymatic activities on chitin nanocrystals, offering understanding of the mechanisms of chitin degradation, which is crucial for biomass conversion.

Ion Transport Barriers

In article number 2200658, Mei, Sun, and co-workers proposed a tin-extracted synthetic strategy for producing tin diselenide by using MAX-phase precursors. After coupled with graphene, the 2D heterostructure shows low surface/interface transport barriers in rechargeable Li-/Na-ion batteries.

The large-scale synthesis of tin diselenide crystals is innovatively achieved via a one-step selenization reaction by using the Sn-containing MAX-phase, and the assembled 2D/2D SnSe₂/graphene heterostructures deliver ultralow Li/Na-ion transport barriers for rechargeable batteries, as confirmed by theoretical and experimental evidence.

A precise and methodical protocol for urea quantification or evaluation in photo/electrocatalysis is explored and established after thorough investigation and exploration of the superiorities and limitations of the frequently used urea quantitative methods in emerging photo/electrocatalytic urea synthesis, with emphasis on the screening quantitative methods under specific conditions and indispensable isotopic tracing experiments.

An aptamer- and lectin-induced proximity ligation assay combined with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction for precise quantitation of glycosylated exoPD-L1 is developed. Leveraging the metabolism-free lectin labeling of glycosylation, the glycosylation-independent aptamer tagging of PD-L1, and excellent selectivity of dual-recognition, this method enables glycosylated exoPD-L1 quantitation with high sensitivity and selectivity in a wash-free manner.

The grain boundary engineering gives the garnet electrolyte superior lithium dendrite suppression capability.

Newly developed approach combining scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry is applied to investigate electrolyte flooding in gas diffusion electrodes for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide. It is demonstrated that cracks in the microporous layer serve as efficient pathways for draining excess electrolyte allowing flooding-related performance losses to be avoided.

Inspired by natural bamboo, this study reports a “three-step” strategy for the mass production of cellulosic triboelectric materials with resistance to extreme environmental conditions. It achieves high triboelectric properties with a working area of only 1 cm². More importantly, it can maintain 85% energy harvesting and meet diverse self-powered induction even after resisting extreme environmental conditions.

The hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate on block-random copolymer ligands induces the segregation of copolymers on gold nanoparticles and hence governs the structure and distribution of silica patches formed on the nanoparticles, resembling the geometry of polar small molecules (e.g., H₂O, NH₃).

Novel tremella-like Ni₃S₂@RuO₂/NF and Ni₃S₂@NiFeOOH/NF heterostructures catalysts by coupling RuO₂ and NiFeOOH on Ni₃S₂ nanoflakes exhibit excellent hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction catalytic activity. Heterogenous configuration induces electron transfer from Ni₃S₂ to RuO₂ through NiRu/SRu bonds, and thus tailors the d-band center and optimizes the activated H₂O/H* Gibbs free energies for enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction on Ni₃S₂@RuO₂.

An ingenious phototransistor based on WSe₂/WS₂/WSe₂ dual-van der Waals heterostructures is constructed, performing both high responsivity, light on/off ratio and detectivity in the charge neutrality point. This high performance is ascribed to the distinctive device design, which not only facilitates the separation of photogenerated carriers but also produces a strong photogating effect.

The Cr incorporation changes the electron distribution of RuO₂ which decreases the d-band center of Ru and the energy barrier of *OOH adsorbed on RuO₂ (1 1 0), thus being favorable to the activity of oxygen evolution reaction in acidic electrolyte. Additionally, the oxidation resistance of Ru is significantly reinforced by inhibiting the lattice O oxidation mechanism pathway, resulting in enhanced stability.

Hotplate annealing of amorphous InGaO thin film at 350 °C in air environment and subsequent heating at 300 °C under N₂O environment yield a highly aligned polycrystalline InGaO. It can be applied to the thin-film transistor exhibiting an average μ_sat of ≈78.73 cm² Vs⁻¹ with excellent bias and environmental stabilities.

Glioblastoma (GBM) diagnosis using liquid biopsy suffers limitations due to biological and practical limitations. This research introduces nanoengineered plasmonic metasensors with sub-single molecule level sensitivity to detect GBM biomarkers in blood accurately and in under 10 min. This methodology is noninvasive and amplification free with a high diagnostic accuracy of 98.7%.

In this work, an integrated microfluidic platform consisting of a single-cell trapping chip and a spatially coded antibody barcode chip has been developed for the multiplexed profiling of exosome secretion at single-cell resolution. Also, a robust and easy-to-use analysis workflow to analyze single-cell secretion data is proposed to identify potential functional cell subpopulations and explore the cancer intercellular heterogeneity.

A simple and eco-friendly approach is proposed to prepare Cu-BHT nanotubes (Cu-BHT-NTs) with a high specific surface area and a large proportion of Cu_2c, offering more active sites to detect NO gas. This endows that the DPPTT/Cu-BHT-NTs heterostructure sensor has excellent selectivity and sensitivity. Furthermore, a fully flexible sensor is successfully fabricated to demonstrate its potential application in wearable electronics.

A large-area laser beam induced current microscope adapted to perform intensity modulated photocurrent spectroscopy in an imaging mode is introduced for the first time and applied to study the degradation of a back-contact perovskite solar cell. Diffusion-recombination modeling of the spatio-frequency data allows the extraction of images for key device parameters such as the ambipolar diffusion length.

A simple, inexpensive, and reproducible soft lithographic method is demonstrated for the area selective chemical vapor deposition growth of 2D transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers and multilayers. The application possibilities of the patterned TMDs are demonstrated in field effect transistors, high responsivity photodetectors, and memtransistor devices.

A highly efficient metal-free chemodynamic therapy (CDT) using endoperoxide bridge-containing artesunate is developed. To improve the catalytic efficiency for Fenton reaction, a near-infrared-II (NIR-II) photothermal agent is incorporated to activate CDT through mild hyperthermia effect. This work demonstrates that A-Pt-IR NP are potent biodegradable NIR-II active chemotherapy/CDT nanomedicine for immunotherapy.