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We report a new supramolecular structure of cyanuric acid–melamine–zinc (CA–M–Zn) demonstrating unique molecular rotation induced negative thermal expansion along the c axis, accompanied by a significant decrease of β angle (−3.8%).

Achieving reversible molecular crystal transformation between coordinate aggregates and hydrogen bonded assemblies has been a challenging task because coordinate bonds are generally much stronger than hydrogen bonds. Recently, we have reported the incorporation of silver ions into the cyanuric acid-melamine (CAM) network, resulting in the formation of a 1D coordination polymer (crystal

The latest progress in 2D ultrathin nanomaterials used for photocatalysis has been summarized from a sustainable synthesis perspective. Various synthetic strategies and approaches have been discussed and compared.

A stirring-induced emulsion system enables 99% selectivity to the mono-condensation product of a Claisen–Schmidt reaction. The system showed good cyclic performance and can be easily scaled up to kilogram-level for the production of benzalacetone.

The growth of flexible semiconductor thin films and membranes is highly desirable for the fabrication of next-generation wearable devices. In this work, we have developed a one-step, surface tension-driven method for facile and scalable growth of silver sulfide (Ag

It is well documented that placing a plasmonic antenna close to catalytically active nanoparticles can enhance their catalytic activity in chemical reactions via the near-field enhancement effect. Less known is whether and how the near-field enhances the reactivity of the reactant substrates involved in these reactions. Herein, we prepared an “antenna-reactor” catalyst with Au nanoparticles absorbing light as an optical antenna and the adjacent Pd nanoparticles acting as a chemical reactor to study the near-field enhancement effect in Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction involving various substrates. The results showed that the activity of Pd nanoparticles were significantly enhanced in the presence of Au antennas. Excessively increasing the density of Au antennas, however, suppressed the reaction due to the interaction between neighboring electromagnetic hot spots. Moreover, the near-field affected different substrates in different extents, enhancing more to reactions that involve substrates with higher electron cloud density at the reactive center. The overall effect of the near-field to the catalytic reactions was proved to be an integrated result of the effect of Au nanoparticle density and reactive center electron cloud density. This study provides enriched understanding for the near-field enhancement effect in photocatalytic reactions with various substrates, and deepened insights for new “antenna-reactor” photocatalyst design.

Nonvolatile and durable ionogels are emerging and promising stretchable ionic conductors for wearable electronics. However, the construction of reconfigurable and recyclable ionogels with high mechanical robustness, high stretchability, and autonomous healability, while heavily demanded, is very challenging. Here, we present a gradient-responsive cross-linking strategy for preparing a highly stretchable and reconfigurable thermoplastic engineering ionogel (TPEI). The design of both microcrystalline and dense hydrogen bonds in TPEI contributed to the formation of a unique gradient-responsive network. When the TPEI was melt-processed under heating, the microcrystalline network structure was destroyed to form entangled polymer chains, while the high-density hydrogen-bonded network structure was only partially destroyed. The remaining hydrogen-bonded network allowed the TPEI to have a high viscosity for melt processing. When the TPEI was cooled upon melting injection, extrusion, and spinning, the hydrogen-bonded network was rapidly reconstructed in tens of seconds, allowing it to be reconfigured and reshaped, while the microcrystalline network was further reconstructed to improve its mechanical strength and elasticity during subsequent aging. As a result, the TPEI exhibited engineering-hydrogel-level mechanical robustness (>100 kPa), extremely high stretchability (>1000%), wide-temperature tolerance (−20 to 80 °C), and ultrafast self-healability in few seconds. Due to its mechanical adaptability, high ionic conductivity, and reconfigurability, the TPEI was demonstrated to readily work as a self-healable and recyclable stretchable conductor in a wearable skin-inspired sensor for monitoring sophisticated human motions.

The construction of multiple heteroatom-doped porous carbon with unique nanoarchitectures and abundant heteroatom active sites is promising for reversible oxygen-involving electrocatalysis. However, most of the synthetic methods required the use of templates to construct precisely designed nanostructured carbon. Herein, we introduced an ultrasound-triggered route for the synthesis of a piperazine-containing covalent triazine framework (P-CTF). The ultrasonic energy triggered both the polycondensation of monomers and the assembly into a nanoflower-shaped morphology without utilizing any templates. Subsequent carbonization of P-CTF led to the formation of nitrogen, phosphorus, and fluorine tri-doped porous carbon (NPF@CNFs) with a well-maintained nanoflower morphology. The resultant NPF@CNFs showed high electrocatalytic activity and stability toward bifunctional electrolysis, which was better than the commercial Pt/C and IrO2 electrocatalysts toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), respectively. As a further demonstration, employing NPF@CNFs as air electrode materials resulted in an excellent performance of liquid-state and solid-state Zn-air batteries, showing great potentials of the obtained multiple heteroatom-doped porous carbon electrocatalysts for wearable electronics.

Rapid development of wearable electronics with various functionalities has stimulated the demand to construct functional fiber devices due to their merits of mechanical flexibility, weavability, miniaturization, and integrability. To this end, fiber components which can realize the functions of energy storage and conversion, actuating plus sensing have gained increasing concerns. Herein, we summarize the recent progress with respect to fiber material preparation, innovative structure design, and device performance in this review, also highlighting the possibility of integrated fiber electronics as an extension of application, the remaining challenges and future perspectives toward next‐generation smart systems and to facilitate their commercialization.

The construction of wearable piezoresistive sensors with high elasticity, large gauge factor, and excellent durability in a harsh high-temperature environment is highly desired yet challenging. Here, a lightweight, superelastic, and fatigue-resistant spongy conductor was fabricated via a sponge-constrained network assembly, during which highly conductive graphene and flame-retardant montmorillonite were alternatively deposited on a three-dimensional melamine scaffold. The as-obtained spongy conductor exhibited a highly deformation-tolerant conductivity up to 80% strain and excellent fatigue resistance of 10,000 compressive cycles at 70% strain. As a result, the spongy conductor can readily work as a piezoresistive sensor and exhibited a high gauge factor value of ∼2.3 in a strain range of 60-80% and excellent durability under 60% strain for 10,000 cycles without sacrificing its piezoresistive performance. Additionally, the piezoresistive sensor showed great thermal stability up to 250 °C for more than 7 days and sufficient flame-retardant performance for at least 20 s. This lightweight, superelastic, and flame-retardant spongy conductor reveals tremendous potential in human motion detection against a harsh high-temperature environment.

The Ag+ photoreduction by graphitic carbon nitride(g-CN) materials in a high concentration of Ag+ solution is reported, and a series of colorful Ag/g-CN composites is prepared and characterized. The chromatic change correlates to the carbon nitride materials synthesized at different heating temperatures(CNT, where T means heating temperature), taking advantage of the different photocatalytic activities of different CNT. The mechanism beneath this phenomenon is attributed to two factors: the particle size of Ag NPs and the coordinate effect of Ag NPs on CNT sheets. Interestingly, the multicolors of Ag/g-CN composites display only on the CNT materials synthesized from heating melamine-cyanuric acid precursor, but not on the CNT from heating pure melamine. The color of the as-prepared Ag/g-CN composites can endure the corrosion of HNO3 and ethanol, which shows a good chemical stability and may hint its application as chromophores.

Solutions or sols are commonly employed as the starting materials for the preparation of supramolecular hydrogels; however, suspension-based synthesis has been much less reported because of inhomogeneity and quick sedimentation of large particles in a suspension. Further, it remains a technical challenge to derive supramolecular aerogels directly from the parental hydrogels owing to the ease of structural collapse during water removal. Herein, we report a suspension-gel transition for the ultrafast synthesis of a new supramolecular hydrogel simply by adding AgNO3 into the aqueous suspension of cyanuric acid-melamine (CAM) aggregates. With the activation of preadded ammonia, Ag ions instantly reacted with the CAM particles, transforming into N-Ag(I)-N coordinating bonded supramolecular nanofibers; simultaneously, the suspension converted to a hydrogel without the use of polymer cross-linkers or external stimulus. Upon simple freeze-drying, a highly crystalline fibrous aerogel with a cellular network was obtained, which possessed a porosity up to 99.7% and a density as low as 4.8 mg/cm3, enabling remarkable oil uptake capacities (100 times of its weight). The supramolecular aerogel demonstrated intrinsic elasticity, which should arise from the cellular structure and elastic character of the nanofiber skeletons. Notably, the aerogel showed high compatibility to incorporate a range of external substances for further functionalization exemplified by polymeric carbon nitride (PCN, a metal-free semiconductor) included gels. The loaded PCN resulted in enhanced mechanical strength and endowed the aerogel unique photoactivity, i.e., in situ reducing Ag(I) into Ag nanoparticles upon light illumination and thus forming a plasmonic shell over the aerogel with potential applications in sensing and catalysis.

Exploring photocatalysts to promote CO2 photoreduction into solar fuels is of great significance. We develop TiO2/perovskite (CsPbBr3) S-scheme heterojunctions synthesized by a facile electrostatic-driven self-assembling approach. Density functional theory calculation combined with experimental studies proves the electron transfer from CsPbBr3 quantum dots (QDs) to TiO2, resulting in the construction of internal electric field (IEF) directing from CsPbBr3 to TiO2 upon hybridization. The IEF drives the photoexcited electrons in TiO2 to CsPbBr3 upon light irradiation as revealed by in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, suggesting the formation of an S-scheme heterojunction in the TiO2/CsPbBr3 nanohybrids which greatly promotes the separation of electron-hole pairs to foster efficient CO2 photoreduction. The hybrid nanofibers unveil a higher CO2-reduction rate (9.02 μmol g–1 h–1) comparing with pristine TiO2 nanofibers (4.68 μmol g–1 h–1). Isotope (13CO2) tracer results confirm that the reduction products originate from CO2 source.

Hydrogen-rich organic molecules such as alcohols are widely used as hydrogen donors in transfer hydrogenation. Nevertheless, water as a more abundant and ecofriendly hydrogen source has hardly been used due to the high difficulty in splitting water molecules. Herein, we designed a photocatalytic water-donating transfer hydrogenation (PWDTH) technique, in which hydrogen was extracted from water under light illumination and then in situ added to different unsaturated bonds (C-C, C-O, N-O) for chemical synthesis. Platinum-loaded carbon nitride (Pt/CN) was used as the model catalyst for this cascade reaction, which is beyond its normal applications for water splitting. This approach was highly accessible to efficiency optimization, either by modifying CN for extended light absorption and enhanced charge transfer or by alloying Pt with another metal for better catalytic activities. Remarkably, a quantum efficiency of up to 21.8% was achieved for nitrobenzene hydrogenation under 380 nm irradiation, which is 3 times higher than that obtained in the single water-splitting reaction, indicating that the PWDTH can be more rewarding than hydrogen evolution for solar energy harvesting. Deep insights into the underlying mechanism were provided by detailed measurements and interpretations of femtosecond transient absorption spectra, action spectra (quantum efficiency as a function of excitation wavelength), and reaction kinetic profiles under varied conditions including the variation of light intensities, temperatures, and water isotopes. The mild reaction conditions, simple processing, and broad substituent group tolerance endow this approach with a high potential toward a general solar-to-chemical conversion technique.

The development of energy storage devices that can endure large and complex deformations is central to emerging wearable electronics. Hydrogels made from conducting polymers give rise to a promising integration of high conductivity and versatility in processing. However, the emergence of conducting polymer hydrogels with a desirable network structure cannot be readily achieved using conventional polymerization methods. Here we present a cryopolymerization strategy for preparing an intrinsically stretchable, compressible and bendable anisotropic polyvinyl alcohol/polyaniline hydrogel with a complete recovery of 100% stretching strain, 50% compressing strain and fully bending. Due to its high mechanical strength, superelastic properties and bi-continuous phase structure, the as-obtained anisotropic polyvinyl alcohol/polyaniline hydrogel can work as a stretching/compressing/bending electrode, maintaining its stable output under complex deformations for an all-solid-state supercapacitor. In particular, it achieves an extremely high energy density of 27.5 W h kg−1, which is among that of state-of-the-art stretchable supercapacitors., Energy storage devices that can endure large and complex deformations are central to the development of wearable electronics. Here the authors present a cryopolymerization strategy for preparing an anisotropic polyvinyl alcohol/polyaniline hydrogel for flexible supercapacitor electrodes.

Exploring new heterostructured photocatalysts for photocatalytic hydrogenation reaction with water as proton source and investigating the corresponding intrinsic step-by-step mechanism are of great interests. Here we develop a novel S-scheme heterojunction through theoretical design and implemented by solvothermal growth of Ce2S3 nanoparticles onto electrospun TiO2 nanofibers. The low-dimensional (0D/1D) heterostructure unveils enhanced photocatalytic activity for aniline production by nitrobenzene hydrogenation with water as proton source. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate the electrons transfer from Ce2S3 to TiO2 upon hybridization due to their Fermi level difference and creates an internal electric field at the interface, driving the efficient separation of the photoexcited charge carriers, which is authenticated by in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy along with femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. The step-by-step reaction mechanism of the photocatalytic nitrobenzene hydrogenation to yield aniline is revealed by in-situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, associated with DFT computational prediction.

Organic luminogens have been widely used in optoelectronic devices, bioimaging, and sensing. Conventionally, the synthesis of organic luminogens requires sophisticated, multistep design, reaction, and isolation procedures. Herein, the products of the melt-phase condensation of benzoguanamine (BG; 2,4-diamino-6-phenyl-1,3,5-triazine) at 370-410 °C display interesting reaction-condition-dependent luminescence properties, including photoluminescence (PL) at a variety of wavelengths in the visible spectrum and quantum efficiencies (PLQE) of up to 58% in the powder form. With a simple and straightforward solvent washing procedure, the prominent blue luminescent component BG dimer was obtained in gram scale with >93% purity (96.5% purity after fractional sublimation). The BG dimer exhibited distinct aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties. PL measurements indicate that the electronically excited state of the BG dimer undergoes efficient intramolecular nonradiative deactivation in room-temperature solution, leading to a significantly reduced PLQE (

The construction of hollow mesoporous carbon nanospheres (HMCS) avoiding the use of traditional soft/hard templates is highly desired for nanoscience yet challenging. Herein, we report a simple and straightforward template-free strategy for preparing nitrogen, sulfur dual-doped HMCSs (N/S-HMCSs) as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts. The unique hollow spherical and mesoporous structure was in-situ formed via a thermally initiated hollowing pathway from an elaborately engineered covalent triazine framework. Regulation of pyrolysis temperatures contributed to precisely tailoring of the shell thickness of HMCSs. The resulting N/S-HMCS900 (pyrolyzed at 900 °C) possessed high N and S contents, large specific surface areas, rich and uniform mesopores distribution. Consequently, as a metal-free ORR electrocatalyst, N/S-HMCS900 exhibits a high half-wave potential, excellent methanol tolerance and great long-term durability. Additionally, density functional theory calculations demonstrate that N, S-dual dopant can create extra active sites with higher catalytic activity than the isolated N-dopant. This strategy provides new insights into the construction of hollow and mesoporous multi-heteroatom-doped carbon materials with tunable nanoarchitecture for various electrochemical applications.

Two-dimensional polymeric graphitic carbon nitride (2D g-C3N4) nanostructures have emerged as a very promising family of photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution from water. Nonetheless, fast recombination of photogenerated charge carriers and the sluggish kinetics of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) result in unsatisfied solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. It is thus greatly encouraging to explore low-cost and high-performance co-catalysts to accelerate the charge transport and to improve the catalytic performance. In this work, for the first time, we report on the fabrication of ultra-small zero-dimensional (0D) FeP nanodots anchored on layered 2D g-C3N4 nanosheets with well-defined nanostructures and intimate 0D/2D contact interface. The outstanding feature of the material is that the obtained multidimensional heterojunction photocatalysts reveal highly efficient visible-light-responsive HER performance in the absence of noble metals. Under an optimal percentage of 4 wt. % FeP, the FeP/g-C3N4 hybrid showed a remarkable hydrogen-evolving rate of 215 μmol g−1 h−1 and excellent recycling stability, surpassing noble-metal Pt modified g-C3N4 (155 μmol g−1 h−1). The enhancement in HER activity is attributed to the synergistic effects of FeP nanocrystals on the improvement of light-harvesting property in the visible light region and the acceleration of charge carrier dynamics by well-constructed interfaces.

Surfactants are of great significance due to their wide use in fundamental research, industrial production, and daily lives. It remains a grand challenge to design and synthesize surfactants exhibiting reversible amphiphilicity switching. Here, we report on a "hybrid surfactant" prepared by combining an oil-soluble molecule, stearic acid, with water-dispersible Al2O3 nanofibers via chemisorption at the oil-water interface. The long carbon chain of stearic acid functions as the hydrophobic tail of the surfactant, while the inorganic nanofibers can act as the hydrophilic head. This hybrid surfactant exhibits reversible switching between hydrophilic and lipophilic states by manipulating the adsorption-desorption volume of stearic acid attached to the Al2O3 nanofibers. Therefore, the emulsions stabilized by this organic-inorganic hybrid can reversibly transform between oil-in-water and water-in-oil type. Unlike conventional approaches, no other external stimulus is needed to set the amphiphilic properties of the hybrid surfactant. As a bonus, organic-inorganic three-dimensional solid foams can be readily prepared based on the emulsion system, which demonstrates potential applications for remediation of oil spills in the environment.

Hybridizing nanostructured metal oxides with grapheme oxide (GO) is highly desirable for the improvement of gas sensing performance of gas sensors. Herein, we develop an in situ fluorine directed solution process combined with heat treatment to grow highly ordered, porous α-Fe2O3 nanorods arrays (NRAs) onto graphene oxide (GO) sheets, resulting in flexible three-dimensional nanostructures. The α-Fe2O3 NRAs have heights of ∼50 nm and widths of 10–20 nm, which are densely and vertically attached to both sides of GO sheets, thereby generating an interesting “blanket-like” geometry. When tested as sensing materials for gas sensors, the nanocomposite displays a high sensitivity of 19.14 toward 50 ppm acetone at a work temperature of 220 °C, which was 5.4 times of that of α-Fe2O3. Even after 50 days, a stable sensitivity as high as 18.9 toward 50 ppm acetone could be maintained. The improved high sensitivity, fast response and recovery, and extraordinary stability of GO/α-Fe2O3 can be attributed to the highly ordered, porous structure and the synergistic effect between α-Fe2O3 and GO.

Recently, metal-free graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has been recognized as a potential candidate for high-performance photocatalytic hydrogen production while challenges still remain due to poor electronic properties and limited surface active sites. We demonstrate that g-C3N4 can be simultaneously co-doped with S, P and O nonmetal-atoms and exfoliated into ultrathin 2D nanosheets with a thickness of ∼3 nm by a simple, sequential thermal synthesis. The multi-atoms doping and nanostructure modulation remarkably enhanced the photocatalytic hydrogen production under illumination, with the optimal H2 evolution rate reaching 2480 μmol g−1 h−1. First-principle calculations and experimental evidences suggest that, upon elemental doping within the g-C3N4 framework, S atoms occupied the interstitial sites and P and O atoms replaced the C and N atoms, respectively. Consequently, photo-induced charge transfer and separation significantly improved owing to the construction of a more favorable charge transfer pathway. Furthermore, introducing heteroatoms into the structure of g-C3N4 narrowed the bandgap and negatively shifted the conduction band edge, leading to extended visible-light absorption and stronger electron reducibility for subsequent H2 production. Importantly, the in-situ generated 2D g-C3N4 nanosheets exhibited more catalytic surface sites, which was highly beneficial to the photocatalytic water splitting.

Over the past few years, graphitic/polymeric carbon nitride (CN) has attracted widespread attention due to its interesting electronic properties, which have been exploited in various applications, including, for example, in photo‐ and electrocatalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, CO2 reduction and water splitting. Its unique and tunable optical, chemical, and catalytic properties, alongside its low price and remarkably high stability to oxidation and harsh chemical environments, make it a very attractive material for optoelectronic devices as well as imaging and sensing‐related applications. In this Minireview, we will focus on the optical and photophysical properties of CN films and quantum dots and their potential applications in sensors, LEDs, solar cells and other photoelectronic devices. The synthetic approaches which determine the final chemical and photophysical properties of the CN materials are thoroughly elaborated.

Developing active and stable electrocatalysts of earth-abundant elements towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) still remains a crucial challenge. Herein, a cobalt-containing metal-organic framework using adenine as a ligand was synthesized and pyrolyzed without any other precursors, forming a cobalt nanoparticle-embedded nitrogen-doped carbon/carbon nanotube framework (Co@N-CNTF). Due to the abundant active sites of homogeneously distributed cobalt nanoparticles within nitrogen-doped graphitic layers, the resultant Co@N-CNTF catalysts exhibit an efficient and stable electrocatalytic performance as a tri-functional catalyst towards the ORR, OER and HER, including a high half-wave potential of 0.81 V vs. RHE for the ORR, and a low overpotential at 10 mA cm -2 for the OER (0.35 V) and HER (0.22 V). As a proof-of-concept, the Co@N-CNTF as an OER/HER bifunctional catalyst for full water splitting affords an alkaline electrolyzer with 10 mA cm -2 under a stable voltage of 1.71 V. Moreover, an integrated unit of a water-splitting electrolyzer using the Co@N-CNTF catalysts, which is powered with a rechargeable Zn-air battery using the Co@N-CNTF as an ORR/OER bifunctional catalyst on air electrodes, can operate under ambient conditions with high cycling stability, demonstrating the viability and efficiency of the self-powered water-splitting system.

With the increase in water consumption and pollution resulting from the rising world population and industrial development, severe fresh water shortage has been regarded as one of the critical problems facing the world. Solar-driven water purification is an environment friendly and promising technology to address the problem. However, low photothermal conversion efficiency impedes its practical application. Herein, a natural spruce wood-based solar evaporator functionalized with zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) nanoparticles and polydopamine (PDA) layers is designed, which significantly reduces the equivalent evaporation enthalpy and substantially boosts solar evaporation efficiency. The evaporation rate of the optimized wood-based evaporator reached 2.28 kg m(-2) h(-1) with a high evaporation efficiency of 87.5% under 1.0 sun. Furthermore, the integrated spruce wood/ZIF-8/PDA hybrids can remove organic pollutants after solar evaporation. Notably, the constructed multifunctional solar evaporator takes advantage of sustainable solar energy, low-cost biomass, and ZIF-8/PDA nanostructures to acquire desirable performance in water evaporation and sewage purification. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The construction of ionic conductive hydrogels with high transparency, excellent mechanical robustness, high toughness, and rapid self-recovery is highly desired yet challenging. Herein, a hydrogen-bonding network densification strategy is presented for preparing a highly stretchable and transparent poly(ionic liquid) hydrogel (PAM-r-MVIC) from the perspective of random copolymerization of 1-methyl-3-(4-vinylbenzyl) imidazolium chloride and acrylamide in water. Ascribing to the formation of a dense hydrogen-bonding network, the resultant PAM-r-MVIC exhibited an intrinsically high stretchability (>1000%) and compressibility (90%), fast self-recovery with high toughness (2950 kJ m -3 ), and excellent fatigue resistance with no deviation for 100 cycles. Dissipative particle dynamics simulations revealed that the orientation of hydrogen bonds along the stretching direction boosted mechanical strength and toughness, which were further proved by the restriction of molecular chain movements ascribing to the formation of a dense hydrogen-bonding network from mean square displacement calculations. Combining with high ionic conductivity over a wide temperature range and autonomous adhesion on various surfaces with tailored adhesive strength, the PAM-r-MVIC can readily work as a highly stretchable and healable ionic conductor for a capacitive/resistive bimodal sensor with self-adhesion, high sensitivity, excellent linearity, and great durability. This study might provide a new path of designing and fabricating ionic conductive hydrogels with high mechanical elasticity, high toughness, and excellent fatigue resilience for skin-inspired ionic sensors in detecting complex human motions.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a well-known two-dimensional conjugated polymer semiconductor that has been broadly applied in photocatalysis-related fields. However, further developments of g-C3N4, especially in device applications, have been constrained by the inherent limitations of its insoluble nature and particulate properties. Recent breakthroughs in fabrication methods of g-C3N4 films have led to innovative and inspiring applications in many fields. In this review, we first summarize the fabrication of continuous and thin films, either supported on substrates or as free-standing membranes. Then, the novel properties and application of g-C3N4 films are the focus of the current review. Finally, some underlying challenges and the future developments of g-C3N4 films are tentatively discussed. This review is expected to provide a comprehensive and timely summary of g-C3N4 film research to the wide audience in the field of conjugated polymer semiconductor-based materials.

Two-dimensional (2D) nanosheet-based nanocomposites have attracted intensive interest owing to the unique electronic and optical properties from their constituent phases and the synergistic effect from the heterojunctions. In this study, an interfacial coupled TiO

We report a bioinspired emulsion microreactor composed of an electrical double layer to mimic the functions of cell membranes. This "artificial cell" can modulate the phase-oriented transport of reagents at the oil-liquid interface via the electrical double layer, affording a powerful tool to optimize the selectivity in a catalytic reaction Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Municipal solid waste contains essential building blocks of transportation fuel but is often deposited into landfills. Available conversion processes are still in their infancy; thus, requiring foundational knowledge to control reaction pathways and transform waste macromolecules into desired products. Active, robust, and low-cost catalysts with highly accessible active sites are needed for selective cleavage of certain bonds. The rapid deactivation and diffusion limitations are the major challenges to date which can be controlled by the catalyst pore structure and acidity. In this paper, we developed novel mesoporous ZSM-5 catalysts to maximise levoglucosan conversion, the dominant product of cellulose pyrolysis, into furfural. The concentration of levoglucosan dropped from 12.1% to 3.8% over the mesoporous ZSM-5. Furthermore, the pyrolysis of plastic materials that existed in the waste provided supplementary hydrogen, which synergistically contributed to the hydrodeoxygenation of some compounds like 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and 4-methyl-1,2-Benzenediol. The total amount of non-oxygenated compounds over the mesoporous catalyst reached 77% compared to 59.7% in non-catalytic pyrolysis based on 13C NMR results. The integration of 13C NMR and GC-MS results provided an effective tool in identifying key reaction pathways and linking that to the catalyst's textural and acidic properties.