Renzhi Ma

Strain engineering has emerged as an effective strategy to regulate the electronic structure of nonprecious transition-metal-based electrocatalysts for enhanced oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity. Nevertheless, in most reported electrocatalyst systems, the use of other catalytically active transition metal ion dopants couples strain effects with dopant-derived d electronic configuration modifications and even active sites, thereby obscuring the intrinsic role of lattice strain. Herein, strain-dominant engineering of hematite (α-Fe2O3) for efficient OER was achieved via electronically inert Mg2+ doping. Combined experimental and theoretical analyses revealed that Mg2+ substitution induces lattice expansion and intrinsic tensile strain in the α-Fe2O3 lattice, which modulates the local Fe–O coordination environment and enhances Fe–O orbital interaction, thereby leading to more favorable adsorption energetics of OER intermediates. As a result, Mg2+-doped α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles with optimized Mg2+ content of 1.53% exhibited a substantially reduced overpotential, delivering a current density of 10 mA cm–2 at 0.406 V compared to 0.453 V for pristine α-Fe2O3, along with a significantly decreased Tafel slope from 161.5 to 99.6 mV dec–1. This work establishes electronically inert dopant-induced strain engineering as an effective strategy for enhancing the electrocatalytic performance of iron-based oxide nanocatalysts by regulating Fe–O orbital coupling and oxygen intermediate adsorption.

Synergistic effect of Ni and Co in NiCo LDH plays a significant in optimizing both thermodynamic and kinetic of GOR. Phased transformation generates true active species in catalyzing glucose into formate.

Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have emerged as a compelling option for energy storage, owing to their cost effectiveness, high safety, environmental friendliness, and high energy density. In this work, superior Zn2+ storage performance was achieved by constructing a lamellar MnO2/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposite via a flocculation approach. This nanocomposite integrates the advantages of both components, consisting of alternately restacked unilamellar MnO2 and rGO nanosheets with molecular-scale homogeneity, which affords high electrical conductivity, a large surface area with abundant active sites, and rapid Zn2+ migration. As a result, the ZIB assembled with the MnO2/rGO nanocomposite delivered a specific capacity of 228 mAh g−1 at 50 mA g−1, far exceeding that of individual MnO2 and rGO, thereby demonstrating that composite construction can significantly enhance the Zn2+ storage abilities of MnO2 nanosheets. This work highlights a promising strategy for designing high-performance ZIB cathodes and further advances the development of next-generation energy storage devices.

By combining amphiphilic polymers with natural biomolecules, layer-by-layer (LbL) surface modification technology provides a versatile strategy to tailor the interfacial properties of self-assembled fullerene nanostructures for biomedical applications. Herein, we developed LbL surface-modified supramolecular fullerene microrods (FMR) to investigate tunable cell-material interactions associated with a cell-feeding phenomenon. Using LbL surface modification, FMR (average length 55 ± 8 μm and diameter 1.7 ± 0.6 μm) prepared by the liquid-liquid interfacial precipitation (LLIP) method was endowed with a layered polymer structure, thereby forming multilayer-coated fullerene microrods (FMR-P/G) with enhanced surface hydrophilicity. After 12 h of gelatin cross-linking, the resulting FMR-P/G_12 h sample exhibited layered structures, with Pluronic and gelatin layers stacked with thicknesses of ∼19 ± 6 and ∼31 ± 4 nm, respectively. The contact angle of FMR decreased from 104° to 44°, reflecting a pronounced enhancement in surface wettability. The impact of the surface-modified FMR-P/G_12 h sample on the biological behavior of NIH/3T3 fibroblasts was explored to assess its potential for biomedical applications. When FMR-P/G_12 h was used to treat NIH/3T3 fibroblasts, the cells exhibited markedly enhanced early stage viability (∼152% at 1-day culture and ∼349% at 3-day culture), while showing comparable survival levels during extended culture (cell viability ∼323% at 14-day culture). This effect may be attributed to the improved hydrophilicity and interfacial properties of the polymer-modified fullerene microrods, which facilitate favorable cell-material interactions during the early culture stage. These results suggest that FMR-P/G_12 h can modulate cellular responses through surface-engineered interfaces, highlighting the feasibility of LbL surface-modified self-assembled fullerene nanostructures for biointerface-related applications. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of LbL-engineered fullerene constructs for interface-driven biomedical material design.

CoNiFe LDH nanocones with mixed coordination are engineered via Fe incorporation and topochemical oxidation. Exfoliation to monolayer nanosheets further boosts OER activity by maximizing accessible active sites.

Electrocatalytic water splitting, as a highly promising hydrogen production technology, hinges critically on the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Serpentine structured materials are inexpensive, chemically stable, and electrochemically active in OER. However, the OER activity of these materials remain limited due to the scarcity of active sites. Here, a series of serpentine Co₃(Si₂O₅)₂(OH)₂ catalyst materials are synthesized via hydrothermal synthesis and photo irradiation treatment. All synthesized catalysts retained a consistent layered nanosheet structure. The photo irradiated Co₃(Si₂O₅)₂(OH)₂ catalysts exhibited excellent OER performance, with the Co₃(Si₂O₅)₂(OH)₂ irradiated for 12 h displaying the highest OER activity. Electrochemical testing confirmed that photo irradiation enhanced the electrochemical active area of the catalyst material while reducing charge transfer resistance, thereby facilitating charge transfer during the OER process. Concurrently, Co₃(Si₂O₅)₂(OH)₂ irradiated for 12 h demonstrated outstanding stability, maintaining a stable voltage for 85 h at 10 mA cm^-2. Theoretical calculations further reveal that photoirradiation modulates the electronic structure of Co sites, shifting the d-band center closer to the Fermi level and thereby strengthening the adsorption of OER intermediates while lowering the reaction energy barrier. The solar driven water splitting process achieves a high Faradaic efficiency of 93.83%, and the solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency is 4.66%. This work provides an effective strategy for designing inexpensive and stable OER electrocatalysts.

Crystal–liquid–glass phase transitions in coordination polymers (CPs) and metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have opened new opportunities for materials processing and for accessing novel or enhanced functionalities inherited from their crystalline precursors. However, strategies to modulate the properties of the resulting glassy states, collectively referred to as metal–organic glasses (MOGs), have primarily relied on crystal engineering. Such approaches face intrinsic limitations, as the rare occurrence of melting behavior in CPs/MOFs and the narrow compositional windows that sustain a stable liquid phase restrict access to new structures and properties. Inspired by the compositional tunability of conventional oxide glass, this work explores a strategy to modulate MOG properties by incorporating inorganic zirconium hydrogen phosphate as a secondary network former. We hypothesize that the mismatch between tetrahedrally coordinated Zn ²⁺ in the parent MOG and octahedrally coordinated Zr ⁴⁺ in the additive induces distinct structural and functional modifications. By systematically varying the content of the zirconium hydrogen phosphate, we demonstrate a linear increase in the glass transition temperature, viscosity, and anhydrous proton conductivity, reaching 2.6 mS cm ⁻¹ at 150°C. These results highlight the potential of translating design principles from inorganic glass science to fine‐tune the properties of MOGs.

The chemical exfoliation of layered metal hydroxides (LMHs) is a cutting-edge technology to obtain unilaminar and few-layer LMH nanosheets with positive charges and an ultrathin thickness, which widely serve as building blocks for functional composites in emerging fields. However, the preparation of high-quality monolayers with a large lateral dimension and regular morphology and the investigation of the exfoliation mechanism remain formidable challenges. Herein, uniform hexagonal NiCo LMH nanosheets were prepared by directly delaminating the well-crystallized α-type NiCo LMH nanoplate precursor in formamide with the assistance of mild heating. A plausible exfoliation mechanism suggests that formamide diffuses rapidly with the assistance of heating, facilitating expansion of the interlayer spacing of the LMH bulk. Subsequently, the precursor undergoes a gradual delamination process to form uniform hexagonal monolayers, as the interlayer force diminishes. Moreover, the positively charged LMH nanosheets are utilized as nanoblocks to electrostatically adsorb anionic polystyrene sodium 4-sulfonate (PSS) or negatively charged reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via a layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly method. The constructed (NiCo LMH/PSS)_n and (rGO/NiCo LMH)_n multilayer heterostructure films are highly viable in electrochemical applications.

The incorporation of 2D LDH nanosheets into partially fluorinated quaternized polymers (QPAF-4) facilitated fast hydroxide transport via hydrogen-bonding networks and enhanced alkaline durability by mitigating quaternary ammonium degradation.

This review summarizes the synthesis, characterization, and optical properties of rare-earth-doped halide perovskites, highlighting their potential for rapid, stable, low-background multimodal theranostics and future clinical translation.