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Sodium metal batteries (SMBs), benefiting from their low cost and high energy densities, have drawn considerable interest as large-scale energy storage devices. However, uncontrollable dendritic formation of sodium metal anodes (SMAs) caused by inhomogeneous deposition of Na⁺ severely decreases the Coulombic efficiency, leads to short cycling life, and poses potential safety hazards, dragging SMBs out of practical applications. Electrolytes are attracting massive attention for not only providing ion transport channels but also exhibiting vital effects on interfacial compatibility and dendrite growth. In fact, the as-formed solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) has a great influence on the deposition and stripping process of SMAs. Moreover, Na plating process is accompanied by the generation of SEI, in which the electrolyte plays a vital role. Nevertheless, until now, the interaction among electrolyte-SEI-sodium dendrite has rarely been summarized. Herein, a fundamental understanding of sodium dendrite is concluded and the influence of the electrolyte and interface on Na⁺ deposition is emphasized. Furthermore, the outlook for constructing dendrite-inhibited SMAs is suggested. LESS      Full article

Herein, we propose a versatile “functional modular assembly” strategy for customizing MOFs that allows installing the desired functional unit into a host material. The functional unit could be switched according to different applications. MOF-808, a highly stable Zr-MOF containing dangling formate groups, was selected as a host material for demonstration. Functional molecules with carboxyl connectors can be directly inserted into MOF-808 to form functional modular MOFs (FM-MOFs) through single substitution, while for those without carboxyl connectors, a pre-designed convertor was grafted firstly followed by the functional molecules in a stepwise manner. A series of tailor-made FM-MOFs were generated and show excellent performance toward different applications, such as adsorption, catalysis, fluorescent sensing, electrochemistry, and the control of surface wettability. On the other hand, the functional units on the FM-MOFs can switch freely and completely via full interconversion, as well as partly to construct multivariate MOFs (MTV-MOFs). Therefore, this strategy provides a benchmark for rapid customization of functional MOFs for diverse applications that can realize the rapid modular design of materials. LESS      Full article

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are known to be hazardous and harmful to human health and the environment. In mixtures or during repeated exposures, significant toxicity of these compounds in trace amounts has been revealed. In vitro air-liquid interface approaches underlined the interest in evaluating the impact of repeated VOC exposure and the importance of carrying out a toxicological validation of the techniques in addition to the standard chemical analyses. The difficulties in sampling and measuring VOCs in stationary source emissions are due to both the complexity of the mixture present and the wide range of concentrations. The coupling of VOC treatment techniques results in efficient systems with lower operating energy consumption. Three main couplings are outlined in this review, highlighting their advantages and relevance. First, adsorption-catalysis coupling is particularly valuable by using adsorption and catalytic oxidation regeneration initiated, for example, by selective dielectric heating. Then, several key aspects of the plasma catalysis process, such as the choice of catalysts suitable for the non-thermal plasma (NTP) environment, the simultaneous removal of different VOCs, and the in situ regeneration of the catalyst by NTP exposure, are discussed. The adsorption-photocatalysis coupling technology is also one of the effective and promising methods for VOC removal. The VOC molecules strongly adsorbed on the surface of the photocatalyst can be directly oxidized by the photogenerated hole on the photocatalyst (e.g., TiO₂). LESS      Full article

In recent years, fluorescent supramolecular materials have received significant attention due to their wide application prospects. However, the relationship between the conformation of supramolecules and their photophysical properties remains an open question. In this study, two rhomboidal metallacycle isomers, SA and SB, self-assembled with trans- and cis-isomers of tetraphenylethylene-based ditopic pyridyl ligands (LA and LB), and a 120° di-platinum (II) acceptor were prepared. Compared with metallacycle SB constructed by cis- tetraphenylethylene (TPE)-based ligand LB, the curved rhomboidal metallacycle SA constructed with trans-TPE-based ligand LA can restrict molecular motions of the aromatic groups on TPE and exhibits better light-emitting properties. Moreover, curved SA also exhibited better fluorescence stability than isomer SB towards molecules with strongly electron-withdrawing groups. This work provides a new platform to explore the relationship between conformation and the corresponding photophysical properties. LESS      Full article

The photocatalytic process employing nanostructured semiconductor materials has attracted great attention in energy production, CO₂ reduction, and water/air purification for decades. Recently, applying heterogeneous photocatalyst for the synthesis of valuable chemicals is gradually emerging and considered as a promising process for the conversion of cheap resources (i.e., biomass derivatives, polyols, and aromatic hydrocarbons). Compared with traditional thermal catalytic approaches, the photocatalytic process provides a mild reaction condition and flexible platform (photocatalyst) that allows precise tweaking of reaction intermediates and reaction pathways, thus resulting in fine control of the selective synthesis of specialized chemicals that are challenging for thermal catalysis. In this review, we summarize recent achievements in photocatalytic synthesis of various industrial important chemicals via photo-oxidative and photo-reductive processes. The selective oxidation of alcohols and aromatics, epoxidation of alkenes, hydrogenation of gaseous molecules and hydrocarbons, and coupling reactions by means of various photocatalysts including metal oxides, supported plasmonic metal nanostructures, conjugated organic polymers, anchored homogeneous catalysts, and dye-sensitized heterostructures are discussed from a material perspective. In addition, fundamental understandings of reaction mechanisms and rational design of nanostructured photocatalysts for enhancing efficiency, selectivity, and stability are discussed in detail. LESS      Full article

Lithium-selenium battery is nowadays a highly competing technology to the commercial Li-ion battery because it has a high volumetric capacity of 3253 mAh cm^-3 and gravimetric capacity of 675 mAh g^-1. However, the practical application of lithium-selenium (Li-Se) batteries is impeded by the shuttle effect of the soluble polyselenides during the cycling process. Herein, we report the in situ growth and pyrolysis of the metal-organic framework zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) on three-dimensional (3D) interconnected highly conductive multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The obtained composites are used to anchor Se for advanced Li-Se batteries. Compared with the isolated ZIF-8 derived microporous carbon, our synthesized ZIF-8 derived porous carbon@MWCNTs (ZIF-8-C@MWCNTs) 3D highly conductive networks facilitate lithium ion diffusion and electron transportation. The particle size of ZIF-8 crystals has an important impact on the battery performance. By adjusting the particle size of ZIF-8, the electrochemical reaction kinetics in ZIF-8-C@MWCNTs 3D networks can be tuned. The optimized particle size of ZIF-8 around 300-500 nm coated on MWCNTs composite achieves an excellent initial discharge capacity of 756 mAh g^-1 and a stabilized capacity of 468 mAh g^-1 at 0.2 C after 200 cycles. Combining the 3D MWCNTs with the appropriate size of ZIF-8 derived microporous carbon particles could highly improve the performance of the Li-Se battery. This work provides significant guidance for further structural design and host particle size selection for high-performance Li-Se batteries. LESS      Full article

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) is an interesting phenomenon that represents the unequal emission of left- and right-handed polarized light from an emitter. CPL is promising in chirality characterization and various optical applications. Traditionally, research on CPL has been centered on organic substances. Nevertheless, in recent years, CPL based on inorganic substrates has also become a nascent topic, which is significant in exploring novel chirality- and luminescence-related properties and applications in inorganic materials. This short review summarizes the recent progress made regarding the following two aspects: 1) how to endow common inorganic luminophores with CPL activity; 2) how to use emerging chiral inorganic nanomaterials to design CPL-active systems. The general synthesis strategies, optical properties, applications and outlook of CPL-active inorganic materials are also demonstrated. LESS      Full article