Catalyzing polysulfide conversion is vital to mitigate shuttle effects and boost reaction kinetics in Li-S batteries (LSBs). Transition metal dichalcogenides serve as efficient catalysts due to their strong polarity and adjustable electronic structures; however, their practical application remains challenged by sluggish conversion kinetics and insufficient lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) adsorption. Here, we propose a cation substitution strategy which induces lattice distortion for d-p hybridization modulation in cobalt disulfide (CoS2) for realizing improved sulfur redox kinetics and polysulfide adsorption. The electronic structure modulation mechanism is revealed by rationally tuning the d-p hybridization degree via doping various cations (Cu2+, Ni3+, and Mn3+). Among these cations, the Ni incorporation into CoS2 lattice induces symmetric and moderate lattice distortion and manipulates the d-band center of Co sites, resulting in enhanced d-p hybridization and improved mass transfer and adsorption of LiPSs. Consequently, the Ni-doped sulfur host exhibits an ultralow decay rate of 0.063% per cycle after 500 cycles at 2 C, and even at a demanding sulfur loading of 6.38 mg cm-2, it retains a high reversible capacity of 501 mAh g-1 after 60 cycles. The pouch cell demonstration further substantiates its high practical potential of a considerable 203 Wh kg-1 energy density, delivering stable cycling performance with 73% capacity retention after 100 cycles. This work brings valuable design considerations in d-p hybridization modulation for advancing catalytic sulfur redox reactions in LSBs and paves the way for their practical applications as next-generation energy storage systems.

Li-rich layered oxides (LLOs) are promising cathodes for high-energy-density Li-ion batteries, yet their practical deployment is hindered by severe voltage decay and structural degradation driven by uncontrolled lattice-oxygen activity. Here, we propose a lattice chemistry damping stabilization strategy by constructing radially graded disordered domains without disrupting the long-range layered order. The highly disordered surface evolves into spinel-like units with oxygen defects, functioning as a damping reservoir that buffers oxygen activity and accelerates Li+ diffusion, whereas the moderately disordered bulk acts as a structural damper by reinforcing TM-O bonding and alleviating strain. This spatially resolved cooperative damping enhances O 2p-TM 3d hybridization, promotes electron delocalization, and enables reversible oxygen redox. Importantly, in situ XRD and EIS-DRT jointly quantify this damping through suppressed Delta c/Delta V and microstrain excursions, together with attenuated SOC-dependent polarisation/relaxation evolution under practical high-voltage operation. Benefiting from this mechanism, the optimized electrode delivers 81.3% capacity retention after 800 cycles with an ultra-low voltage decay of 0.64 mV per cycle, and Ah-level pouch cells maintain 90% capacity after 200 cycles alongside negligible voltage decay. This work provides a physically inspired, measurement-anchored pathway to suppress voltage decay and extend the lifetime of LLOs.

Developing main-group single-atom catalysts (SACs) for Fenton-like chemistry remains fundamentally challenging due to their inherent redox inertness stemming from absent d-orbitals. Herein, we demonstrate the gram-scale fabrication of a high-loading (32 wt%) calcium SAC (Ca-O-C) featuring a CaO4 coordination structure for efficient Fenton-like chemistry at low oxidant concentrations. Unlike transition-metal-based SACs, Ca-O-C exploits oxygen coordination to dominantly populate initially empty Ca d orbitals, enabling unprecedented dual activation of molecular oxygen (O-2) and peroxymonosulfate (PMS). Experimental and theoretical analyses reveal that Lewis acidic Ca sites selectively direct PMS oxidation to exclusively generate singlet oxygen (O-1(2)) while simultaneously enhancing O-2 reduction to superoxide radical (O-2(center dot-)) via tandem catalysis. This interfacial redox synergy reduces PMS requirement, achieving a specific activity of 8.2 x 10(4) L min(1) m(2) for Ca-O-C under low PMS concentration of 1 mM, rivaling state-of-the-art transition-metal-based SACs. Remarkably, Ca-O-C exhibits multifaceted functionality, including sensitive biosensing (12.9 nM detection limit for ascorbic acid) and robust water purification (> 96 % organic pollutant removal over 192 h). Combining scalable synthesis and exceptional long-term durability, this work pioneers high-loading main-group SACs for low-concentration Fenton-like chemistry, offering atomic-level insights into orbital engineering of redox-inert main-group elements and unlocking new opportunities for environmental and biosensing applications, and beyond.

Vibrio and Pseudoalteromonas are widely distributed marine bacteria that exert strong influences on metals. However, how they differentially drive the transition of substrate from corrosion to mineralization remained insufficiently resolved. This study investigates the interfacial reactions on Q235B carbon steel mediated by Vibrio neocaledonicus and Pseudoalteromonas distincta isolated from the South China Sea. V. neocaledonicus promotes interfacial electrochemical activity and pitting corrosion. Whereas, P. distincta facilitates the formation of a CaCO3-dominated biomineralized layer that inhibits pitting corrosion. Both strains generated Fe(III) with concomitant Fe(II) in the early stage, however, P. distincta with secretions formed a composite barrier which helped the mineral deposition. Fluorescence analysis reveals distinct calcium ion aggregation patterns for the two bacterial strains. The clustered V. neocaledonicus captures Ca2+ in suspension to reduce the free Ca2+availability and disfavoring crystallization. While the more dispersive P. distincta acts as the nucleation sites on substrate for Ca2+binding showing strong spatial correspondence. The higher PO43-/HPO42- ratio further promotes CaCO3 deposition.These findings reveal interfacial nucleation permissiveness and free Ca2+ availability as key factors between corrosion and mineral protection. It provides the mechanistic insights for MIC risk and marine steels protection strategies.

Developing efficient non-noble-metal bifunctional electrocatalysts is essential for rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs), because sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics at the air electrode lead to large polarization and limited cycling durability. Herein, an iron-cobalt dual-site catalyst anchored on nitrogen-doped porous carbon (FeCo-NC) is fabricated from ZnCoFe-ZIF precursors through a simple sacrificial-template strategy. The cooperative Fe-Co centers regulate the adsorption and conversion of oxygenated intermediates, while the hierarchical porous carbon framework accelerates mass/electron transfer and constructs an efficient gas-liquid-solid three-phase reaction interface. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the electronic interaction between Fe and Co optimizes the adsorption energetics of oxygen intermediates and lowers the barrier of the potential-determining step. Consequently, FeCo-NC delivers an ORR half-wave potential of 0.870 V and a low OER overpotential of 320 mV at 10 mA/cm2. Rechargeable ZABs assembled with FeCo-NC as the air cathode achieve a maximum power density of 155 mW/cm2 and stable cycling for more than 300 h, demonstrating the promise of Fe-Co cooperative sites for practical oxygen electrocatalysis and zinc-air energy storage.

ABSTRACT Lithium‐sulfur (Li‐S) batteries are attractive for next‐generation energy storage, yet practical deployment is impeded by the lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) shuttle effect and sluggish sulfur redox kinetics, which are further aggravated by solvent shielding that blocks LiPSs from accessing catalytic sites. Here, we develop a yolk‐shell MoO 3 /Co 3 O 4 @C nanoreactor that leverages oxygen bridge‐induced orbital oscillation to break the solvation barrier and accelerate interfacial conversion. We identify that the dynamic vibration of Mo‐O‐Co oxygen bridges facilitates a directional electron flow via a 4 d ‐2 p ‐3 d orbital interaction pathway, which fundamentally triggers a low‐spin to high‐spin transition of Co centers, strengthening d ‐ p orbital hybridization and enabling robust chemisorption/catalysis of LiPSs. Meanwhile, the modulation of solvation structure from solvent‐separated ion pairs (SSIPs) to contact ion pairs (CIPs)/aggregates (AGGs) lowers the Li + desolvation energy barrier and homogenizes the ion flux. Synergistically, the double‐shelled architecture confines soluble intermediates and suppresses outward diffusion. Consequently, Li‐S batteries deliver 352 mAh g −1 at an ultrahigh rate of 15 C, and an initial areal capacity of 11.95 mAh cm −2 is achieved at an ultrahigh sulfur loading of 13.03 mg cm −2 . This work proposes a strategy of oxygen‐bridge‐induced high‐spin state to realize desolvation and mass‐transfer reaction of LiPSs within interface catalytic domain.

Correction for ‘Lattice chemistry damping stabilization enables voltage stability and oxygen redox reversibility in Li-rich layered oxides’ by Lingcai Zeng et al. , Energy Environ. Sci. , 2026, 19 , 1642–1657, https://doi.org/10.1039/D5EE06116D.

Accurately grasping objects with varying levels of hardness and softness is a challenging task. Current robotic grasping methods rely solely on visual to determine the grasping posture, without considering the grasping force of different objects, which might increase the risk of slippage or damage. For the purpose of realize the improvement and supplementation of visual information from the dimension of force, several robots include tactile sensors installed at fingertips. In this paper, we propose a method that integrates visual and tactile information to accurately determine the 6D posture and force for robot grasping. The main challenges of this research include (1) grasping representation of visual and tactile data from heterogeneous sources, (2) Construction of the implicit link between grasping posture and clutching force , (3) a visual-tactile training dataset. To address these challenges, we first use a grasping quality assessment module to filter the grasping posture and a transformer-depth separation convolution module to predict the grasping force; second, we propose a diffusion model with multi-stage convolution module to generate the optimal grasping. In addition, we created a visual-tactile grasping data representation form that included the grasping quality of grasping postures, and matching tactile data for objects of 8 distinct hardness. Experiments show that our method achieves a 98% success rate and decreases grasping force redundancy by 78% compared to purely visual methods,which significantly improves the accuracy and stability of the robot grasping.

Recently, the rising wearable tactile sensing technology has made significant advances in personal health monitoring, rehabilitation and smart sports. Particularly, the microstructured tactile sensors with high sensitivity and fast response are becoming excellent candidates for mimicking the perception capabilities of human skin for wearable electronics. Herein, the working principles, and device construction techniques of diverse microstructured tactile sensors are firstly introduced and discussed. After that, their applications in health monitoring and smart sports are presented. Finally, the remaining challenges and potential solutions of microstructured tactile sensors are discussed. This review aims to provide valuable insights and potential innovations in this rapidly evolving field.

De-icing represents a significant of application areas for electrothermal materials. However, the primary focus is on the heating performance of electric heating materials, but the ability of materials to handle liquids is rarely mentioned. Consequently, developing a electrothermal material that can simultaneously exhibit liquidconducting and de-icing capabilities represents a novel research direction. Silica porous ceramics (porosity, water absorption, oil absorption in the ranges of 62 %, 123 %, and 143 %, respectively) were prepared using the sacrificial template method with glass powder and diatomaceous earth as raw materials and PMMA and starch as pore-forming agents. Continuous conductive film networks of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) are prepared inside the silica porous ceramics by dip-coating method. By controlling the times of dip-coating, the electrical conductivity of the composites was modulated, the minimum resistance is 9.52 Omega mm. The material has merit electric heating ability, which can be heated from room temperature to 210 degrees C at 3 V DC in 35 s. Furthermore, the porous ceramic material retained good liquid passage properties after dip-coating with the conductive film. The developed electrothermal porous ceramic materials have the potential for application in the field of electrothermal de-icing.

Artificial tactile systems serve diverse technological need, spanning health monitoring, electronic skin and human-machine interaction. 3D force sensors with wide detection range and high sensitivity are essential components of tactile sensing systems. This review presents and discusses recent advances in 3D force sensors. Here, we firstly discuss the design principles and structures of 3D force sensors. Then, the fabrication techniques and decoupling of 3D forces are subsequently introduced and discussed. After that, the applications of 3D force sensors in health monitoring, robotics, and human-computer interaction are reviewed in detail. Finally, the future prospects of artificial tactile sensing systems are discussed.

This study designs a Fe 3 N/Fe‐NC catalyst with a dual internal‐external structure to address polysulfide conversion in Li‐S batteries. Derived from ZIF precursors, the catalyst features a hollow cavity and star‐like tip structure, where the high‐curvature exterior enhances electron transfer at Fe 3 N/Fe heterointerfaces and stabilizes Fe‐Nx sites for sulfur adsorption. Multivalent Fe increases effective nuclear charge via the penetration effect, promoting 3d orbital electron tunneling into inner layers. This reduces energy levels, populates non‐bonding orbitals with single electrons, and enables efficient d‐p hybridization with minimized antibonding states, strengthening polysulfide interactions. DFT calculations reveal Fe 3 N/Fe's d band center (ɛ d ) proximity to the Fermi level and reduced work function, facilitating charge transfer. The optimized Fe 3 N/Fe‐NC@PP‐based battery exhibits a low capacity decay rate of 0.0603% after 600 cycles at 2C and maintains high capacity under 6.668 mg cm⁻² sulfur loading. The pouch cell delivers an initial capacity of 1511.57 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 C with 50 cycle stability.

Multiphase flow in porous rock is of great importance in the application of many industrial processes, including reservoir delineation, enhanced oil recovery, and CO2 sequestration. However, previous research typically investigated the dispersive behaviors when rock saturated with single or two-phase fluids and conducted limited studies on three-phase immiscible fluids. This study investigated the seismic dispersion, attenuation, and reflection features of seismic waves in three-phase immiscible fluid-saturated porous rocks. First, we proposed the calculation formulas of effective fluid modulus and effective fluid viscosity of multiphase immiscible fluids by taking into account the capillary pressure, reservoir wettability, and relative permeability simultaneously. Then, we analysed the frequency-dependent behaviors of three-phase immiscible fluid-saturated porous rock under different fluid proportion cases using the Chapman multi-scale model. Next, the seismic responses are analysed using a four-layer model. The results indicate that the relative permeability, capillary pressure parameter, and fluid proportions are all significantly affect dispersion and attenuation. Comparative analyses demonstrate that dispersion and attenuation can be observed within the frequency range of seismic exploration for a lower capillary parameter α3 and higher oil content. Seismic responses reveal that the reflection features, such as travel time, seismic amplitude, and waveform of the bottom reflections of saturated rock and their underlying reflections are significantly dependent on fluid proportions and capillary parameters. For validation, the numerical results are further verified using the log data and real seismic data. This numerical analysis helps to further understand the wave propagation characteristics for a porous rock saturated with multiphase immiscible fluids.

Anti-icing gels inhibit ice formation and accretion; however, current iterations face prevalent drawbacks such as poor strength, weak substrate adhesion, and limited anti-icing properties. Herein, we propose a novel approach to address these challenges by developing a thermomechanical robust polyionic elastomer (PIE) with enhanced anti-icing properties. The PIE surface exhibits an icing delay time up to 5400 s and remains frost-free after exposure to -10 °C for 3.5 h, attributed to the inhibitory effect on ice formation by ions from ILs and the polyelectrolyte network. Moreover, the PIE exhibits remarkable anti-icing durability, with ice adhesion strengths below 35 kPa after undergoing 30 icing/deicing cycle tests at -20 °C. Following sandpaper abrasion (300 cycles), scratching, and heat treatment (100 °C, 16 h), the adhesion strength remains ca. 20 kPa, highlighting its resilience under various thermal and mechanical conditions. This exceptional durability is attributed to the low volatility of the IL and the robust ionic interactions within the PIE network. Furthermore, the PIE demonstrates favorable self-healing properties and strong substrate adhesion in both low-temperature and ambient environments, facilitated by the abundance of hydrogen bonds and electrostatic forces within PIE. This work presents an innovative approach to developing high-performance, durable, and robust anti-icing materials with potential implications across various fields.

Understanding the hydrate adhesion is important to tackling hydrate accretion in petro-pipelines. Herein, the relationship between the Tetrahydrofuran (THF) hydrate adhesion strength (AS) and surface stiffness on elastic coatings is systemically examined by experimental shear force measurements and theoretical methods. The mechanical factor-elastic modulus of the coatings greatly dictates the hydrate AS, which is explained by the adhesion mechanics theory, beyond the usual factors such as wettability and structural roughness. Moreover, the hydrate AS increases with reducing the thickness of the elastic coatings, resulted from the decrease of the apparent surface elastic modulus. The effect of critical thickness for the elastic materials with variable elastic modulus on the hydrate AS is also revealed. This study provides deep perspectives on the regulation of the hydrate AS by the elastic modulus of elastic materials, which is of significance to design anti-hydrate surfaces for mitigation of hydrate accretion in petro-pipelines.

Reliable task execution of wheeled platform requires high perceptive ability in terrains. Currently, vision perception is susceptible to external factors such as lighting conditions and air particles, and vibration perception reflects no surface features of terrains. In this article, we propose a novel system geared toward terrain classification based on tactile perception, well addressing those shortcomings. We develop a type of capacitive flexible tactile sensors array for 3-D forces with a wide measuring range, high sensitivity, considerable adaptability, and strong durability. To fully exploit the terrain features of the collected data, we propose a characterization method that encodes tactile information as image flow encompassing spatiotemporal information and establish a novel tactile-based terrain classification dataset. We construct the image flow as special tokens and feed them to a multihead spatiotemporal attention network, with spatial and temporal heads evenly constructed, to ultimately realize terrain classification. Our network achieves an accuracy of 91.9%, demonstrating the superiority over existing algorithms. Accuracies achieved are 81.3% and 76.3%, respectively, with 8-kg burden and at triple speed. Moreover, the performance degradation caused by increasing speed can be alleviated by decreasing time steps.

It is significant to exploit low-cost and high-activity electrocatalysts for practical zinc-air batteries (ZABs). Herein, a chlorine-nitrogen codoped hollow carbon polyhedron catalyst (Cl-NC-1000) is synthesized by the thermal decomposition of ZIF precursors with a template and intercalating agent of NaCl. Experimental results demonstrate that the synergistic effect of chlorine and nitrogen adjusts the electronic structure of neighboring carbon atoms, facilitating the capturing/releasing of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) intermediates, thereby reinforcing the intrinsic activity. As a result, the fabricated Cl-NC-1000 catalyst exhibits an outstanding ORR performance, including catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability. When applied in ZABs, the Cl-NC-1000 catalyst maintains a voltage difference of ca. 0.96 V at 5 mA cm-2 and cycles over 300 h with an energy efficiency of 53%, superior to those of commercial Pt/C-based rechargeable ZABs. This work provides an efficient strategy for designing cost-effective and high-activity nonmetallic ORR catalysts.

The formation and accumulation of ice on the heat exchangers of air conditioners significantly reduce the performance issues, as well as the stability and heating efficiency. Superhydrophobic anti-icing coatings passively achieve multifunctional anti-icing properties by minimizing water droplet contact and promoting Cassie ice formation. However, long-term performance in frigid environments remains challenge for these coatings due to limitations in anti-icing durability and mechanical properties. Herein, a double-layer polymerSiC/F-SiO(2 )superamphiphobic composite coating is developed. The bottom layer comprises a polymer PAI and SiC composite, and the top layer consists of F-SiO2. The composite coating demonstrates superior performance in simultaneous frost prevention, low ice adhesion, easy frost removal, exceptional mechanical strength, and longlasting anti-icing durability. Our developed double-layer coating exhibits low ice adhesion strength down to 9.2 kPa, remarkable mechanical resilience against scratching and flushing, and delayed frost properties. These superior anti-icing properties, manifested by both lower adhesion strength and improved frost repellency, lead to a doubling of frosting time and the easier removal of ice on coated heat exchangers compared to traditional units. The development of this novel superamphiphobic composite coating provides a practical approach to creating durable anti-icing materials, leading to significant improvements in air conditioner performance.

Biological nanopore refers to a type of pore-forming membrane proteins, providing a unique platform for single molecule detection of DNA, RNA, peptide, etc. The direct detection of small molecules, especially of food chemical contaminants by biological nanopore, remains challenging due to their fast translocation dynamics, trace amount, and the interference from the complex food matrix. The effective recognition and signal conversion methods need to be developed. Herein, we employ an aptamer-triggered hybridization chain reaction (AtHCR) strategy for the detection of a mycotoxin, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) by an alpha-hemolysin nanopore. In the absence of AFB1, the formed dsDNA polymers in HCR show a low frequency of long-time blockage signals. The presence of AFB1 can inhibit the hybridization chain reaction through the interaction between AFB1 and its aptamer, so the remaining hairpins can easily block the nanopore and induce frequent long-time blockage signals. The results show that the event frequency of long-blockage has a linear relationship with the AFB1 concentration in the range of 6.6 x 10- 1-6.6 x 102 pmol/L. The recognition and amplification effect of AtHCR allows nanopore to detect AFB1 at a detection limit of 0.54 pmol/L. Furthermore, the developed AtHCR strategy can help biological nanopore to detect AFB1 in corn sample with satisfactory accuracy. The recognition and amplification effect achieved by coupling AtHCR to biological nanopore offers an enzyme-free single-molecule technology for the rapid detection of food chemical contaminants.

Natural gas hydrates (NGHs) hold immense potential as a future energy resource and for sustainable applications such as gas capture and storage. Due to the challenging formation conditions, however, their mechanical properties remain poorly understood. Herein, the mechanical characteristics of tetrahydrofuran (THF) hydrates, a proxy for methane hydrates, were investigated at different ice contents, strain rates, and temperatures using uniaxial compressive experiments. The results unveil a distinct behavior in the peak strength of THF hydrates with a varying ice content, strain rate and temperature, exhibiting an increase as the strain rate and temperature decrease, in contrast to the peak strength-strain rate relationship observed in polycrystalline ice. Based on the experimental data, four machine learning (ML) models including extreme gradient boosting (XGboost), multilayer perceptron (MLP), gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) and decision tree (DT) were developed to predict the peak strength. The XGboost model demonstrates superior predictive performance, emphasizing the significant influence of ice content and temperature on the peak strength of hydrates. Furthermore, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were employed to gain insights into the dissociation and formation processes of clathrate cages, as well as phase transitions and amorphization occurring at grain boundaries (GBs) involving diverse unconventional clathrate cages, including 51265, 4151062, 4151064, 425861 and 425862, with 425861 and 425862 cages being predominant. This study enhances our understanding of the mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms of hydrates and provides a ML-based predictive framework for estimating the compressive strength of hydrates under diverse coupling conditions. The findings have significant implications for stability assessments of NGHs and the exploitation of NGH resources. The multi-scale approaches including experimentation, MD simulations and ML models improve the understanding of hydrate mechanics and provide a predictive framework for estimating the mechanical properties of hydrates under complex conditions.