In a team of researchers at University of Science and Technology of China, partially oxidized atomic cobalt layers have been synthesized successfully and used to achieve efficient and robust CO₂ elecrtoreduction to formate. Such a new process may provide a path to convert CO₂ into useful fuels and thus help to alleviate energy crisis and global warming.

Unidirectional liquid spreading without energy input has plenty of promising applications such as bio-fluidics devices, bio-medical devices and self-lubrication. The secret of the fast continuous directional liquid transport on the peristome surface of Nepenthes alata was revealed-Jiang-Taylor capillary rise. This study will give new insights into the design of two-dimensional directional liquid transport.

Lower olefins are essential feedstock in polymeric industry, and therefore a direct syngas conversion route is challenging, yet highly demanding. Sun's group achieve 61% selectivity toward lower olefins over CoMn catalyst at mild conditions. It is found that the formation of Co₂C nanoprism with unique facets contributed to the astonishing performance.

This 2016 Chinese Chemistry Engram highlights the MOF catalyst for selective hydrogenation. The MOF catalyst is fabricated by sandwiching platinum nanoparticles between an inner core and an outer shell of an MOF with metal nodes of Fe³⁺, Cr³⁺ or both (known as MIL-101), which can convert a range of α, β-unsaturated aldehydes with high efficiency and with significantly enhanced selectivity towards unsaturated alcohols.

Molecular connection between electrodes has been challenging the world since the concept of molecular electronics emergence in 1950s, and practical devices have remained elusive. Guo et al. made the breakthrough by covalently bonding a diarylethene molecule to graphene electrodes and achieved stable photoswitching at room temperature.

The trade-off between adsorption capacity and selectivity of porous materials has been identified as a major challenge towards efficient gas separation/purification through physisorption. The research from Cui et al. address this daunting challenge by developing a new strategy that control over pore chemistry and pore size in hybrid porous materials enables the exploitation of supramolecular chemistry of gases to achieve both high capacity and selectivity, and sets new benchmarks for acetylene separation from ethylene.

C-H bond functionalization refers to transformations that introduce functional group directly via the cleavage of C-H bond, which shows excellent step- and atom-economy. A recent breakthrough was achieved by the Guosheng Liu group in collaboration with Shannon S. Stahl group from University of Wisconsin-Madison. They discovered a new strategy to achieve Cu-catalyzed enantioselective cyanation of benzylic C-H bonds via a "Radical Relay Process". The present copper-catalyzed method provides a remarkably chemo-, regio- and enantioselectivity to afford optical organonitriles efficiently under mild reaction conditions.

A "assembly-and-mineralization" method is developed by Shuhong Yu's group from University of Science and Technology of China. It can fabricate nacre-like materials quickly at large scale by using controllable calcium carbonate mineralization, which is a great step to design and construct advanced functional materials by bioinspired approach.

Hypochlorous acid (HClO) is generated from hydrogen peroxide and chloridion via the catalysis of myeloperoxidase (MPO) in vivo. Normally, HClO acts as omnipresent intracellular regulator within life cycle of the cell, activating signaling pathways for cell differentiation, migration, transmission, proliferation and immune in physiological and pathological processes. Therefore, it is of vital importance to the detection and recognition of hypochlorous acid. Owing to simple operation, high sensitivity, sensitivity, low detection limit, rapid response, excellent spatial and temporal (spatiotemporal) resolution and especially nondestructive characteristics, Fluorescent probe technique has been paid special attention to research the physiological function of hypochlorous acid in vivo. Based on the recognition mechanism of fluorescent probes with hypochlorous acid, this review mainly summarizes the research progress of fluorescent probe for the recognition of hypochlorous acid in last three years. The design strategy of molecular structures and response pattern of these probes are also discussed as well as biological application. The development direction and biological application of hypochlorous acid fluorescent probes are also prospected.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Types of fluorescent probes for HClO
2.1 Oxidation deoximation reaction
2.2 Oxidation unsaturated double bond reaction
2.3 Oxidation p-methoxy phenol reaction
2.4 Oxidation anisidine reaction
2.5 Oxidation chalcogenide (S, Se and Te) reaction
2.6 Oxidative dehydrogenation reaction
2.7 Oxidation hydrazide reaction
2.8 Oxidation metal ion reaction
2.9 Other types of oxidation reaction
3 Conclusion and outlook

The biosensing technology plays an important role in environmental monitoring, safety control and medical diagnosis. Precise control of the interaction between bio-recognition probe and the interface is critical to improve the sensitivity, specificity and selectivity of biosensors. In a typical bioprobe immobilization, the heterogeneity of self-assembled monolayers on the surface increases the binding energy barrier and decreases the recognition efficiency and rate. We found that DNA nanostructures, such as tetrahedral DNA nanostructures (TDNs), could increase the homogeneity of self-assembled monolayers via enthalpy-entropy compensation, which enables precise regulation of interfacial property at the nanoscale. By regulating the intermolecular distance of bioprobes, the hybridization efficiency and hybridization rate of DNA probes can be improved significantly. The detection limit of DNA and microRNA can be pushed down to 10 aM limit. The detection limit of antigen detection can be improved to 100 pM and the detection limit of small molecule (cocaine) can be pushed to 33 nM. By using TDNs, we developed a universal detection platform for nucleic acids, proteins, small molecules and cells with superior detection sensitivity. To further use TDN probes in cells and in vivo, we explored the transport pathways of TDNs into the cell and directed their targeting location to specific organelles. We aim to develop DNA nanostructure-based bioprobes for intracellular and in-vivo imaging.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Physicochemical perspectives on DNA immobilization: enthalpy-entropy compensation
3 DNA hybridization regime on DNA nanostructured biosensing interface
4 Biosensors with designed DNA nanostructures
4.1 Nucleic acids detection
4.2 Protein detection
4.3 Small molecules detection
4.4 In vivo detection
5 Conclusion and outlook

Supramolecular coordination chemistry is the domain of inorganic chemistry beyond the molecules, in which coordination interactions play important roles in self-assembly and properties of coordination supramolecular materials, also called metal-organic materials (MOMs). The MOMs are mainly divided into two different types:discrete or oligomeric coordination entities showing specific shapes, sizes or cavities (such as molecular polygons/polyhedra, helicates, rotaxanes, catenanes, etc.), and infinite/polymeric coordination ensembles assembled from a variable number of components (such as coordination polymers, metal-organic frameworks, metal-organic gels, etc.). With the burgeon of supramolecular coordination chemistry, various designable, predictable and tunable strategies of coordination-driven self-assembly have been developed, which propel the field of supramolecular coordination itself, as well as the modern supramolecular syntheses, toward an unprecendently high level. This review mainly introduces a number of common strategies for the preparation of MOMs, especially those for controllable assembly of MOMs with distinctive structural features.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Synthetic methods for metal-organic materials
2.1 Room temperature syntheses and conventional heating method
2.2 Hydrothermal/solvothermal/ion-thermal method
2.3 Batch syntheses and high-throughout syntheses
2.4 Microwave/electrochemical/mechanochemical/sonochemical method
2.5 In-situ syntheses
2.6 Crystal transformation
2.7 Post-modification
3 Nanoscale sysnthese and surface assembly of metal-organic materials
3.1 Synthetic methods and influence factors
3.2 Assembly of nanoscale metal-organic materials with different dimensions
4 Assembling strategies for metal-organic materials with distinctive structural features
4.1 Crystal engineering and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)
4.2 Molecular architecture and metal-organic containers (MOCs)
4.3 Rotaxanes, catenanes, other entangled structures and molecular machines
4.4 Helicates and helices
4.5 Metal-organic gels (MOGs)
5 Conclusion and outlook

Most proteins function in the cell where macromolecular crowding, confinement and quinary interaction are ubiquitous. More and more researches suggest that the complex cellular environment affects protein's structure and function. Therefore, for protein studies, the closer to native cellular environment, the more likely molecular mechanisms of proteins function could be revealed accurately. In-cell study of protein structure and function has been a frontier topic in protein science. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is the most promising technique for protein structural and functional assay at atomic level in complex environments. Here, we summarize our recent progress in protein structural and functional studies in macromolecular crowding, confinement, prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells by NMR spectroscopy. Two model proteins, an intrinsic disordered protein α-synuclein and a multi-domain protein calmodulin, are employed to show how macromolecular crowding and confinement affect protein structure and function, respectively. Then in-cell NMR methods, including labeling strategy, cytoplasmic viscosity measurement, quinary interaction quantification are developed to obtain high-quality NMR spectra for facilitating protein structural and functional studies in living cells. Ca²⁺-induced calmodulin conformational transitions and GB1 protein structural determination in living Xenopus laevis oocytes, are shown here as typical applications of in-cell NMR. Finally, the conclusion and perspective of environmental effects on protein structure and function are presented.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 The effect of macromolecular crowding on protein structure and function
3 The effect of confinement on protein structure and function
4 In vivo NMR study of protein structure and function
4.1 Labeling strategies for in-cell protein NMR study
4.2 The determination of cytoplasmic viscosity and weak protein interactions in living cells
4.3 The observation of Ca²⁺-induced calmodulin conformational transitions in intact Xenopus laevis oocytes
4.4 Direct determination of protein structure in living Xenopus laevis oocytes
5 Conclusion

Recent years, nanomaterials have attracted enormous attention due to their nano-size effect and a wide range of applications in various fields, such as environmental remediation, medicine, and bioengineering. Special attention has been placed to the study of the adsorption ability of nanomaterials because of their outstanding advantages, such as large specific surface area and high surface energy, and so on. Metal sulfide nanomaterials, which are regarded as one of the most promising candidates owing to their advantages of fast adsorption speed, high adsorption capacity and excellent adsorption stability, have shown extraordinary adsorption capacity to heavy metals, radioactive elements and organics in aqueous solution and soil, promoting their great research and application prospects. This review summarizes the research progress of several types of metal sulfide nanomaterials, including ZnS, iron sulfides, MoS₂, CuS and other metal sulfides, as well as their related composite materials in the field of adsorption. In the end, the future research prospects are suggested.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 The adsorption performance of metal sulfides nanoparticles
2.1 ZnS
2.2 Iron sulfides
2.3 MoS₂
2.4 CuS
2.5 Other metal sulfides adsorbents
3 Conclusion

It is known that the active layer morphology of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells has significant impact on the performance of solar cell devices. However, the widely used morphology characterization methods such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) have certain limitations in the characterization of organic thin film materials. By using the huge difference of the refractive index of the different materials under the soft X-ray, resonant soft X-ray scattering (R-SoXS) provides highly enhanced contrast, overcomes the drawbacks such as low contrast between/among different organic components and the lack of 3D information, which is important to obtain the phase separation information in the active layer of organic solar cells, to understand the microstructure, and to establish the relationship between the morphology and the photoelectric conversion process. This article provides an overview of the effect of active layer morphology on the performance of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, introduces the developing process, theoretical background and the analysis method of resonant soft X-ray scattering. Based on these, the application of resonant soft X-ray scattering in the study of the morphology of organic solar cells is reviewed. The application prospects of R-SoXS are also discussed.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Effect of active layer morphology on the performance of organic solar cell devices
3 The development process of R-SoXS
4 Theoretical background and the analysis methodology of R-SoXS
4.1 Optical constant and contrast
4.2 The experimental process of R-SoXS
4.3 Extracting morphological information from R-SoXS data
5 Research Progress on morphology characterization of organic solar cells by R-SoXS
5.1 Polymer: fullerene based organic solar cells
5.2 Polymer: non-fullerene based organic solar cells
5.3 Ternary organic solar cells
6 Conclusion

Superhydrophobic/Ultra slippery surfaces have shown numerous anti-icing/icephobic applications because of their low energy, light weight, simple structure. But there still exist some problems, which attract considerable attention of researchers. Based on the icing microphysics, and the practical application background, the mechanism and impact factors of anti-icing/icephobic surface are discussed. The progresses and questions of current research are summarized in this review. Then a new performance evaluation method of anti-icing/icephobic ice is also presented. Finally, challenges and prospects in this area are also discussed. This review about the anti-icing/icephobic surface not only enriches our understanding, but also provides clues of anti-icing/icephobic surface designing and engineering application.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Effection mechanism of anti-icing/icephobic surfaces
2.1 Physical phenomenon of icing
2.2 Influencing factor and application analysis
2.3 Mechanism of anti-icing/Icephobic
3 Research status in anti-icing/icephobic surfaces
3.1 Anti-icing surface
3.2 Icephobic surface
4 Performance evaluation
5 Conclusion

Newly emerging photoacoustic imaging (PAI) technology that couples the advantages of optical imaging and ultrasound imaging allows a fascinating non-invasive imaging paradigm with higher spatial resolution and deeper imaging deepness when compared with traditional optical imaging techniques (e.g., fluorescence). Typically, PA contrast agents, which convert the absorbed photon energy into ultrasonic emission, are essential for a successful PA imaging. Although naturally occurring absorbers such as melanin and hemoglobin can serve as endogenous PA contrast agent to monitor anatomical and physiological variations in diseases, only small fractions of such endogenous contrast agents have been reported. Therefore, in order to fully explore the potential of PAI, exogenous PA contrast agents based on near-infrared (NIR, 650~900 nm) absorption materials are urgently demanded. This article reviews the recent advances of organic optoelectronic materials in PAI such as small organic dye-based nanoparticles, polymer-based nanoparticles in biological imaging field. Then, we systematically summarize the structure properties relationship between contrast agents and the application of PAI to guide the design of new PA contrast agents. Finally, the future opportunities and challenges of PA contrast agents are discussed.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Small dye nanoparticles
2.1 Perylene-based derivatives
2.2 Cyanine-based derivatives
2.3 BODIPY-based derivatives
2.4 Porphyrin-based derivatives
3 Conjugated polymer-based nanoparticles
4 Conclusions

Polymeric Janus micro/nano-particles, which have anisotropic microstructures, can be widely applied in many fields, such as stabilizing emulsions, polymer mixing, controllable self-assembly, bio-medicines, heterogeneous catalysis and functional coatings. Therefore, the research on controlled fabrication and applications of polymeric Janus particles has been paid active attention in region of multifunctional and smart polymer materials. In this review, the progress of polymeric Janus particles in the past few years, such as synthetic strategies, stimulative responsibilities and applications, has been summarized. Their advantages and disadvantages have also been briefly discussed. The polymeric Janus particles with controllable sizes, microstructures and surface properties can be prepared via selective surface modifications, microfluidic synthesis, self-assembly, seed polymerization and other preparation strategies. However, the accurate fabrication and high yield of the particles in nanoscale are still a challenge. Stimulative responsibilities of polymeric Janus particles include pH-responsive property, temperature-responsive property, ion-responsive property, light-responsive property and other stimuli-responsive properties. Stimuli-responsive polymeric Janus particles possessing multicomponent structure have their special advantages in self-assembly and drug delivery. Seed polymerization as a simple and efficient strategy can be applied to prepare polymeric Janus surfactants in industrial production. The fabrication and applications of natural and multifunctional polymeric Janus particles are predicted finally as the development trends in the future.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Synthesis strategies
2.1 Selective surface modifications
2.2 Microfluidic synthesis
2.3 Self-assembly
2.4 Seed polymerization
2.5 Other preparation strategies
2.6 Macromolecular Janus particles
3 Stimulative responsibilities
3.1 pH-responsive property
3.2 Temperature-responsive property
3.3 Ion-responsive property
3.4 Light-responsive property
3.5 Other stimuli-responsive properties
4 Applications
4.1 Solid surfactants
4.2 Building blocks
4.3 Bio-medicines
4.4 Janus films
4.5 Other applications
5 Conclusion

The liquid state method has the advantages of fast heat and mass transfer, controlled particle size and shape of materials, so it is widely used in the preparation of various types of materials. In this paper, the process, principle and research progress of co-precipitation method, solvothermal method and sol-gel method for the synthesis of lithium iron phosphate are compared and summarized:the basic requirement of liquid phase synthesis is nano particle size, high specific surface area and carbon coating,which can solve the problem of low electron conductivity and slow lithium ion diffusion rate, accordingly improve the rate performance of materials. The co-precipitation method has advantage in synthesizing the densely packed spherical morphology materials to obtain high tap density and improve the energy density of materials. Solvothermal method is beneficial to synthesize large (010) surface materials, shorten the distance of lithium ion diffusion, and improve the rate performance of the material. Sol-gel can achieve molecular level mixing, which is favorable for the preparation of homogeneous and in situ carbon coated materials. Scientists introduce materials of high electronic conductivity and ionic conductivity to improve conductivity of LiFePO₄. Compared with the solid phase method, to investigate a fast, facile process, low cost and easily-industrialized method, and to promote the development and progress of liquid state method in principle and technology is the research direction.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Synthesis of lithium iron phosphate by co-precipitation method
2.1 Syntheses of nano material
2.2 The reaction mechanism
2.3 Improving tap density of the material
2.4 Introduce high conductivity materials
3 Synthesis of lithium iron phosphate by solvothermal method
3.1 Syntheses of the material of large (010) surface
3.2 Syntheses of the material with nano particle size and high specific surface area
3.3 Introduce high conductivity materials
3.4 The reaction mechanism
4 Synthesis of lithium iron phosphate by sol-gel method
4.1 The chelant
4.2 Introduce high conductivity materials
4.3 Amphiphilic surfactant
5 Conclusion

With the increasing demand for high power lithium ion batteries in the application of electrochemical energy storage (EES), smart grids and electric vehicle/hybrid electric vehicle (EV/HEV), the development of anode materials with high power density, long cycle life and high safety is of great importance and urgency in recent years. Spinel lithium titanium oxide (Li₄Ti₅O₁₂, LTO) has been considered as one of the most promising anode materials due to its high charge/discharge voltage plateau, stable crystal, long cycle life and high safety. However, its intrinsic low electronic conductivity, as well as the gassing behavior which usually happens during charge/discharge processes, have hindered the large scale application of LTO. Carbon materials with high conductivity, excellent chemical and thermal stability, various structures and environment friendly, can be used to form hybrid materials with LTO to improve the overall electronic conductivity and suppress the gassing at the same time. Therefore, carbon materials play a crucial role in the modification of LTO. This paper reviews the application of carbon materials for the LTO anode and their research progress in recent years, focusing on the ways and effects of carbon materials on the modification of the electrochemical performance of LTO. The problems in the fabrication and application for the LTO/carbon hybrid materials are addressed. Potential applications of the LTO/carbon hybrid materials are also presented.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Structural characteristics and charge/discharge mechanism of Li₄Ti₅O₁₂
3 Modifications of the electrochemical performance of Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ by carbon materials
3.1 Carbon coating on the Li₄Ti₅O₁₂
3.2 Li₄Ti₅O₁₂/carbon composite materials with special structures
3.3 Li₄Ti₅O₁₂/carbon flexible integrated anodes
4 Carbon modification on the gassing of Li₄Ti₅O₁₂-based batteries
5 Conclusion

Lignin is a natural phenolic polymer and the second most abundant component next to cellulose in almost all plant biomass. However, only 2% of lignin is applied to industrial production due to the complexity of lignin structure. Therefore, the importance of comprehensive utilization of lignin should be addressed. It is a very important and promising approach for oxidative and reductive depolymerization of lignin polymer into aromatic compounds in lignin valorization. Oxidative depolymerization of lignin can significantly reduce the bond energy of main chemical bonds in lignin, which promotes the conversion of lignin into highly functionalized lignin monomer, such as vanillin, syringaldehyde, homovanillin.The reductive depolymerization can remove the oxygen-containing functional groups of the lignin and facilitate the transformation of lignin into low-oxygen and oxygen-free bio-oil, which can be applied to high caloric value bio-fuel. Besides, condensation reaction is conspicuously suppressed during reductive depolymerization. A brief introduction of the lignin structure unit, connecting and the recent progress in oxidative and reductive depolymerization of lignin are reviewed intensively. In addition, the catalytic mechanism for the depolymerization of lignin is also discussed. Furthermore, forthcoming research emphasis and directions of lignin depolymerization are proposed at the end of the review based on existing problems in this area.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Lignin structure
3 Lignin catalytic depolymerization
4 Reductive depolymerization
4.1 Hydrogenolysis
4.2 Hydrodeoxygenation
4.3 Hydrogenation
4.4 Integrated hydrogen-processing
5 Oxidation Oxidatine depolymerization
5.1 Organometallic catalysis
5.2 Metal-free organocatalysis
5.3 Base catalysis
5.4 Polyoxometalates catalysis
5.5 Electrocatalytic oxidation
5.6 Photocatalytic oxidation
6 Conclusion and outlook