With the rapid development of current society and economy, as well as the accelerated process of industrialization and urbanization, the complexity and seriousness of environmental pollution issues are becoming increasingly apparent. Beyond traditional pollutants, the appearance of emerging pollutants on a global scale has brought new challenges to environment and public health. China’s “14th Five-Year Plan” and medium and long-term planning put forward “emerging pollutant control”, report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China also explicitly requested “carry out emerging pollutant control”. In 2022, General Office of the State Council issued “Action Plan for Emerging Pollutant Control”, followed by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and various provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, which released corresponding implementation plans, China has transferred to a new phase of environmental protection that balances the control of both traditional and emerging pollutants. However, management of emerging pollutants is a long-term, dynamic and complex systematic project, which urgently needs to strengthen top-level design as well as scientific and technological support. Conducting systematic research on emerging pollutants not only provides effective scientific guidance for their control and improves the level of environmental quality management, but also assists our country in fulfilling international conventions, enhances the discourse power in global environmental governance, ensures our country environmental security, food security, international trade security, etc., and is of great significance for realizing sustainable development. This review aims to comprehensively explore various aspects of emerging pollutants, including their types and characteristics, production, use and emission, identification and detection, environmental occurrence, migration and transformation, ecotoxicological effects, human exposure, health risks, and management strategies. Furthermore, it looks forward to the future research direction, with a view to providing a scientific basis and decision-making support for control of emerging pollutants in China.

In recent years, electrocatalytic nitrate reduction (ENitRR) has attracted considerable attention in the synthesis of ammonia at ambient conditions. Compared to the traditional Haber-Bosch process for ammonia synthesis, ENitRR offers lower energy consumption and milder reaction conditions. The design and optimization of ENitRR electrocatalysts are crucial for nitrate deoxygenation and hydrogenation. Copper-based catalytic materials have been widely studied due to their unique structure, low cost, and excellent performance, making them highly promising electrocatalysts through various morphology and electronic structure modulation strategies. This article summarizes various effective design strategies using copper-based electrocatalysts as a typical example to enhance the ammonia production rate and conversion efficiency in ENitRR. It also introduces the reaction mechanism and the relationship between structural changes in Cu-based electrocatalysts and their performance. These strategies include morphology modulation, alloy engineering, lattice phase tuning, single-atom structures, as well as copper compound construction and composites with other materials. Finally, challenges faced by copper-based electrocatalysts are discussed along with future research directions that should be focused on in order to provide reference for researchers engaged in nitrate treatment in aqueous systems.

Revealing the intrinsic electronic principles driving the surface chemistry of nanomaterials is a central goal in nanoscience; however, the concepts and theoretical frameworks have long remained incomplete and unsystematic. This review systematically introduces a theoretical framework to reveal the interaction mechanisms and trends of surface ligands with nanomaterials at the electronic level, on the basis of competitive orbital redistribution in chemisorption and a concept of orbital potential, the characteristic electronic attribute directly determining surface reactivity. Based on the competitive interactions between surface coordination bonds and bulk energy bands, this theoretical framework can provide coherent answers to these key scientific issues. (1) The opposite and uniform relation of surface activity and stability in nanomaterials originates from the normalization principle of wavefunctions. (2) The physical nature of enhanced surface activity by size reduction lies in two mechanisms: weakening the constrain strength to surface valence atomic orbitals by nanomaterial energy bands, and amplifying the effects of other structural parameters like defects. (3) Nanoscale cooperative chemisorption (NCC) model generally reveals the electronic-level mechanisms and common rules how ligand coverage regulates the energy band states and physical/chemical properties of nanomaterials. (4) The roles and interaction mechanisms of nanomaterial size (r), specific surface area (S/V), surface ligands, and ligand coverage (θ) in nanomaterial surface chemical reactions are elucidated.

The photoelectric properties of organic luminescent materials with large conjugated structures are closely related to molecular structure and intermolecular interaction. As a basic rigid conjugated unit between large π conjugation and C=X, phenyl has the characteristics of high stability, simple structure and direct relationship between structure and properties, and is the best model compound for studying the excited state properties of obtained luminescent materials. However, phenyl is a liquid at room temperature and becomes a solid at generally harsh low temperatures. Therefore, if the phenyl is fixed in a variety of environmentally responsive skeletons containing heteroatoms, and its condensed state structure and excited state properties will be effectively studied in a wide range, it will solve the important scientific problem of how the phenyl emollients can emit light under different aggregation states. In this paper, the recent advances in the modification of phenyl by heterocycles, conjugation extension of phenyl, substitution of peripheral heteroatoms, bridge between phenyl and other combined strategies are reviewed. The applications of modified phenyl in the synthesis of fluorescent materials, metal-organic complexes or clusters phosphorescent materials, thermally-activated delayed fluorescent materials, aggregation-induced luminescent materials and pure organic room temperature phosphorescent materials were reviewed according to different luminescence mechanisms. Finally, the future research focus and development prospect of organic multifunctional luminescent materials based on modified phenyl are also prospected.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Fluorescent material based on phenyl derivatives

3 Metal-organic complexes or clusters phosphorescent materials based on phenyl derivatives

4 Thermally activated delayed fluorescence materials based on phenyl derivatives

5 Aggregation-induced emission materials based on phenyl derivatives

6 Pure organic room temperature phosphorescent materials based on phenyl derivatives

7 Organic multifunctional luminescent materials based on phenyl derivatives

Representing an important class of ubiquitous chemical feedstock, aromatics have been extensively utilized in the nucleophilic aromatic substitution (S_NAr) reactions, nitration reactions, Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation reactions, cross-coupling reactions, C-H bond functionalization reactions etc. Dearomatization reaction is another type of transformations of aromatics, in which their aromaticity is destroyed or reduced. Since its first report, dearomatization reaction has served as an efficient platform to create C(sp³)-H-rich spiro, fused and bridged polycyclic structures, widely applied in material and medicinal chemistry. In the past two decades, various dearomatization reactions have been established by using transition-metal catalysis, organocatalysis, enzymatic catalysis, photocatalysis, and electrocatalysis. Diverse polycyclic structures have been obtained by the dearomatization of indoles, pyrroles, (benzo)furans, (benzo)thiophenes, quinolines, pyridines, benzenes, naphthalenes, etc. The coupling reagents, including nucleophiles, electrophiles, dipoles, radicals, and carbenes have been developed to assemble different functional groups on dearomative framework. In this review, we briefly summarized the developed dearomatization reactions, which were categorized by the kinds of aromatic compounds. The remaining challenges and perspectives on the future development of dearomatization reactions are also included here.

Benefiting from high energy density and low cost, Ni-rich LiNi_xCo_yMn/Al_1-x-yO₂ materials have received great attention as promising cathode candidates for next-generation high-energy lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) that are widely used in electric vehicles (EVs). However, with an increased Ni content, Ni-rich cathode materials suffer from severe structural, chemical, and mechanical instabilities, seriously restricting their industrially safe application in power LIBs of EVs. In this review, primarily, the synthesis methods of Ni-rich cathode materials are summarized in detail, which include solid-state method, sol-gel method, hydrothermal method, spray-drying method, and co-precipitation method. Subsequently, the key failure mechanisms, including ion mixing and irreversible phase transition, residual Li species and interface side reactions, mechanical microcracks, and transition metal dissolutions, are thoroughly analyzed throughout the preparation, storage, and service of Ni-rich cathode materials, thereby clarifying various performance decay behaviors of materials. The modification strategies that cover ion doping, surface coating, core-shell/gradient materials, and single-crystal materials are systematically discussed for Ni-rich cathode materials, aiming at presenting conspicuous research progress and current shortcomings for the stabilization of Ni-rich cathode materials. Finally, this review presents a perspective toward future development and optimization for Ni-rich cathode materials, aiming at delivering a theoretical guidance for propelling its industrial safe application in high-energy LIBs.

Sodium-ion batteries have shown great application prospects in the field of large-scale energy storage and low-speed electric vehicles due to their resource and cost advantages. Among various cathodes reported, layered oxide cathode materials have been widely investigated owing to their high theoretical capacity and simple synthesis method. However, many adverse reactions and phenomena such as structural instability and surface degeneration are prone to occur during its cycling process, especially at high voltage, which hinders its application in commerce. This article briefly reviews the mechanism of structural transformation, surface degradation, and oxygen loss of layered oxide cathode at high-voltage, focuses on the strategies to improve the high-voltage resistance of layered oxide cathode, and aims to provide reasonable insights for improving the high-voltage stabilization of layered oxide cathode materials and designing sodium-ion layered oxide cathode materials with high performance. Finally, the shortcomings of sodium-ion battery layered oxide cathode materials in modification and future research directions are also summarized.

MXene is a two-dimensional transition metal carbon/nitrogen compound or carbon-nitrogen compound obtained from MAX phase materials by chemical etching followed by ultrasonic or intercalation treatment. It has the properties of two-dimensional atomic layer structure, abundant components, metallic conductivity, large specific surface area and active surface, etc. It has distinct infrared absorption in the near-infrared and mid\far-infrared bands, and has attracted extensive attention from researchers in recent years in a number of infrared applications, such as infrared camouflage, photothermal conversion, and photovoltaic effect. In this paper, the properties of MXene materials in the infrared band are reviewed in detail, including the high absorbance and localized surface plasmon resonance effect in the near-infrared band and the infrared low-emission properties in the mid/far-infrared band. Further based on its infrared properties, the research progress of its applications in popular fields such as infrared camouflage, broadband absorber, passive radiant heating, photothermal conversion and photovoltaic effect is summarized. Finally, the main problems of the current research on MXene materials in the infrared field and the future development direction are prospected.

In recent years, the problems of environmental pollution and energy scarcity have affected human life, and green and low-carbon photocatalytic and electrocatalytic technologies have attracted widespread attention. Semiconductor-based photocatalytic and electrocatalytic technologies are very promising for ammonia synthesis applications. Since single semiconductors suffer from the disadvantages of low carrier separation efficiency and easy compounding, it is crucial to find co-catalysts that can enhance the performance of nitrogen fixation catalysts. Two-dimensional transition metal carbide/nitride/carbon nitride MXene, which has a promising application in photo- and electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis, is ideal for photo- and electrocatalytic nitrogen fixation owing to their good hydrophilicity, large specific surface area, excellent electrical conductivity and abundance of active sites for efficient catalysis of N₂ reduction. This paper mainly reviews the preparation of MXene and its composites and their progress in the field of photoelectrocatalytic ammonia synthesis. Firstly, the structural features of MXene and the preparation strategies of MXene and its complexes are briefly summarised. Secondly, the performance study of MXene-based composite catalysts for photo- and electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis is highlighted. Finally, the development direction of MXene-based composites is discussed and prospected.

Ethylene is one of the most important raw materials in the modern petrochemical industry. The preparation of ethylene by steam cracking of petroleum hydrocarbons generates acetylene with a volume fraction about 0.3% to 3%. These trace amounts of acetylene can poison the catalyst of the ethylene polymerization reaction. Selective catalytic hydrogenation of acetylene is considered to be one of the most effective methods for removing acetylene impurities. This paper reviews the research progress of acetylene selective hydrogenation in recent years, introduces the reaction mechanism of acetylene hydrogenation, and summarizes the effects of catalyst active components, additives and carriers on the performance of acetylene selective hydrogenation. The development trend of how to further improve the performance of acetylene selective hydrogenation is discussed from the perspectives of electrocatalysis, photocatalysis and photothermal catalysis. Finally, some suggestions are proposed for the subsequent research on the selective hydrogenation of acetylene.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Reaction mechanism of acetylene hydrogenation

3 Research progress of catalysts for thermocatalytic selective hydrogenation of acetylene

3.1 Catalyst active components and additives

3.2 Catalyst carriers

4 Trends in selective hydrogenation of acetylene

4.1 Electrocatalytic selective hydrogenation of acetylene and alkynes

4.2 Photocatalytic hydrogenation of acetylene and alkynes

4.3 Photothermal catalyzed hydrogenation of acetylene and alkynes

5 Conclusion and outlook

Microbubbles and microdroplets, when exposed to a uniform temperature gradient/solute concentration gradient, will undergo thermal capillary migration/solute migration, leading to the emergence of the Marangoni effect at the gas-liquid interface. This effect plays a crucial role in manipulating microbubbles or microdroplets, offering valuable applications in various fields including biology, chemistry, medicine, materials science, and micromanufacturing. In this review, provided are an overview of recent advancements about the Marangoni effect of microbubbles/droplets under different driving modes, and demonstrate the driving principle and characteristics of photothermal Marangoni effect, thermal gradient-driven Marangoni effect and solute Marangoni effect. We focus on the dynamic changes of microdroplets induced by photothermal Marangoni effect, the movement principles of droplets on diverse hydrophobic surfaces, the manipulation processes of bubble movement and bubble separation under laser irradiation, and the typical instances of bubble/droplet separation, droplet evaporation and mixing achieved through thermal gradient-driven Marangoni effect and solute Marangoni effect. Furthermore, recent applications of the Marangoni effect in microbubble/droplet manipulation are highlighted and the promising future prospects for further development and utilization of this phenomenon are discussed.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Driving principle of the Marangoni effect

3 Temperature driven Marangoni effect

3.1 Photothermal Marangoni effect of microdroplets/ bubbles

3.2 Thermal gradient Marangoni effect of microdroplets/ bubbles

4 Microdroplet/bubble solute Marangoni effect

5 Application based on microdroplet/bubble Marangoni effect

5.1 Preparation of surface microstructure

5.2 Bubble-pen lithography

5.3 Multiphase droplet drive

5.4 Droplet motor

5.5 Emulsion energy supply

6 Conclusion and prospect

With the rapid development of portable electronic products and electric vehicles, the demand for high energy density lithium-ion batteries is increasing. High-nickel ternary materials with nickel content higher than 0.6 (include) (e.g., LiNi_0.6Co_0.2Mn_0.2O₂, LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O₂ and LiNi_0.9Co_0.05Mn_0.05O₂), which can deliver a high reversible specific capacity of more than 200 mAh·g^-1 at an upper cut-off voltage of 4.3 V vs Li⁺/Li, are an important development direction of cathode material with high specific capacity. However, the weak mechanical strength, low compaction density of polycrystal ternary materials and the anisotropy of primary grains lead to intergranular cracks in the polycrystal particles during the charging and discharging process. The electrolyte will penetrate into the polycrystal particles along the intergranular cracks, thus aggravating the side reaction between the electrode and electrolyte and deteriorating the cycle performance and safety of the battery. The design of single crystal material without grain boundary can reduce the formation of intergranular cracks, effectively suppress the side reaction at the interfaces and improve the cycle stability. In this study, the advantages and problems of single-crystal high-nickel ternary materials are reviewed, and their synthesis methods and modification strategies are analyzed. Finally, the application prospects and challenges of single-crystal high-nickel ternary materials are reviewed and prospected.

Quantum dots are considered as ideal luminescent materials for high color gamut, flexible, and large area display, medical devices, and the application of other fields, due to their unique photoelectric properties. Compared with the quantum dots of binary Ⅱ-Ⅵ or Ⅲ-Ⅴ group, the quantum dots of ternaryⅠ-Ⅲ-Ⅵ₂ group have significant advantages in terms of ecological and environmental friendliness without containing Cd or Pb elements, large Stokes shift with adjustable band gap, long-life luminescence, etc. Moreover, it is facile to obtain emission wavelength adjustable continuously from visible to near-infrared region by changing chemical elements ratio in the composition of single Ⅰ-Ⅲ-Ⅵ₂ family. These characters make the Ⅰ-Ⅲ-Ⅵ₂ quantum dots have broad application prospects in the fields of light-emitting diodes, solar cells, photodetectors, biological imaging, etc. This paper systematically reviews the synthesis methods and optical performance optimization strategies of quantum dots and those suitable for I-III-VI₂ quantum dots, explains the luminescence mechanisms of I-III-VI₂ quantum dots based on their electronic band structures, summarizes recent-years progress of quantum dots application in lighting and display devices, and focuses on the application progress of the I-III-VI₂ quantum dots in photo- and electroluminescent diodes. Finally, the future prospects and challenges of I-III-VI₂ quantum dots are prospected.

With the rapid development of the new energy industry, research on different kinds of high-performance batteries has become a hot topic nowadays. As one of the important components of batteries, the separator can effectively prevent direct contact between positive and negative electrodes of batteries and provide favorable channels for ion transport. However, traditional polymer battery separators usually have problems such as insufficient thermal stability, poor ion transport capacity, and poor electrolyte wettability. As a new type of porous crystalline material, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have become the current research hotspot for high-performance battery separators due to their high porosity, high specific surface area and excellent thermal stability. In this paper, the applications of various MOFs or MOFs-based materials in battery separators are reviewed, and the advantages and disadvantages of MOFs-based battery separators are comprehensively discussed. Finally, the urgent problems to be solved in the field of MOFs-based battery separators and the development prospects of MOFs in battery separators are presented.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Lithium-ion battery separators based on MOFs

2.1 Original MOFs based separators

2.2 MOFs composites-based separators

2.3 MOFs derivatives-based separators

3 Lithium-sulfur battery separator

3.1 Original MOFs based separators

3.2 MOFs composites-based separators

3.3 MOFs derivatives-based separators

4 Other types of battery separator based on MOFs

5 Conclusion and outlook

With the rapid development of consumer intelligent electronic devices and electric vehicles, the development of lithium-ion batteries with high energy density has become a very urgent and important issue. Using high-voltage electrode materials and enhancing the work voltage of batteries is an effective pathway to realize the high energy density of battery. However, the conventional carbonate-based electrolyte will undergo oxidation reactions when the voltage is higher than 4.3 V, which will lead to electrolyte decomposition, and finally resulting in the failure of the battery. Actually, it has become one of the main bottlenecks in the development of high-voltage batteries. In order to solve this problem, researchers have carried out a lot of exploration in the design of high-voltage electrolyte in recent years, and made many important research achievements. This review introduces the failure mechanism of batteries under high voltage, and focuses on the strategies and research progress in suppressing high voltage failure from the perspective of electrolytes in recent years, indicates the challenges still existing in the design of high-voltage electrolyte, and finally prospects the future developments of high voltage lithium-ion battery electrolyte.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Failure mechanism of high-voltage batteries

2.1 Electrolyte decomposition

2.2 Transition metal ion leaching

2.3 HF erosion

3 Progress on high-voltage electrolyte

3.1 Improvement of intrinsic stability of electrolyte

3.2 Construction of stable CEI Layer

3.3 Scavenge H₂O and HF

4 Conclusion and outlook

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are a large category of emerging pollutants that have been highly concern in recent years. The huge production and rapid consumption demand of PPCPs make them widely enter and highly exist in various environmental mediums. Due to migration, transformation and bioaccumulation, PPCPs enter the ecological environment, causing different degrees of negative impact on organisms and human bodies, thus bringing serious threats to the ecological environment and human health. In this review, we summarize the exposure sources, pathways and characteristics of current PPCPs in the environment, conclude the degradation method and pathway of PPCPs in the environment, review the main biotoxicity of PPCPs, overview the exposure concentrations and the health influences on the human body, and finally have some outlooks on the research field of ecotoxicity of PPCPs.

During many life processes such as replication, transcription, double-strand breaks repair and so on, double-stranded DNA will temporarily unwind and form single strand DNA (ssDNA). ssDNA may affect genomic stability and may also participate in the formation of non-B DNA structure, which in turn regulates and influences many key cellular processes. This review briefly describes the causes of the formation of single-stranded DNA, the structures containing single-stranded DNA and their possible functions in cells, and summarizes some high-throughput analysis techniques of single-stranded DNA, which provides the method inspiration for the subsequent ssDNA research and promotes the further development of ssDNA analysis techniques and methods.

Hydrogel materials are widely used due to their excellent hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, adjustable biomimetic properties, etc. However, their inherent non-uniform microstructure and low-density molecular chains make their mechanical properties poor, which limits their practical applications. The preparation of hydrogel materials with high mechanical strength yet toughness has been a challenge for research in this field. As composites are constantly developing in the direction of functionalization and intelligence, the introduction of polymer hydrogels into the textile field for the preparation of gel-based textile composites not only improves the defects of gel materials, but also gives textiles excellent properties and broadens their potential application prospects. This paper reviews the research progress of hydrogel textile composites, focusing on the design strategy of hydrogel-based textile composites and their enhanced mechanical and antimicrobial properties, discusses the application progress of the composites in the fields of oil-water separation, medical dressings, wearable electronic devices, and flame-retardant protection, and the future research direction is also prospected.

The rapid development of infrared detection equipment has caused a huge threat to military equipment. And infrared stealth technology is an important way to improve the survival, strike and breakthrough capabilities of military equipment, and plays a vital role in the development of the national defense industry. However, the battlefield environment is complex and changeable, and materials with only infrared stealth performance are difficult to meet the actual needs when facing radar detection, rainforest, mountain, ocean, desert and other environments. Therefore, it is imperative to develop multifunctional infrared stealth materials. In this paper, the latest research progress of different infrared stealth materials is reviewed from the perspective of the mechanism of infrared stealth materials, such as low emissivity materials, temperature control materials, variable emissivity materials and cooperative working mode materials, and the control methods of different infrared stealth materials are discussed. Secondly, the multi-functional infrared stealth materials suitable for different application scenarios, such as multi-band stealth, electromagnetic shielding, antibacterial and waterproof, high temperature resistance, anti-corrosion and flame retardant infrared stealth materials, and their design mechanisms are discussed. Finally, the future development of multifunctional infrared stealth materials is summarized and prospected.

Hydrogels have become one of the most widely researched materials across disciplines due to their excellent softness, wettability, responsiveness and biocompatibility. However, the mechanical properties of hydrogels are poor and cannot meet the use of some special materials. Nanofibers have been used to prepare nanofiber composite hydrogels with nano-size, porous structure and tunable mechanical properties due to their high aspect ratio, uniform fiber morphology and easy functionalization. Nanofiber composite hydrogels have suitable mechanical properties, ductility, adhesion, and the ability to mimic the microstructure of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and the microenvironment of the cell, which makes them widely used in many fields. This paper summarizes the classification of nanofiber composite hydrogels, their preparation methods and their development and application in the fields of multifunctional wound dressings, tissue engineering, sensors, and filter absorption materials future development.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Nanofiber composite hydrogel classification

2.1 Organic nanofiber composite hydrogel l

2.2 Inorganic nanofiber composite hydrogel

2.3 Organic-inorganic hybrid nanofiber composite hydrogels

3 Preparation method of nanofiber composite hydrogel

3.1 Doping method

3.2 lamination method

3.3 Other methods

4 Nanofiber composite hydrogel application

4.1 Multifunctional wound dressing

4.2 Tissue engineering

4.3 Conductive sensors

4.4 Absorbent filter material for dye and metal ion removal

5 Conclusions and outlook

Layered transition metal oxides (LiTMO₂) are candidate cathode materials for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries, primarily owing to their high theoretical specific capacity. Nevertheless, the persistent challenge of chemical-mechanical failure during charge-discharge cycling has impeded its progressive development. In numerous prior investigations, researchers have diligently explored the cycling failure of this material family, presenting a spectrum of modification strategies aimed at addressing this issue including doping, coating, surface or grain boundary modification. Given the impact of lattice defects and heterogeneous structures introduced throughout the synthesis process cannot be overlooked, a comprehensive comprehension of the influence exerted by various controlling factors on the structural formation of materials is imperative. This review aims to elucidate the ramifications of control factors, including precursor, lithium salt, sintering temperature, holding time, and sintering atmosphere, on the material structure during the synthesis process. The objective is to provide the battery community with valuable insights on strategies to synthesize high-performance LiTMO₂ materials.

Borophene, as an emerging single-element two-dimensional material, has attracted great interest from researchers due to its excellent properties such as high carrier mobility, mechanical compliance, optical transparency, ultrahigh thermal conductivity, and superconductivity. These properties make it an ideal candidate for research fields such as energy, sensors, and information storage. Guided by the pioneering experimental work in 2015, new achievements in experimental synthesis and practical applications of borophene continue emerging, which has driven the development of borophene from experimental synthesis to practical applications. Based on the introduction of the special properties and innovative synthesis methods, we mainly review the application of borophene in the field of sensors. Finally, some reasonable discussions on potential issues and challenges for future researches are provided based on the current state of research.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Characteristics of borophene

2.1 Electrical properties

2.2 Optical properties

2.3 Mechanical properties

2.4 Magnetic properties

3 Preparation of borophene

3.1 Synthesis of borophene on substrate surface

3.2 Substrate-free synthesis of borophene

4 The application of borophene in sensors

4.1 Borophene gas sensor

4.2 Borophene pressure sensor

4.3 Borophene heterojunction humidity sensor

5 Conclusion and outlook

The design and development of material-microorganism hybrid systems that can use solar energy for green biosynthesis is expected to provide human society with a viable solution for addressing the global energy shortage and environmental crisis. In recent years, the construction of hybrid systems by coupling excellent physical and chemical features of artificial materials with the biosynthetic function of microorganisms has received extensive attention. Polymeric materials, due to versatile functions, excellent designability and good biocompatibility, have been widely used to construct material-microorganism hybrid systems, and have shown broad application prospects in the field of bioenergy. Based on the functional features of polymeric materials, this paper systematically summarizes different types of polymer-microorganism biohybrid systems, and discusses the augmentation of their catalytic performance by enhancing light utilization, accelerating electron transfer, and stabilizing biological activity. Finally, the challenges and future development of polymer-microorganism hybrid systems are discussed.

Photoelectrochemical sensing analysis is a rapidly developing new analytical technology in recent years, and photoelectric active materials are the key to photoelectrochemical sensing detection. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and their derivatives may be ideal carriers for the construction of photoelectrochemical sensing interfaces by dispersing photoelectrically active substances. Due to the "antenna effect" of organic ligands in MOFs, the metal clusters can be regarded as activated discrete semiconductor quantum dots, giving them photoelectric properties similar to those of semiconductors. The modification of MOFs materials with carbon-based compounds, organic polymers, noble metal nanoparticles, inorganic oxides, and quantum dots, and the construction of MOFs-based photoelectrochemical sensing interfaces, can improve the electrical conductivity of MOFs, promote the separation of photogenerated electrons-holes, and thus improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency. The MOFs-based photoelectrochemical sensing interfaces amplify the signal generated by photoelectrochemical sensing, enabling ultra-sensitive detection of the target object. Based on these, this study provides a detailed introduction to the photoelectric activity mechanism, synthesis methods, and strategies for constructing photoelectric activity interfaces of MOFs-based materials. The applications of MOFs-based materials in photoelectrochemical sensing detection of small molecule compounds, immunoassay, enzyme activity and environmental analysis in recent years have been comprehensively reviewed. Finally, current challenges and future perspectives in this field are also proposed.

With the rapid development of social economy and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, medical and health care have taken on an important strategic position. As an important analytical detection method, biosensing technology plays a key role in the field of medical health. Piezoelectric biosensor, as a new kind of biosensor, utilizes piezoelectric materials for biological analysis. Piezoelectric biosensor has the advantages of good stability, fast detection speed, high accuracy and simple operation, and has important application value in biomedicine, health monitoring and disease prevention and control. Herein, we review the research progress of piezoelectric biosensor home and abroad in recent years, and introduce the principle of piezoelectric biosensors based on the piezoelectric effect of quartz crystal microbalance and the commonly used piezoelectric materials, including inorganic piezoelectric materials, organic piezoelectric materials, piezoelectric composite materials and biological piezoelectric materials. In addition, the applications of piezoelectric biosensors in human health monitoring and disease prevention and control are also introduced, such as the monitoring of physiological signs, such as heart rate, blood pressure and pulse, the detection of biomarkers and epidemic viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Finally, the current problems faced by piezoelectric biosensors are summarized, and the future development of piezoelectric biosensors is prospected.

In recent years, there has been significant progress in non-fullerene organic solar cells (NF-OSCs) due to the rapid development of narrow-bandgap small-molecule acceptor materials and the high-performance polymer donor materials, with the power conversion efficiency (PCE) approaching 20%. However, as the design of alternating D-A copolymer materials reaches saturation, there is an urgent need to develop more efficient conjugated polymer materials. The ternary random strategy has emerged to address this challenge. The advantages of the ternary random copolymerization, including easy energy level tuning, broad and strong absorption, and high molar absorptivity, which have attracted considerable attention in the field of organic solar cells. In this review, firstly, the advantages of the ternary random copolymerization strategy in modulating polymer properties and device performance are discussed. Through this strategy, the active layer morphology can be effectively regulated and optimized, and thus the charge transfer efficiency can be improved leading to the improved PCE. Furthermore, the application of the ternary random copolymerization into NF-OSCs is summarized from the perspectives of random polymer donors and acceptors. Finally, a summary and outlook of the further development of random polymers are presented. As expected, to understand the design concept and advantages of ternary random strategy would be beneficial for the development of organic solar cells.

To take advantage of renewable energy such as solar energy to split water to hydrogen is an important solution to address the environmental pollution and energy shortage crisis. The development of highly efficient, robust, and low-cost catalysts is the key to the production of green and clean hydrogen energy. Transition metal phosphides (TMPs), as kinds of composites that can replace noble metal catalysts, have attracted wide attention in the field of solar hydrogen production. However, the poor stability of TMPs under harsh reaction condition limits their large-scale application at industrial level. In this paper, the physicochemical properties, preparation methods, stability in catalytic reactions and stability improvement strategies of TMPs are reviewed. The reason for the decline of stability of TMPs is that they could react with H₂O or O₂, and TMPs are oxidized to metal oxides or hydroxides, Meanwhile the low valence phosphorus is oxidized to phosphate and dissolved in the reaction medium, resulting in the loss of phosphorus in TMPs. The stability of TMPs could be improved by means of tuning the polarity of support surface, coating protective layer, and doping foreign elements.

Nickel-rich-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC) ternary cathode materials are considered to be one of the most promising cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries due to their high specific capacity and high power. However, most of the current nickel-rich ternary layered materials are polycrystalline particles, and their volumetric energy density and cyclic stability are not satisfactory. Therefore, independent and well-dispersed single-crystal nickel-rich ternary layered materials (SC-NMCs) can be used as the best candidates to replace polycrystalline nickel-rich ternary cathodes. In this paper, we systematically review how to synthesize SC-NMCs and their corresponding relationship with the properties of single-crystal from the perspectives of precursor preparation, material sintering and lithium salt supplementation. Secondly, the performance advantages of SC-NMCs compared with polycrystalline materials are comprehensively summarized, especially the morphology without cracks between particles, which shows good cycling performance. Thirdly, in view of the disadvantages and challenges of the current SC-NMCs, the modification strategies of SC-NMCs, such as element doping, surface modification and double modification, are comprehensively introduced. This review puts forward innovative views on the synthesis and modification of SC-NMCs and provides directional guidance for the application and development of single-crystal nickel-rich ternary layered cathode materials for next-generation lithium-ion batteries.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 The development process of SC-NMCs

2.1 From low to high nickel

2.2 From PC-NMCs to SC-NMCs

3 Basic properties and advantages of SC-NMCs

3.1 Free of intergranular cracks

3.2 High compacting density

3.3 High-voltage stability

4 The synthesis of SC-NMCs

4.1 Solid-phase reaction high-temperature calcination

4.2 Multi-step calcination

4.3 Molten-salt method

5 The modification of SC-NMCs

5.1 Elemental doping

5.2 Coating

5.3 Double modification

6 Conclusion and outlook

The transformations of biomass into bio-based polymeric materials have attracted growing interest from chemistry and material engineering. Ring-opening metathesis polymerizations (ROMP) of cyclic olefins have been identified as the powerful toolbox for synthesis of polyolefins containing double bonds in the polymer mainchains. Recently, a series of novel cyclic olefins are designed by using biomass as the feedstock, and high-performance polyolefins are prepared via ROMP of biomass derived monomers. This review summaries the advances in conversions of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, terpenes, vegetable oils, amino acids into norbornene derivatives, oxanorbornene derivatives, cyclooctene derivatives, macrocyclic olefins, etc. Synthesis and properties of bio-based polyolefins via ROMP of biomass derived monomers mentioned above are highlighted. Moreover, the challenges and opportunities are discussed with the aim to promote the development of bio-based polymeric materials.

As an emerging pollutant, microplastics (MPs) pollution has become a focal point of global environmental research. MPs are widely detected in various environmental matrices, including the atmosphere, soil, oceans, and inland waters. Once introduced into the environment, MPs undergo a series of transformation and transport processes across different environmental compartments and accumulate in biota, thereby posing significant threats to ecosystems and human health. This review aims to summarize the sampling and detection methods for MPs, followed by an assessment of their pollution levels in different matrices. The inter-compartmental transformation and transport of MPs, along with their ecological effects, are then reviewed and analyzed. Finally, the limitations in understanding the environmental geochemical behaviors and ecological risks of MPs, as well as prospects for future research, are outlined.