Carbon nanotube/silicon (CNT/Si) heterojunction solar cells have emerged as a promising low-temperature photovoltaic platform, combining the strong light-harvesting capability of Si with the transparency, processability, and mechanical compliance of CNT-based contacts. Recent advances have pushed laboratory-scale efficiencies to about 23% and extended device operation to centimeter-scale areas. These advances reflect a functional evolution of CNT contacts from transparent conductive films in early front-junction devices to chemically and structurally engineered contacts and further to selective/passivating interfaces integrated with architectures that decouple optical management from CNT transport constraints. This review examines how CNT composition, doping, morphology, Si absorber design, interfacial passivation, and optical management collectively regulate carrier extraction, recombination, photon utilization, and mechanical form factor. It then discusses the key barriers to practical implementation, including CNT film uniformity, area scaling, contact stability, and mechanical reliability. By linking device-performance advances with the remaining materials and engineering challenges, this review provides a materials and interface perspective on the requirements for scalable and reliable CNT/Si photovoltaics.

Background: Dexamethasone has proven life-saving in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and COVID-19 cases. However, its systemic administration is accompanied by serious side effects. Inhalation delivery of dexamethasone (Dex) faces challenges such as low lung deposition, brief residence in the respiratory tract, and the pulmonary mucus barrier, limiting its clinical use. Neutrophil cell membrane-derived nanovesicles, with their ability to specifically target hyper-activated immune cells and excellent mucus permeability, emerge as a promising carrier for pulmonary inhalation therapy. Methods: We designed a novel UiO66 metal-organic framework nanoparticle loaded with Dex and coated with neutrophil cell membranes (UiO66-Dex@NMP) for targeted therapy of severe pneumonia. This was achieved by loading Dex into UiO66 pores and subsequently coating with neutrophil membranes for functionalization. Results: Drug release experiments revealed UiO66-Dex@NMP to exhibit favorable sustained-release properties. Additionally, UiO66-Dex@NMP demonstrated excellent targeting capabilities both in vitro and in vivo. In a mouse model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced pneumonia, UiO66-Dex@NMP significantly reduced lung inflammation compared to both the control model and Dex administered via inhalation. Histopathological analysis further confirmed UiO66-Dex@NMP’s ability to alleviate lung tissue damage. Conclusions: UiO66-Dex@NMP represents a novel and safe inhaled delivery carrier for Dex, offering valuable insights into the clinical management of respiratory diseases, including severe pneumonia.

Silicon (Si) holds promise as an anode material for next-generation lithium-ion batteries due to its high theoretical capacity. However, practical applications are impeded by structural damage from volume expansion. Here, we designed a novel Si/CNFs/C anode by integrating mesoporous Si particles, carbon nanofibers (CNFs), and carbon quantum dots into a three-dimensional (3D) architecture via a one-step magnesiothermic reduction process. This design significantly enhances both electron and ion conductivity, alleviates the volume expansion of Si particles, and ensures mechanical stability during battery operation. Consequently, batteries with the Si/CNFs/C anode exhibit a reversible capacity of 1,172.4 mAh g-1 after 200 cycles at 0.1 A g-1 and maintain 1,107.7 mAh g-1 after 1,000 cycles at 1 A g-1. Notably, after 1,000 cycles at a high current density of 1 A g-1, the capacity remains nearly comparable to that after 100 cycles at 0.1 A g-1, attributed to significant pseudocapacitive characteristics that facilitate high performance under elevated current densities. Furthermore, we employed distribution of relaxation times analysis alongside other electrochemical techniques to investigate changes in ion transport pathways and the evolving role of Si in the energy storage process. Our design and analysis provide valuable insights for optimizing 3D conductive architectures and understanding the dynamic electrochemical mechanisms of Si-based anodes, advancing the development of high-performance lithium-ion batteries.

Polyimide (PI) coated with atomic layer deposition (ALD) thin films shows promising potential for applications in extreme environments. To achieve a high quality ultrathin ALD coating on the PI surface, Al-doped ALD-TiO2 (ATO) films were deposited on the alkaline hydrothermally activated PI surfaces. The nucleation and growth of ATO films were studied by XPS monitoring and SEM observation. The incorporation of aluminum introduced additional active sites that acted as a seed layer, promoting the adsorption and growth of titanium oxide. This effectively compensated for the defects in the TiO2 film, resulting in the formation of a continuously growing conformal film on the PI surface. After 200 ALD cycles, the ATO film deposited on PI exhibits excellent water vapor barrier properties and significant resistance to atomic oxygen (AO) erosion. When exposed to an AO flux of 1.4 × 1022 atom per cm2, the erosion yield of the PI coated with 200 ALD cycles of ATO film was as low as 2.4 × 10-26 cm3 per atom, which is two orders less than that of the standard polyimide-ref Kapton® film.

It is essential to prepare ultrathin, flexible, and dense coatings with excellent resistance to atomic oxygen (AO) and ultraviolet (UV) erosion on large areas of organic materials on spacecraft surfaces in low Earth orbit. In this paper, a dense plasma-polymerized hexamethyldisiloxane (ppHMDSO) coating with a thickness of about 400 nm and a surface roughness of 0.31 nm was prepared on polyimide surfaces with a width of more than 1000 mm using roll-to-roll compatible PECVD. The synergistic effect and erosion mechanism of AO and UV on the chemical components and structure, erosion depth, morphology, and mass loss of ppHMDSO coatings were revealed by AO and UV exposure experiments, both individually and simultaneously. The results showed that the synergistic effect of AO and UV exacerbated the decarburization and inorganic SiO2 formation process of the organosilicon coatings, which was attributed to the UV radiation promoting molecular activation and chemical bond breaking and formation. At the same time, the synergistic enhancement between AO and UV promoted the AO erosion depth of the coating and increased the surface roughness. However, no cracks or holes occurred on the surface of the coatings after simultaneous exposure to both AO and UV for 200 h (total AO fluence was 1.12 x 10(22) atoms cm(-2), equivalent to 3 years of AO exposure at 400 km circular orbit), and only a slight thinning of the coating thickness was observed. The corresponding AO erosion yield was 9.98 x 10(-27) cm(3)atom(-1), which is only 0.33% of that of Kapton H. This indicates that although the synergistic effect of AO and UV promotes the degradation and oxidation of the organic components in the coating, the ppHDMSO coating can still effectively protect the Kapton substrate from AO and UV attack in the long term.

Trivalent antimonite (Sb(III)) and pentavalent antimonate (Sb(V)) prevail in printing and dyeing wastewater (PDW). Conventional iron -based materials such as iron flocculant and nanoscale zerovalent iron (NZVI) suffer from lack of oxidative capability and agglomerative deactivation for Sb removal, respectively. Herein, this study proposed a dual -function iron shavings coupling aeration system (iron shavings/O2) for the "oxidation -sequestration" of Sb(III) and the direct sequestration of Sb(V). Results collectively demonstrated that iron shavings/O2 system performed effectively in a broad solution chemistry environment, including wide pH range, co -existing inorganic ions, organic compounds and even practical water matrices. Fe(0), the primary constituent of iron shavings, activated dissolved oxygen (DO) to center dot OH through electron transfer (O2 -> O2 center dot  -> H2O2 -> center dot OH), while it was oxidized to Fe(II) and Fe(III). The generated center dot OH and Fe(III) synergistically oxidized Sb(III) to less toxic Sb (V), which was then sequestered by iron (hydr)oxides and newly formed iron muds via inner sphere complexation and co -precipitation. Furthermore, the proposed system exhibited stable and efficient Sb removal in a continuous flow reactor. Overall, this work illustrates iron shavings/O2 is a promising alternative for mainstream iron -based materials towards Sb removal and offers enormous potential for practical PDW treatment.

Narrow graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) and GNR/single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) intramolecular heterojunctions are ideal candidates to construct next-generation electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the fabrication of high-quality long sub-5 nm wide GNRs and GNR/SWNT heterojunctions is a great challenge. Here, we report a method to produce high-quality sub-5 nm wide GNRs with smooth edges and GNR/SWNT intramolecular heterostructures via palladium-catalyzed full and partial unzipping of SWNTs, respectively. The resulting GNRs could be as narrow as 2.2 nm and had an average length of over 1 μm. By adjusting the unzipping time and the deposited positions of palladium nanoparticles, controlled multiple GNR/SWNT heterostructures were also fabricated on an individual parent SWNT. A GNR field-effect transistor (FET) constructed by a 3.1 nm wide GNR could simultaneously achieve a high on/off current ratio of 1.1 × 104 and a large mobility of 598 cm2 V-1 s-1. The photovoltaic device based on a single GNR (2.4 nm in width)/SWNT (0.8 nm in diameter) heterojunction exhibited a large open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.52 V and a high external power conversion efficiency (η) of 4.7% under the 1550 nm wavelength illumination of 931 mW cm-2. Our method provides a pathway to controllably prepare high-quality sub-5 nm GNRs and GNR/SWNT heterojunctions for fundamental studies and practical applications in the electronic and optoelectronic fields.

A flexible, dense, defect-free, highly adhesive, and highly dissociation energy-rich protective coating is essential to enhance the atomic oxygen (AO) resistance of polymeric materials in a low Earth orbit (LEO). In this work, a dense, defect-free hybrid HMDSO/SiO2 thin film coating with compositional gradients on the surface of polyimide was synthesized using vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) irradiation. The effects of VUV irradiation on the morphology, optical transmittance, and chemical components of plasma-polymerized HMDSO (pp-HMDSO) thin-film coatings deposited on the polyimide surface were investigated in depth. There were no defects such as cracks and holes in the surface morphology of pp-HMDSO films after VUV irradiation, but the surface roughness increased slightly, and the corresponding optical transmittance decreased slightly. The chemical components of pp-HMDSO films were changed in the depth direction starting from the top of the surface, forming hybrid HMDSO/SiO2 thin films with compositional gradients. The component gradient HMDSO/SiO2 composite coating further enhanced the atomic oxygen resistance of the polyimide due to the surface layer of the UV-modified coating enriched with high dissociation energy SiOx material. Therefore, this work provides a facile UV-induced synthesis method to prepare dense, defect-free, and highly dissociation energy-rich protective gradient coatings, which are promising not only for excellent AO protection in LEO but also for potential application in water-oxygen barrier films.

In order to investigate the heat transfer properties and insulation effect of silica-based insulation coating in pipe insulation, an ANSYS workbench is used, in this research work, to establish a thermal insulation model for heat transport pipes. The simulation study is carried out for silicon-based insulation coating, aerogel, aluminium silicate fibre, calcium silicate board, and other insulation materials with different thicknesses, different insulation structures, and different pipeline temperatures to compare their insulation effects, and the simulation results are verified with the tests that are carried out on the actual thermal pipelines, which show that silicon-based insulation coatings have a better thermal insulation effect than aluminium silicate fibre and calcium silicate board under the same boundary conditions and thickness, silicon-based insulation coatings have a better thermal insulation effect when the temperature is higher than 300°C.

A cheap and commercially available small molecule (namely EPPDI) is introduced to the active layer of N2200-based all polymer solar cells as a solid additive. EPPDI at the optimal ratio can improve the D-A nano-scale morphology and reduce trap density of the active layer by filling morphological spaces. As a result, the photovoltaic performance of the resulting devices based on PF2:N2200 are increased from 6.28% to 7.03% with significantly enhanced fill factor. This work demonstrates a facile approach for improving the performance of all polymer solar cells.

We report the design and synthesis of two conjugated semiconductors (QT and QP) with a quinoidal cyclopentadithiophene core through a simple method. X-ray single-crystal analysis provides detailed structure information such as molecular geometry, bond length alternation and solid packing motifs. The quinoidal character enables QT and QP with narrow bandgaps and strong absorption coefficients (>105 M-1 cm-1) in UV?Vis region. The charge transport properties of quinoidal semiconductor single crystals are investigated by organic field-effect transistors. QT achieves a hole mobility of 2.4 x 10-3 cm2/Vs while QP obtains a hole mobility of 6.9 x 10-4 cm2/Vs. The report of such type of quinoidal skeleton may provide useful guidance for constructing promising conjugated semiconductors for organic electronics.

Ternary all-polymer solar cells are fabricated using an N2200 acceptor and two donor polymers (PF2 and PM2) with complementary absorption. The major donor PF2 is a relatively wide bandgap polymer that contributes the most photon absorption in the UV-vis region while the second donor PM2 improves the light harvesting due to its strong absorption in the near-IR region. By carefully tuning the ratio of two donor polymers, the best ratio of 9 : 1 : 5 (PF2 : PM2 : N2200) is achieved and shows a PCE of 6.90%, which is better than two binary devices. This work demonstrates an effective strategy of utilizing a narrow bandgap donor polymer as the second donor to improve the performance of all-polymer solar cells.

A new quinoidal acceptor building block (namely IQTT) is designed with directed diradical character to control and narrow the bandgap while good chemical stability is maintained with the assistance of quantum mechanics simulations. Then IQTT-based monomer and donor-acceptor (D-A) polymer (PIQTT) are synthesized as well as the isoindigo-based (IID) monomer and D-A polymer (PITT). It is found that the IQTT building block displays stronger electron-withdrawing ability and more planar backbone conformation than IID in the copolymers. Both IQTT-based monomer and PIQTT exhibit significantly red shifted absorption compared to their IID-based counterparts. In the solid state, PIQTT exhibits the superior thin film order and a decent field-effect transistor mobility. This work not only shows that IQTT is an excellent building block for organic electronics but also indicates that the quantum chemical simulation tool that developed in diradicaloid studies is a powerful approach to design novel quinoidal narrow-bandgap D-A conjugated polymers for organic electronics.

A novel satellite-like structure of metal nanocrystals decorated on silicon@carbon core–shell nanoparticles achieves boosting of the initial coulombic efficiency.

Prussian blue (PB) and its analogues (PBAs) have been acknowledged as promising materials for the catalysis, energy storage, and bioapplications because of different constructions and tunable composition. The approach for surface modification with metal oxides for boosting the performance, however, is rarely reported. Herein, a facile surface anchoring strategy has been proposed to realize CeO2 nanocrystals uniformly depositing on the surface of PB. Besides, the size, thickness, and depositing density of CeO2 nanocrystals can be regulated by adjusting the amount of the precursor and the proportion of ethanol and deionized water. Furthermore, after a step of confined pyrolysis treatment under an air atmosphere, CeO2 nanocrystals with an encapsulated iron oxide structure have been obtained. This shows a remarkable cycling and rate performance when evaluated as an anode of the lithium-ion battery. The surface anchoring approach of the CeO2 nanocrystals may not only promote the various applications of PB-based materials but also provide an opportunity for developing the architecture of other CeO2-based core-shell nanostructures.

The void space is widely used in anode materials for relieving the volume expansion during lithium insertion and extraction processes. Generally, the void is randomly generated or exceeded the expansion to ensure the structural stability, which thus sacrifices the capacity and energy density. In this research, a core-satellite architecture was constructed with an elaborate structural design to obtain a rational balance of the void space and capacity. Such well fabricated silicon@porous silicon@carbon (Si@pSi@C) core-satellite nanoparticles with a precise void space present a satisfactory capacity of 1002 mA h g-1 over 100 cycles at a current of 100 mA g-1. This delicate core-satellite architecture could promote the use of the structural design in high-energy density lithium-ion batteries.

In order to reduce the deposition of inorganic salt in continuous reactor during the treatment of radioactive spent extraction solvent by supercritical water oxidation, the solubilities of five kinds of radioactive inorganic salts were investigated at temperatures from 390 to 550 °C and pressures from 20 to 25 MPa. The solubilities of inorganic salts were correlated via a semi-empirical approach based on the phase equilibrium between the salt and supercritical water. In addition, parallel hydrolysis of the salts was found as it could be observed from decrease in pH and deviations of anion and cation concentration in the liquid effluent.

Flexible solar cells could be applied in fields such as satellites, airships, drones, individual soldier equipment, building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), and wearable smart devices, which indicates great prospects. This paper introduces cell structures, fabrication methods and current statuses of four types of flexible solar cells respectively, including the flexible silicon thin film solar cell, the flexible CdTe solar cell, the flexible CIGS solar cell, and the flexible perovskite solar cell. This paper also analyses the key issue of efficiency improvement and the main problems in the industrialization of the flexible solar cells. Ultimately, the paper proposes suggestions from aspects of substrate development, efficiency improvement and industrial fabrication.

In this article, we report continuous and large-area molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) growth on a SiO2/Si substrate by radio frequency magnetron sputtering (RFMS) combined with sulfurization. The MoS2 film was synthesized using a two-step method. In the first step, a thin MoS2 film was deposited by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering at 400 °C with different sputtering powers. Following, the as-sputtered MoS2 film was further subjected to the sulfurization process at 600 °C for 60 min. Sputtering combined with sulfurization is a viable route for large-area few-layer MoS2 by controlling the radio-frequency magnetron sputtering power. A relatively simple growth strategy is demonstrated here that simultaneously enhances thin film quality physically and chemically. Few-layers of MoS2 are established using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometer, high-resolution field emission transmission electron microscope, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. Spectroscopic and microscopic results reveal that these MoS2 layers are of low disorder and well crystallized. Moreover, high quality few-layered MoS2 on a large-area can be achieved by controlling the radio-frequency magnetron sputtering power.