Bacterial infections, becoming the second leading cause of death in the worldwide, pose a serious threat to public health. Plenty of therapeutic strategies, such as antibiotic therapy, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy and sonodynamic therapy, etc., have been developed to treat bacterial infections. However, how to improve the efficiency of antibacterial therapy is still a great challenge. Micro-/nanorobots, as miniaturized robots with active motion properties, are promising to provide new therapeutic strategies for effective antibacterial. On the one hand, micro-/nanorobots can accurately deliver antibacterial media to the micro area of the lesion through their controllable directional movement. On the other hand, the motion of swarms of micro-/nanorobots can also cause mechanical effect and fluid stirring effects, which mechanically damage the pathogen and at the same time, promote the full reaction between pathogens and antibacterial media, so as to enhance the antibacterial efficiency synergistically. In this review, we summarize the important research advances of micro-/nanorobots in the field of antibacterial applications, and start from the driving mode of antibacterial micro-/nanorobots, systematically expounding the mechanism of action and application advantages in various antibacterial treatments. Finally, we discuss the potential challenges faced by micro-/nanorobots in antibacterial therapy and prospect the main directions of future research in this field.

Owing to its vast surface area and remarkable electrical conductivity, graphene has attracted extensive attention in the realm of electrochemical energy storage. Nevertheless, its volumetric energy density as an electrode material is quite low, thus presenting certain difficulties in its application as an electrode material. Heteroatom doping is a viable approach to enhance the electrochemical properties of graphene, thereby augmenting the energy storage capability of graphene as an electrode material. This paper provides a summary of the preparation of heteroatom-doped graphene, examines how heteroatom doping affects graphene’s electrochemical properties, explores the application of graphene in supercapacitors, and finally looks ahead to the future development course of this research domain.

Humic acid (HA) has attracted significant attention in the field of environmental remediation due to its occurrence characteristics and unique chemical reactivity. It is worth noting that in co-existing reaction systems, HA inevitably interacts with co-existing substances, making the reaction system complex and leading to unexpected results. Therefore, studying the interaction between HA and co-existing substances is of great significance for a correct understanding of the complexity of environmental water pollution and the development of new environmental functional materials with cooperative treatment of co-existing substances. This article reviews the synergistic/antagonistic removal effects of target pollutants in co-existing pollution systems involving HA, including inorganic co-existing pollutant systems, organic co-existing pollutant systems, and microbial co-existing systems. Based on the structural characteristics and physicochemical properties of HA itself, the interaction mechanisms between HA and co-existing pollutants are systematically analyzed. These mechanisms mainly involve coordination, electrostatic interactions, adsorption, hydrophobic interactions, π-π interactions, and oxidation-reduction reaction (REDOX). Finally, the challenges and future research directions for the removal of target pollutants by HA in co-existing pollution systems are discussed.

Zero-valent aluminum (ZVAl) is susceptibly oxidized in both gas and liquid media, which makes the element Al, as an “electron reservoir”, surrounded by an oxide/oxyhydroxide shell. Typically, this shell is made up of Al₂O₃, AlOOH, Al(OH)₃ and other phases with varying structures. Furthermore, as the environment changes, the shell’s phases may transform into each other, and even the transition between different crystalline forms of the same phase may take place, finally leading to changes in the general properties of ZVAl. It is believed that the treatment of ZVAl in a variety of fields can be regarded as different regulations of its surface composition. Although it has been demonstrated that ZVAl can efficiently degrade pollutants due to its strong reducing ability, current research only focuses on the removal of the inherent oxides/oxyhydroxides on the surface of ZVAl, ignoring the transition and connection between the various phases. As a result, it is challenging to systematically clarify the impact of surface phase transformation on the reduction performance of ZVAl in the process of pollutant degradation. To provide a theoretical foundation for the investigation of the interfacial reaction processes and mechanisms between ZVAl and pollutants as well as the directional regulation of ZVAl, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the structure and properties of the various phases that make up the ZVAl surface, particularly the transition processes between different phases. Hence, in this review, for the first time, the reaction mechanism of the surface phase transition of ZVAl-based materials is summarized and prospectively discussed from the perspective of the type, structure, and nature of ZVAl surface phases as well as the reaction mechanism of the phase transition.

Hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD) is a new persistent organic pollutant (POPs) added into the Stockholm Convention on POPs since 2015. HCBD has attracted worldwide attention due to its persistence, bioaccumulation, and potential for long-range transport, with potential adverse effects on humans and biota. However, the knowledge about the source, environmental characteristics, control techniques and strategies are still very lacking. The levels of HCBD in environmental and biological samples are summarized and analyzed in this review. The control process, potential emission sources and emission amount of HCBD are reviewed. The formation mechanism of hexachlorobutadiene, the degradation process in natural environment, and the related emission reduction strategies and control technologies are discussed. This paper can provide important reference for controlling the emission of HCBD, reducing their environmental level, and reducing human exposure.

Prussian blue (PB) and its analogues (PBAs), which are composed of three-dimensional frame structure, are ideal cathode materials for sodium ion battery (SIB) and can provide a wide channel for sodium ion embedding and removal. However, there are a lot of water molecules and vacancies in PBAs materials, which greatly reduces the storage sites of sodium ions. Furthermore, transition metal ions in the metal organic framework are easy to dissolve during the cycles, resulting in limited sodium storage capacity and poor cycle stability of PBAs cathode materials. In recent years, a variety of PBAs modification technologies have been developed to improve their sodium storage performance. Based on recent related work and existing literature reports, this paper summarizes the process design, preparation methods, electrochemical behavior and other aspects of different modification technologies, and systematically reviews and prospects the research progress of various modification technologies of PBAs cathode materials in sodium ion batteries.

With the rapid development of high-power electronic equipment and electronic communication technology such as the emerging 5G mobile network communication technology, the development of high-performance electromagnetic interference shielding materials has become a desideratum. Polymer-based electromagnetic shielding materials (PEMSM) have been widely applied due to their advantages of lightweight, machinability, and adjustable conductivity. The increasingly complex application environment and operating conditions put forward higher requirements for the functionality of PEMSM. This paper firstly discusses the key concepts and loss mechanism of electromagnetic shielding (reflection, absorption, and multiple reflections), and then summarizes the current structural design of electromagnetic shielding composites including homogeneous structure, segregation structure, porous structure, and layered structure. The process of homogeneous structure is simple, and segregation structure can reduce the conductivity percolation threshold of materials. The porous structure is helpful for electromagnetic waves reflection and absorption, and the layered structure can make electromagnetic wave reflect inside the material many times. The research progress of PEMSM with the functions such as durability, superhydrophobicity, antibacterial property, Joule heating property, etc. is introduced in detail. Finally, the development of PEMSM is prospected.

With the proposal of "peak carbon dioxide emissions" and "carbon neutral" strategic objectives, developing clean energy and promoting the development of new energy industry has become the consensus of the whole society. Lithium battery as the candidate for new generation of energy storage equipment due to its remarkable advantages such as high energy density, high power density, long cycle life and environmental friendliness. Its development plays a significant role in alleviating energy crisis, driving the conversion of old kinetic energy into new and achieving the strategic goal of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality". In order to further improve the energy density of lithium batteries, the most effective strategy is to use high voltage or high specific capacity cathode materials. However, due to the low oxidation stability and narrow electrochemical window of traditional carbonate ester electrolytes, they are prone to oxidative decomposition when the working voltage exceeds 4.2 V, which cannot be cycled stably at high voltages, so it is particularly important to broaden the electrochemical window of electrolytes. This paper mainly discusses the mechanism of organic solvents and additives in high-voltage electrolytes, explores effective methods to broaden the electrochemical window of new electrolytes, summarizes the characteristics of aqueous electrolytes, solid electrolytes, and polymer gel electrolytes, and finally; summarizes and outlooks the future development and prospects of high-voltage electrolytes to provide scientific basis for the design and development of high-voltage electrolytes for lithium batteries.

With the development of the nuclear industry, radioactive iodine was identified as one of the most hazardous nuclear wastes. Radioactive iodine capture also plays an important role in reducing the contamination of nuclear wastewater. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), a crystalline porous organic material formed by covalent bond connection, are considered an ideal candidate for iodine capture materials for their large specific surface area, regular pore structure and high chemical stability. COFs are considered as ideal iodine trapping materials due to their structural characteristics and the fact that the adsorption sites of COFs are easily occupied by iodine molecules. This paper mainly reviews the progress of COFs with periodic porous structure and tunable functions in the field of iodine capture. Firstly, the recent progress in iodine capture of imine bonded COFs was briefly reviewed. Secondly, iodine capture capacity of compound COFs and ionic COFs are discussed. Finally, the potential of efficient iodine capture COFs to scale and the future development of this field.

Heat dissipation has emerged as a critical challenge and technical bottleneck which is increasingly restricting the continuous miniaturization of large-power and ultrahigh frequency microelectronic devices and high-voltage electrical insulation equipment. High-performance heat conductive materials are highly desirable for effective thermal management. Compared with conventional heat conductive polymeric composites, the intrinsically thermal conductive polymers have gained extensive research and attention from domestic and overseas owing to their integrated excellent overall properties like high thermal conductivity and high dielectric breakdown strength, excellent flexibility, lightweight and high strength, etc. The present paper first discusses the heat conduction mechanisms in intrinsic polymers, and then systematically analyzes and reviews the following factors influencing phonon transport and polymers’ thermal conductivity: the structures from monomers and molecular chains with diverse scales, crystallinity, orientation, inter-chain interactions, crosslinking, structure defects, as well as temperature, pressure, environmental factors, etc. Further, the strategies to prepare high thermal conductivity polymers have been summarized. Finally, this paper sums up the existing questions and challenges ahead in the study of thermal conductive polymers, and points out their future research direction and prospects potential important applications in various industrial occasions.