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.

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.

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.

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.

Oxide aerogel is one type of three-dimensional nano porous material, which has the advantages of high porosity, high specific surface area, low thermal conductivity, high melting point and so on. Moreover, oxide aerogel always shows excellent high-temperature resistance and thermal insulation performance. Thus, in this paper,the research progress of heat-resistant oxide aerogels including silica, alumina, zirconia aerogels, binary and multi-component and their composite counterparts are reviewed. The preparation method and performance of oxide aerogels are summarized, the existing problems are pointed out, and the application of oxide aerogels in the field of high temperature thermal insulation is prospected.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Preparation of oxide aerogel

2.1 Preparation method

2.2 Drying method

3 SiO₂ aerogel

3.1 Precursor of SiO₂ aerogel

3.2 Pretreatment of SiO₂ aerogel

3.3 SiO₂ composite aerogel

4 Al₂O₃ aerogel

4.1 Precursor of Al₂O₃ aerogel

4.2 Structural control of Al₂O₃ aerogels

4.3 Al₂O₃ composite aerogel

5 ZrO₂ aerogel

5.1 Precursor of ZrO₂ aerogel

5.2 Structural control ZrO₂ aerogels

5.3 ZrO₂ composite aerogel

6 Two component and multi-component oxide aerogel

6.1 Two component oxide aerogel

6.2 Multi-component oxide aerogel

7 Conclusion and outlook

The problem of excess glycerol as a by-product of biodiesel production has become more and more prominent, and the catalytic conversion of glycerol to high-value-added chemicals is of great significance. In recent years, noble metal catalysts (Au, Pt, Pd, etc.) are often used to catalyze the conversion of glycerol to lactic acid, in which the improvement of lactic acid selectivity and catalyst stability are the key challenges for the catalysts. Here, we summarized the reaction mechanism of selective oxidation of glycerol to lactic acid over supported noble metal catalysts, revealing the role of different metal active sites. At the same time, the effects of metal particle size, support, and pH of the reaction system on the reaction performance are discussed based on the structure and electronic properties of noble metal active sites. Also, the role of metal in the promotion and support of strong interaction on the activation of the hydroxyl groups of glycerol was clarified. Finally, the main challenges and prospects for the selective oxidation of glycerol to lactic acid were clarified.

Plastic products represented by polyethylene terephthalate (PET) have become an important part of modern life and global economy. In order to solve the resource waste and environmental problems caused by PET waste and to realize high-value recycling of materials, there is an urgent need to explore low-cost green and efficient conversion and recycling methods. Chemical depolymerization can deal with low-value, mixed, and contaminated plastics, recover polymer monomers through different chemical reactions or chemically upgrade and recycle to produce new high value-added products, realizing the closed-loop recycling of plastic waste and high value-added applications, which is a key way to establish a circular polymer economy. This paper reviews the latest research progress of chemical depolymerization process of PET waste, analyzes the problems of chemical depolymerization technology of PET waste, and looks forward to the future development trend of chemical depolymerization process of PET waste.

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.

Nowadays stretchable electronic devices have become a hot research topic in the field of information electronics because of their excellent mechanical and electrical properties. As the high-speed electron transmission channel in stretching electronic devices， stretchable conductive materials play a crucial role in realizing the functions of stretching electronic devices. Liquid metal has become a hot research object in the field of stretchable conductive composites in recent years because of its intrinsic flexibility and excellent conductivity. Liquid metal is a room temperature liquid conductive material， which exhibits excellent stretchability and tunability due to its inherent high conductivity， fluidity， and ductility. Liquid metal-based stretchable conductive composites preparation and patterning techniques have been reported and many stretchable devices with excellent combination of mechanical and electrical properties have been prepared. In view of the general structural characteristics of liquid metal-based stretchable composites， the key to the preparation is how to solve the interfacial non-impregnation problem caused by the physical property differences between different materials. Therefore， starting from the common types of composites， this paper firstly briefly introduces the components and physical properties of liquid metals generally used， as well as the stretchable polymer matrix materials usually employed. Then， the composite methods of conductive materials and elastomer materials in liquid metal-based electrodes are reviewed from the two ways of "passive" and "active" to deal with the problem of non-wetting at the interface， as well as the blending and dispersion method and the new modification method. Finally， the latest research progress is introduced， and the current status of liquid metal research is summarized. Future development and potential problems to be faced are also discussed.

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.

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.

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.

With the development of science and technology, nuclear technology is widely used in energy, medicine, aerospace, and other fields. However, the high-energy gamma ray produced by the application of nuclear technology has strong penetrating ability and can ionize human cells, which will cause damage to human health. Therefore, it is crucial to develop effective radiation shielding materials. Since the density and effective atomic number of materials have great influence on the gamma shielding properties of materials, fillers containing high atomic number (high Z) elements are introduced into various matrix materials by researchers to prepare composite shielding materials. This paper explains three fundamental physical effects of the interaction between gamma photons and atoms. Three kinds of high Z gamma ray composite shielding materials based on glass, polymer, and metal matrixes are introduced respectively, and the existing challenges and solutions are summarized.

Nucleic acid hydrogels have good hydrophilicity, adjustability and biocompatibility, which have attracted considerable attention in the past few years, especially in the field of biomedicine and smart materials. Nucleic acid hydrogel is stimulus-responsive, meaning that external stimuli such as pH changes, light, temperature variations, and chemical triggers (including metal ion response, redox response, and enzyme response) can induce physical and chemical changes within them. Consequently, they are capable of perceiving their environment and undergoing responsive deformation, enabling precise cell therapy that can be controlled both temporally and spatially. Cell capture and release using stimulus-responsive nucleic acid hydrogels can control and modulate cellular behavior, and can also play an important role in biomedical research and applications, such as targeted drug therapies using the capture and release of specific cell types. Based on this, this paper summarizes the preparation methods of pure nucleic acid hydrogels and polymer-nucleic acid hybrid hydrogels, further discusses the application strategies of different stimuli-responsive nucleic acid hydrogels, and focuses on the research progress of cell capture and release in cell imaging, cell therapy and synergistic drug delivery. Finally, we discuss the urgent problems that need to be addressed in the research of nucleic acid hydrogels, and provide a prospect for their future development.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Preparation of nucleic acid hydrogels

2.1 Pure nucleic acid hydrogel

2.2 Polymer-nucleic acid hybrid hydrogel

3 Stimulus-responsive nucleic acid hydrogels

3.1 pH response

3.2 Light response

3.3 Temperature response

3.4 Chemical trigger

4 Stimulus-responsive nucleic acid hydrogels used for cell capture and release

4.1 Cell imaging

4.2 Cell therapy

4.3 Collaborative drug delivery

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

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

Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), as an important chemical raw material in the fields of environment, chemical, and energy, has become an emerging candidate in promoting energy transformation and green development of the chemical industry due to its characteristics of green environmental protection and strong sustainability. At present, over 95% of H₂O₂ worldwide is synthesized through the anthraquinone oxidation (AO process), which mainly involves the hydrogenation and oxidation process of anthraquinone molecules in Ni or Pd catalysts and organic solvents. However, the AO process also brings in additional costs and poses risks such as flammability and explosion during transportation, high energy consumption, and waste generation. Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) towards H₂O₂ synthesis provides an economical, efficient, and harmless alternative process for the in-situ synthesis of green reagents under mild conditions. However, ORR towards H₂O₂ synthesis mainly faces two major challenges: low reaction selectivity and slow reaction kinetics, which lead to generally low H₂O₂ yield and Faraday efficiency, hindering further industrial applications. As the core of electrocatalytic reactions, the surface physicochemical properties of electrocatalysts are usually closely related to the catalytic process, directly affecting the adsorption and desorption of reaction species, thereby further affecting the overall reaction thermodynamics and kinetics. Therefore, developing electrocatalysts with high activity, high selectivity, and good stability, is the key to further improving the catalytic activity and energy conversion efficiency. Based on this, this review systematically summarizes the advanced design strategies of high-performance electrocatalysts in the H₂O₂ synthesis through ORR in recent years. The synthesis strategies and control mechanisms of advanced electrocatalysts are summarized and sorted out from four aspects: electronic structure control, geometric structure control, surface morphology control, and atomization active site design. Prospects and suggestions are also proposed for the design direction and application prospects of ORR electrocatalysts, which are beneficial for achieving precise control of intermediate adsorption and desorption behavior in reaction rate-determining steps, and constructing interface conditions for efficient energy and mass transfer of reaction species.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Oxygen reduction reaction fundamental mechanism

3 Electronic structure regulation strategies

3.1 Chemical doping engineering

3.2 Defect construction engineering

4 Geometric structure regulation strategies

4.1 Size regulation

4.2 Pore/interlayer structure regulation

4.3 Surface morphology regulation

5 Surface modification and functionalization strategies

6 Atomic level active site design strategies

6.1 Metal active centers regulation

6.2 Local coordination domain regulation

7 Conclusion and outlook

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.

In recent years, the development of material science, micro/nano structure design and processing technology have endowed fibers and textiles with various functions, which promote the wide range of applications in the fields of physiological monitoring, medical diagnosis, tactile perception and human-computer interaction. In order to further promote the application of fiber and textile in the field of wearable devices, this paper reviews the recent research and development status and application of textile structure force sensors recently. Firstly, the textile structure force sensors are classified from fiber, yarn and textile level, and the advantages and disadvantages of different textile structure force sensors are briefly introduced. Secondly, the preparation methods of textile structural force sensors are discussed from preparation techniques, including spinning techniques, coating techniques and textile forming techniques, and the advantages and disadvantages of various preparation methods are discussed. Then, the applications of textile structure force sensors in sports and physical training, health monitoring and human-machine interaction are systematically elaborated. Finally, the future development trend of textile structure force sensors in the field of smart wearables is prospected in the hope of providing a novel way for the research of the next generation of wearable force sensors.

Content

1 Introduction

2 Classification of textile structure force sensor

2.1 Fiber-based force sensor

2.2 Yarn-based force sensor

2.3 Textile-based force sensor

3 Preparation method of textile structure force sensor

3.1 Spinning techniques

3.2 Coating techniques

3.3 Textile forming techniques

4 Application of textile structure force sensor

4.1 Sports and physical training

4.2 Health monitoring

4.3 Human-machine interaction

5 Conclusions and outlook

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