The plasticity of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) is closely correlated with the nature of shear bands; however, the structural origin of shear bands remains elusive due to the difficulty of obtaining direct observations. In this study, we investigated the microstructural evolution of shear bands during thermal relaxation by examining the local atomic-scale response to heating. Zr52.5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10Ti5 BMGs were subjected to two specifically designed deformation methods, namely, cold rolling and high-pressure torsion (HPT), to generate shear bands with varying volume fractions and rejuvenation states. In situ synchrotron diffraction results revealed a more pronounced growth of medium-range ordering at sub-Tg temperatures in the deformed BMGs than in the as-cast sample. The HPT-deformed BMG, with the highest volume fraction and distribution complexity of shear bands, demonstrated the most rapid increase in the ordering process. The transition of cluster connection modes possibly explained the anomalous emergence of medium-range order in the shear bands of deformed BMGs during sub-Tg relaxation or tension. Our study offers new insights into the atomic structure origins of shear bands, contributing to a deeper understanding of BMG plasticity.

The development of efficient, earth-abundant, and cost-effective electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for large-scale hydrogen production via water electrolysis. Inspired by the manganese cluster in Photosystem II, manganese-based materials are considered as promising OER candidates. However, their widespread application faces two major bottlenecks: poor electrical conductivity due to their intrinsic semiconducting nature, and poor stability caused by structural evolution or dissolution during catalysis. Herein, we propose a strategy of bimetallic alloying with copper (Cu) to simultaneously overcome these dual challenges. A series of Cu-Mn alloy thin films with tunable atomic ratios were prepared using a facile magnetron co-sputtering technique. This method not only fundamentally solves the conductivity issue by forming a metallic phase but, more importantly, the incorporation of Cu modulates the electronic structure of Mn. This optimizes the adsorption energy of OER intermediates, in line with the predictions of the volcano plot theory, and reinforces the structural stability of the material. Electrochemical evaluations confirm the success of this strategy. The optimized Cu30Mn70 (at.%) alloy exhibits outstanding catalytic activity in 1.0 M KOH, requiring a low overpotential of only 325 mV to drive a current density of 10 mA cm-2 and demonstrating favorable reaction kinetics with a Tafel slope of 76.5 mV dec-1. Crucially, the catalyst shows remarkable long-term stability, with negligible performance degradation after a 100-hour continuous electrolysis test. This overall performance surpasses most of the previously reported Mn-based oxide and composite catalysts. This work clearly demonstrates that simple metallic alloying is a powerful avenue for designing high-performance non-precious metal catalysts with synergistically enhanced activity and stability for efficient energy conversion.

The miniaturization of modern devices demands soft magnetic composites (SMCs) with high saturation magnetization ( Ms ). However, further enhancing Ms through the alpha-Fe phase is challenging. This study explores the potential of iron nitrides particularly the Fe4N phase for addressing this limitation. A distinctive SMC with high Fe content (84 at. %) and nanoscale Fe4N phase was prepared using the mechanical alloying (MA) method based on pure Fe and BN powders, and subsequent facile heat treatment. By prolonging the MA period up to 100 h, the amorphous-nanocrystalline structure and refined particle size of 1.9 mu m were achieved, thus promoting nitrogen doping through the open atomic packing and metastable thermodynamics. Subsequently, the nanoscale Fe4N phase with a volume fraction of 31.4 % was formed by annealing the milled sample at 650 degrees C for 2 min, resulting in an ultrahigh Ms of 226 emu/g, which is higher than those of amorphous-nanocrystalline and FeSi systems. Additionally, the SMC with Fe4N phase shows optimized magnetic softness, whose core loss (Pcv ) was reduced by 67.2 % compared to the SMC without Fe4N nanocrystals. Our study not only provides a simple and effective method for introducing iron nitrides into SMCs but also presents another alternative path for significantly enhancing the Ms of SMCs. (c) 2025 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.

Magnesium-based solid-state hydrogen storage is promising for its high safety and high hydrogen capacity, but its low thermal conductivity, high operating temperature, and large reaction enthalpy necessitate effective optimization of metal hydride (MH) bed configuration and thermal management. Most existing studies overlook holistic design strategies that start from raw hydrogen storage powders to achieve comprehensively superior MH bed performance. This work proposes a unified optimization framework for magnesium-based MH beds and their thermal management systems. Using this framework, the impacts of thermal conductivity enhancement methods and thermal management schemes on hydrogen absorption behavior are systematically analyzed. Results demonstrate that increasing the length-to-diameter ratio improves heat conduction and reduces saturation time without sacrificing storage density. Compaction enhances volumetric hydrogen density, while metal foam (MF) incorporation most significantly boosts thermal conductivity. With 15 vol% MF, the thermal conductivity of the MH bed increases by 160 times, shortening absorption saturation time by 98.3% relative to the powder bed. The heat transfer efficiency of jacketed heat exchange is higher than that of embedded-tube heat exchange. Thermal management devices required for the powder MH bed demand a much higher power capacity than those for the compacted bed. This work provides a systematic, integrated design and optimization approach for highperformance magnesium-based MH beds and thermal management systems.

To mitigate the discrepancies between high-hardness High-Entropy Alloy (HEA) films with titanium matrix, gradient structures enable a continuous variation in mechanical properties, represent a promising approach. Herein, a novel composition gradient TiVZrNbMo HEA film was prepared, the effect of Mo on the microstructural evolution, mechanical and tribological properties was investigated. Elevated Mo content resulted in a refinement of the grain size, a reduction in lattice parameters, and enhanced solid solution strengthening. At a Mo content of 33 at.%, the gradient films achieved a maximum hardness of 9.5 GPa and demonstrated minimal wear (2.8 x 10-6 mm3/(N & sdot;m)). The composition gradients mitigate the mismatch in modulus between the TiVZrNbMo HEA film and titanium, which provide a potential to enhance the tribological performance.

This work reviews the new regulation strategies of amorphous alloys and their excellent performance and application prospects as energy materials. Starting from three types of strategies, namely composition regulation, structure regulation and dual-regulation, this paper systematically summarizes the new regulation technologies of amorphous alloys, such as constructing immiscible amorphous alloys, high entropy amorphous alloys, nanoglass alloys, crystal/amorphous heterogeneous interface structures, etc., and focuses on the excellent performances of amorphous alloys as energy storage and conversion materials under the control of new strategies. This paper also provides a certain reference value for the design and optimization of amorphous alloy energy materials with high application value.

Metallic glasses (MGs) that mainly made up of metallic elements are a new member of the glassy materials family. This new kind of glass combines the characteristics of liquids and solids, glasses and metals, making it fascinating to both scientists and industrialists. With the discovery of more and more systems, MG is becoming one of the most active research field in metallic materials, and some concepts and technologies derived from MGs also facilitate the development of other materials from quasi-crystals to high entropy alloys. MGs have now been successfully used in aerospace, robotics, medicine, consumer electronics, etc. and the practical applications of MGs are still growing. On the other hand, the diverse properties and the unique structure of the MGs render them ideal models to study major open issues including the structural model of disordered materials, glass transition, collective motion and energy landscape. However, understanding the emerging properties and phenomena of MGs still poses enormous challenges, which has stimulated a wealth of efforts, including the development of new experimental approaches, the synthesis of systems with tailored properties, and the advancements in experimental techniques, theoretical models, and numerical simulations. In this Roadmap, we try to provide a broad overview of recent and potential future activities in the MG field, and present a roadmap for the development and applications of MGs by gathering contributions form scientists with diverse backgrounds, illustrating the major challenges and discussing the latest technology and strategy to tackle these challenges with experts covering various developments in general concepts, synthesis and characterisation, and theoretical and simulation methods.

The TiVZrNb high-entropy alloy has a good potential for hydrogen storage applications. However, the alloy is composed of strong hydride formation elements, leading to slow dehydrogenation kinetics and high dehydrogenation temperatures. To improve alloy dehydrogenation properties, a series of amorphous TiVZrNb/M films as prepared by magnetron sputtering. M represents metallic intercalations (M = Ta, Mo, Cr, Pt, Mg, Al) miscible with TiVZrNb. And the influence of interfacial energies and confinement effects on the hydrogen storage properties of these films are also investigated. The transmission electron microscopy experiment results show that the synthesized amorphous alloy multilayer film possesses three different structures: amorphous, crystalline, and amorphous nanocrystalline intercalation. The catalytic effect of the metal intercalation at the TiVZrNb/M interface enhances the dehydrogenation properties of the alloy film. Among the three different sandwich structures, the multilayer film with Ta interlayer provides the highest interfacial energy and strongest confinement effect to promote the adsorption and diffusion of hydrogen atoms due to the disordered interface. As a result, the alloy absorbs 0.61 wt% of hydrogen at room temperature and releases 0.4 wt% of hydrogen at 250 degrees C. This work provides a fundamental strategy to improve the hydrogen storage properties of high-entropy alloy thin films by modulating the interfacial energy and confinement effects of the film layers.

Efficient hydrogen storage is essential for the practical applications of hydrogen energy. Mg has been regarded as one of the most promising hydrogen storage materials to address this issue. However, the sluggish kinetics and high working temperature severely hinder its large-scale applications. Here, we facilely constructed Mg-CeAl3@CeH2 nanocomposites by ball-milling to improve the hydrogen storage kinetics and decrease the working temperature of Mg. X-ray diffraction analysis, along with selected area electron diffraction, revealed the formation of intermetallic compound Ce3Al during the de/hydriding process. Nano Ce3Al, CeAl3, and CeH2 modified Mg/MgH2 exhibit superior hydrogen absorption and desorption performance. For Mg-20wt.% CeAl3@CeH2 nanocomposite, the activation energies were reduced to 70.8kJ/mol H2 for hydriding and 84.6kJ/mol H2 for dehydriding, respectively. The hydrogen desorption peak temperature was lowered by about 77K for the Mg-20wt.% CeAl3@CeH2 nanocomposite compared with Mg. The addition of CeAl3@CeH2 composite also inhibits the growth of Mg/MgH2 grains. Mg-CeAl3@CeH2 nanocomposites exhibited robust nanostructure and superior hydrogen absorption and desorption cycling stability. The hydrogen capacity retention remained above 96% without de/hydriding kinetics degradation after over 20 cycles. This work provides a facile strategy to create catalyzed Mg-based nanocomposites to achieve superior hydrogen storage performance.

Designing bimetallic alloys and providing dual active sites is an effective way to achieve efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, the preparation and determination of an optimal composition remain significant challenges for immiscible alloys. In this study, the amorphous Cu-Mo alloys with a wide composition range were successfully prepared by magnetron sputtering. Among these alloys, the amorphous Cu50Mo50 alloy demonstrates excellent alkaline HER activity with low overpotentials of 57 and 149 mV at 10 and 100 mA cm-2, respectively. Moreover, it demonstrates outstanding long-term stability at 300 mA cm-2. The results demonstrate that an electronic interaction exists between the Cu and Mo atoms in the amorphous Cu50Mo50 alloy, where the Cu and Mo act as adsorption sites for OH and H intermediates, respectively. Furthermore, the amorphous Cu50Mo50 alloy also exhibits favorable intermediates adsorption and water dissociation abilities, which facilitate the alkaline HER process. The research provides a novel insight into the rational design and preparation of advanced alkaline HER catalysts.

Ammonia borane (NH3BH3, AB) is an ideal hydrogen storage material due to its high hydrogen content (19.6 wt%) and ambient stability. However, the large-scale application of hydrogen production via catalyzed AB methanolysis is limited by the sluggish methanol dehydrogenation kinetics. Particularly, the adsorption and activation steps in this process are not clearly distinguished and investigated comprehensively, which hinders the development of highly efficient catalysts. Herein, a rare-earth-induced charge polarization strategy is employed to design catalysts with pronounced interatomic charge differences. A rare-earth element with strong electron-donating ability is introduced to the CuCoNi medium-entropy alloy (MEA) system to modulate the charge distribution. As a result, positively charged La atoms preferentially adsorb O atoms via electrostatic interactions, while negatively charged Cu/Co/Ni atoms can donate electrons to promote H radical dissociation. This adsorb-activate cooperation significantly enhances the catalytic efficiency of AB methanolysis. The optimized CuCoNiLa0.3/C MEA nanoparticles catalyst achieves a turnover frequency (TOF) of 147.9 molH2 molcat -1 min-1 at 30 degrees C, which presents a substantial improvement compared to the CuCoNi/C (98.1 molH2 molcat -1 min-1). This work provides a reliable strategy for designing high-performance catalysts for AB methanolysis.

Structural order is introduced into an amorphous Mg80Ce10Ni10 alloy via high-pressure torsion (HPT). The HPT processing is performed under a pressure of 2GPa with rotation numbers of 1, 5, and 10 turns. Although both the initial melt-spun and HPT-processed samples have an amorphous structure, the hydrogen absorption rate increases from 1.61wt%/h for the ribbon sample to 2.60wt%/h for the HPT-processed sample. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) experiments combined with image analysis demonstrate that the HPT treatment effectively modulates the degree of structural order in the amorphous matrix. The average Shannon entropy decreases from 7.04 to 6.96, area fraction of ordered regions increases from 5.80% to 8.26%, and the ordered intensity increases from 0.61 to 0.80 after HPT treatments. This study demonstrates that modifications in structural order can effectively tune the hydrogen storage properties of Mg-based amorphous alloys.

Platinum is currently considered the best catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), yet its scarcity and high cost limit its application. Loading Pt on amorphous alloys with a large number of active sites not only decreases the expense but also delivers excellent HER functionality. This study presents a synthesis method for low Pt-loaded Al-Nb-Pt amorphous alloy films using simple three-target magnetron sputtering on a nickel foam substrate. The A129Nb59Pti2 amorphous alloy exhibited an overpotential of 81 mV at 100 mA cm-2 and retained a reliable stability of 300 h in 1.0 M KOH. Furthermore, the HER performance remained excellent after 100 h of CP testing at a high current density (800 mA/cm-2). In this work, the A129Nb59Pti2 amorphous alloy was immersed in 0.1 M HF to undergo dealloying. The overpotential at 100 mA cm-2 was reduced to 69 mV. This result indicates a successful enhancement in HER performance, providing a new approach for exploring Pt-based catalysts.

To advance electrochemical H 2 O 2 production and unravel catalytic mechanisms, the precise structural coordination of single‐atomic M‐N‐C electrocatalysts is urgently required. Herein, the Co─N 5 site with an asymmetric electronic configuration is constructed to boost the two‐electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e − ORR) compared to symmetric Co─N 4 , effectively overcoming the trade‐off between activity and selectivity in H 2 O 2 production. Both experimental and theoretical analyses demonstrate that breaking the symmetry of Co─N sites promotes the activation of O 2 molecules and moderates the adsorption of the key *OOH intermediate by disrupting the linear scaling relationship for intermediates adsorption. This modulation enables efficient H₂O₂ production and its effective retention for subsequent applications. As a proof of concept, Co─N 5 achieves a H 2 O 2 production rate as high as 16.1 mol g cat −1 h −1 in a flow cell, outperforming most recently reported counterparts. Furthermore, the coupling of 2e − ORR with the oxidation of cellulose‐derived carbohydrates accomplishes high formic acid yields (84.1% from glucose and 62.0%–92.1% from other substrates), underpinning the sustainable electro‐refinery for biomass valorization at ambient conditions. By elucidating the intrinsic relationship between 2e⁻ ORR and the asymmetry of single‐atomic sites, this work paves the way for high‐performance electrosynthesis.

Platinum-based materials remain the most intrinsically active and promising catalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions (HER). The synthesis of low-Pt-loaded catalysts by uniformly dispersing a small amount of Pt onto a carrier allows for achieving an optimal balance between cost and HER performance. Metallic glasses (MGs), as a material with an internally disordered arrangement, have demonstrated potential as highly efficient catalysts for HER, but their large-scale application has been restricted to compositions that need substantial amounts of noble metals. Here, a low-Pt-loaded and homogeneously dispersed Pt-CuW metallic glass was fabricated for self-supported HER catalytic electrodes by a simple three-target magnetron sputtering process. The Pt-CuW only needs 88mV for HER at 100mAcm-2 and retains a reliable stability of 300h in 1.0M KOH solution, outperforming other reported noble-metal-based metallic glasses catalysts. Furthermore, the Pt-CuW displays promising HER catalytic activity in seawater. The exceptional HER performance of the Pt-CuW is due to the amorphous and the structure synergistic effect of its unique alloy system, which may gain insights into the development of Pt-based HER electrocatalysts for further applications.

The electrochemical reconstruction of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) offers a promising approach for in situ fabrication of high-performance electrocatalysts. However, this innovation is often hindered by unpredictable structural transformations due to the complex thermodynamic and kinetic interplay of such multiple electrochemical and chemical processes. Herein, the reaction-atmosphere (Ar or CO2) guided reconstruction of Cu-based MOFs to Cu nanoparticles with mixed-valence surfaces/interfaces was investigated for the first time to unravel the kinetic contribution made by intermediate chemisorption. As shown, Cu-1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate (HKUST-1) with frangible Cu-O4 nodes undergoes thermodynamically favored reduction quickly upon applying cathodic potentials, followed by varied surface changes kinetically governed by the intermediates of the hydrogen evolution reaction or CO2 reduction reaction (HER or CO2RR). Under an Ar atmosphere, the predominant HER increases the [OH-] in the microenvironment near the cathode and thereby boosts the re-oxidation of in situ formed Cu toward Cu/Cu2O interfaces. Conversely, the CO2RR facilitates the strong adsorption of *CO on Cu surfaces, effectively preserving Cu(0) species. Thanks to the rich Cu/Cu2O interfaces with a lowered energy barrier for *CO-*CO coupling during the subsequent CO2RR test, the electrocatalysts restructured under Ar afford the obviously improved CO2-to-C2H4 conversion as compared with their counterparts restructured under CO2. Such an atmosphere-controlled reconstruction strategy is further validated using CuBDC (BDC = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate) with labile Cu-O4 nodes, while CuPz2 (Pz = pyrazole), with robust Cu-N4 coordination, remains stable, highlighting the framework-dependent nature. These findings establish atmosphere-controlled reconstruction of metastable MOFs as a powerful tool for rational electrocatalyst design.

Cu-based materials are promising electrochemical catalysts for CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to synthesize various products of hydrocarbons and oxygenates. Crystal defects including vacancies, dislocations, grain boundaries can basically control the product selectivity of CO2RR. However, experimental evidence is lacking on the impact of crystal defects on the electrocatalytic CO2RR performance of bulk Cu-based alloys. In this study, 10 mm diameter pure Cu discs with carefully engineered dislocations, grain boundaries are prepared through high-pressure torsion (HPT) combined with annealing treatment, and the effect of crystal defects on electrocatalytic CO2RR performance is systematically studied. Compared with Cu discs with a small number of grain boundaries and a large number of dislocations, Cu discs with a large number of grain boundaries and a low density of dislocations show much better CO2RR performances, especially in terms of the generation of CO and high-value products such as C2H4.

Amorphous-nanocrystalline magnetic powder cores (ANMPCs) are highly potential soft magnetic materials in high-frequency applications of power electronic devices. However, their relatively low saturation magnetization cannot satisfy the miniaturization of devices. Strong FeCo exchange coupling amorphous-nanocrystalline powder is a promising candidate to prepare the required ANMPCs. In this work, a series of (Fe0.8Co0.2)87B13 soft magnetic powders with controllable content of amorphous and nanocrystalline phases and tunable particle size were fabricated by mechanical ball milling of pure Fe, Co and B powders. During the ball-milling procedure, the three-stage vitrification and nanocrystallization combined with morphology and size developments were revealed, leading to the nonmonotonic variation of soft magnetic properties. The combination of ultrahigh saturation magnetization of 239 emu g−1 and moderate effective permeability of 33 was achieved in the milled magnetic powders. After milling for 150 h, the FeCoB powder reaches a dynamic equilibrium manifesting as the nano-to-micro scale particle size and a stable amorphous-nanocrystalline dual-phase structure, which results in the improvement of high-frequency stability and core loss. With the synergism of deformation and energy injection, the mechanical ball milling is an effective way to realize the controllable nanocrystallization of amorphous powders containing ultimate ferromagnetic elements and improve the comprehensive soft magnetic properties of ANMPCs.

Mg-based amorphous alloys are one of the potential hydrogen storage materials but suffer from sluggish dehydrogenation/hydrogenation (de/hydrogenation) kinetics. In this work, as a new strategy, a hydrogen pump is built on the surface of amorphous alloys to solve this problem. By milling crystalline YFe2-xAlx hydrogen storage alloy with Mg60La10Ni20Cu10 amorphous alloy, fine crystalline particles were seeded on amorphous alloy powder to form a "strawberry" structure. According to the TEM observation, a metallurgical bonding boundary formed between the Mg-based amorphous matrix and the Y-Fe-Al crystalline alloy. By microstructure and de/hydrogenation kinetics investigation, the "hydrogen pump" effect of the seeded crystalline alloy was confirmed, which makes it much easier for the hydrogen to dissociate on and diffuse through the surface of the Mg-based amorphous alloy. With such effect, the H absorption rate of Mg60La10Ni20Cu10 amorphous alloy became almost eight times faster and it absorbs & SIM;2.8 wt.% in 1 h at 130 & DEG;C under 4.5 MPa-H2. Further, fast hydrogenation can even achieve at 70 & DEG;C and the low-temperature dehydrogenation kinetics of the amorphous hydride can be also greatly promoted. The present work proves that surface modification is of great importance for obtaining Mg-based amorphous alloy with ideal hydrogen storage performance. & COPY; 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.