Solar-driven seawater desalination is an efficient and environmentally friendly technology that directly utilizes renewable energy to produce fresh water. However, salt accumulation and low efficiency of seawater evaporation seriously restrict the long-term stable operation and development of this technology. Herein, a self-cleaning desalination evaporator (SCDE) with a vertical porous structure was obtained by surface modification of thermosensitive hydrogels with photothermal materials and directional freeze drying. The functional groups within the evaporator selectively capture and enrich multivalent ions from seawater at the interface. This local ion accumulation disrupts the hydrogen bonding network, thereby lowering the enthalpy of vaporization and enhancing the evaporation rate. The evaporation rate of the SCDE in brine reached 3.22 kg m-2 h-1 under 1 sun irradiation, surpassing the rate of 2.21 kg m-2 h-1 in pure water, exhibiting anomalous evaporation behavior. Furthermore, the photothermal-responsive hydrogel network induces dynamic modulation of the vertical channel water interface, enabling the SCDE to achieve self-cleaning desalination functionality. The reversible phase transition of SCDE enables water to flush through the vertical channels, preventing salt accumulation within the channels. This work offers a new approach to the design of high-performance, self-cleaning desalination evaporators for desalination. (c) 2026 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.

Developing self-supporting, defect-enriched high-entropy spinel oxides with diverse morphologies (e.g., nanoflowers) is crucial for advancing sustainable hydrogen energy. Although high-entropy oxides containing five or more elements in near-equimolar ratios facilitate d-d orbital hybridization, they provide limited capacity for electronic modulation, which ultimately degrade catalytic efficiency. Herein, we report a defect-enriched, selfsupporting high-entropy spinel oxide electrode with Ag-tailored d-p orbital hybridization (Ag0.1HEO@NF). The electrode exhibits outstanding oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance, delivering an overpotential of only 247 mV at a current density of 100 mA cm- 2 and a Tafel slope of 39.2 mV dec-1, surpassing that of most previously reported self-supporting high-entropy oxide catalysts. Experimental results combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the incorporation of Ag facilitates the transformation of (FeNiCoMnCr)3O4 into (FeNiCoMnCr)OOH and induces an upward shift in the D-band center at the active sites, from -1.73 eV to -1.54 eV, via d-p orbital hybridization. This shift enhances interfacial charge redistribution and accelerates proton-coupled electron transfer kinetics. The resulting electronic modulation effectively optimizes the adsorption energetics of key OER intermediates. This work presents a novel d-p orbital hybridization strategy for the design of high-performance self-supporting high-entropy oxide OER electrodes.

High-salinity organic wastewater (HSOW) is a difficult-to-treat type of wastewater due to inhibition of organic contaminants removal by high-concentration inorganic salts, posing a serious risk to the environment. In this work, aqueous redox flow battery desalination technology and heterogeneous Fenton-based advanced oxidation process (AOP) were integrated in a single reactor for HSOW treatment. It enabled simultaneous desalination and organic contaminants removal coupled with salt recovery and energy storage during one cycle. Under electric field environment, carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-modified Prussian blue (PB) as heterogeneous Fenton reagent significantly strengthened organic contaminants removal by facilitating Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycle via electron transfer. It also boosted desalination performance by improving discharge depth via increasing electric conductivity of desalinated HSOW. The constructed zinc|ferricyanide battery system achieves 93.6% removal of 35 g/L NaCl, 99.4% removal of 50 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) in 60 min, 99.4% NaCl recovery, and 14.8 Wh/L energy density with energy consumption of only 0.66 Wh/L by tuning current density. It exhibited broad applicability for treating HSOW with diverse organic contaminants. Moreover, typical chlorinated byproducts were not detected due to low equilibrium potential difference of the system (1.26 V vs. Ag/AgCl) that was thermodynamically unfavorable for anodic oxidation of Cl-. This study provides a proof-in-concept demonstration of HSOW treatment coupled with energy storage, making it more efficient, more economic, and more sustainable.

The practical promotion of zinc-based seawater batteries is hindered by the thermodynamic instability and kinetic irreversibility of zinc anodes, which cause severe dendrite growth and side reactions. Traditional inorganic coatings for zinc anodes often suffer from poor interfacial adhesion with the substrate, leading to delamination during cycling. Furthermore, they offer insufficient protection against chloride-induced corrosion in seawater electrolytes. To address these issues, we develop a wet-chemistry method to in situ construct a hydrophilic silica layer (OH-SiO2) chemically bonded to zinc substrate via Zn-O-Si bonds. This artificial interface facilitates the capture and desolvation of hydrated Zn2+, repels corrosive chloride ions, and provides abundant channels for rapid zinc ions transport. As a result, zinc deposits uniformly underneath the protective layer. When tested in the seawater electrolyte, the OH-SiO2-Zn anode demonstrates exceptional stability over 2300 h during the symmetric cell test. Full cell which adopts OH-SiO2-Zn and alpha-MnO2 cathode also exhibits remarkable cycling performance coupled with superb rate capability. This work provides an effective and extensible method for constructing outstanding zinc anodes and advances the use of low-cost seawater electrolytes in zinc-ion batteries.

The inherent lack of autonomous self-repairing capability of protective oxide layer limits the long-term service of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) coatings in the Pb-Bi eutectic alloy (LBE) corrosion environment. Herein, this work breaks the limitation by designing a self-repairing oxide layer, which is engineered through the incorporation of V-O-Y bridge bonding in Y2O3-modified FeCrMnAlV HEAs coating, where the co-segregation of V element and Y2O3 nanoparticles at grain boundaries enables their subsequent cooperative diffusion into the growing oxide layer. Combined experimental and theoretical analyses identify the V-O-Y bridge bonding as a dual-functional unit, which provides highly delocalized electron states to facilitate Y3 + migration and leverages mixed-valence V4+/(5+) to enhance oxygen reduction kinetics. This synergistic mechanism drives in-situ formation of a dense and stable YBiO3 self-repairing layer, maintaining exceptional structural integrity over 4000 h of LBE corrosion. The Y2O3-modified FeCrMnAlV HEAs coating achieves a record-low parabolic rate constant of 0.00324 mu m(2)/h, which is 1 similar to 2 orders of magnitude lower than currently reported HEAs coatings. Crucially, the scratch test provides further evidence of the complete regeneration of a continuous YBiO3 layer within 500 h of LBE corrosion, which demonstrates its self-repairing capability. This work establishes a viable design paradigm for developing self-repairing HEAs coatings with exceptional long-term stability against LBE corrosion.

Quasi-solid-state lithium metal batteries (QSSLMBs) using gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) promise safer high-energy storage, but their performance is limited by interfacial instability that requires both fast Li+ transport and durable electrode-electrolyte contact. Here we present an in-situ two-step strategy that couples electrochemical reduction with thermal curing to transform a spin-coated LiNO3 precursor into a functionally synergistic Li3N/Li2CO3 composite artificial SEI. The electrochemical step contributes to the formation of Li3N-containing ion-conducting species, while the curing step during GPE polymerization is associated with a more carbonate-rich surface that improves interfacial compatibility. DFT calculations show stronger ethylene carbonate adsorption on Li2CO3 than on LiF, consistent with markedly improved wettability, as the electrolyte contact angle decreases from about 81° on cycled bare Li to about 11° on the engineered interface. The optimized anode enables stable symmetric cell cycling with 70 mV polarization for over 1200 h at 0.8 mA cm-2, and LiFePO4 full cells retain 95.5% capacity after 250 cycles at 0.3C and 94.4% after 300 cycles at 1C. This work shows that cooperative regulation of ion transport and contact retention within an inorganic-dominant multicomponent SEI can improve the stability of quasi-solid-state lithium metal interfaces.

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) are regarded as potential candidates for next-generation energy storage technologies, however, their practical applications are limited by the dual constraints of shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and slow catalytic reaction kinetics. To address these issues, a metal-organic framework (MOF)-derived composite Co2Mo3O8-MoO2 heterojunction (Mo-Co@C) loaded on carbon nanorod clusters was designed. The heterojunction showed a low d-band center level and higher d-band density of state (DOS), and the inside built-in electric field can significantly enhance the adsorption of LiPSs and effectively inhibit the occurrence of the shuttle effect. In addition, the nanorod-like cluster formed by the self-assembly process of bimetallic organic framework exhibits a high specific surface area, which not only provided more active centers, but also the transport channel for lithium ions migration, and promoted the enhancement of the redox reaction kinetics simultaneously. The battery with the Mo-Co@C composites as a separator-mediator exhibited initial discharge capacity of 895.7 mAh g-1 at 1C, and it still maintains a reversible capacity of 402.4 mAh g-1 after 1000 cycles, which corresponds to a capacity degradation rate of 0.055% per cycle. The capacity can still reach 501.3 mAh g-1 at 0.5C even at a low-temperature of -20 °C. This work provides new insights for the design of catalysts for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.

ABSTRACT Solar‐driven CO2 conversion holds great promise in carbon recycling. CO2 activation and hydrogen spillover are crucial for high‐selectivity CO2 reduction, while with great challenges. Here, heteronuclear metal phthalocyanine aggregates with atomically active sites are synthesized and then assembled on BiVO4 nanosheets. The CuNiPc/BiVO4 nanocomposite achieves a 238 mmol gCu−1 h−1 CO yield with nearly 100% selectivity (vs 77% for mononuclear CuPc/BiVO4) without H2 evolution, ranking among top atomic‐engineered photocatalysts. Femtosecond‐transient absorption spectra, in situ synchrotron radiation measurements, and theoretical simulations, etc., reveal that such a difference is mainly ascribed to the fast interfacial Z‐scheme charge transfer kinetics and the synergy catalysis between dual sites in CuNiPc. The Cu–N4 moiety enhances CO2 adsorption and activation relative to CuPc due to the regulated Cu configuration caused by the Ni atom incorporation, while the adjacent Ni–N4 unit activates H2O to generate *H, which subsequently undergoes intramolecular spillover to *Cu–COO site, consequently accessing both CO2 activation and protonation for *COOH generation towards highly selective CO2 reduction.

Sustainable recycling of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is increasingly important as their deployment continues to expand. Therefore, recycling the widely practically applied LIBs cathode material, LiFePO4 (LFP), shows great importance to the conservation of lithium source. However, current technologies for spent LFP (sLFP) recycling and regeneration typically consume electrical energy or chemical reagents, increasing process cost and limiting economic viability. Here, we report a charging-free electrochemical system, which enables regenerating sLFP while simultaneously harvesting low-grade heat. Owing to the inversed spontaneous reaction direction between LFP and [Fe(CN)6]3-/4- achieved by temperature difference, the constructed system realized extracting Li+ from sLFP in one cell while embedding Li+ into sLFP in another cell. The developed system achieves a thermoelectric conversion efficiency of 5.26%, while the regenerated LFP delivers a discharge capacity of 153 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 C, recovering 90% of the theoretical capacity of LiFePO4. This work presents an environmentally friendly, low cost and promising pathway for simultaneous regeneration of sLIBs and low-grade heat harvesting.

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) have been widely considered as promising materials to protect the Ferritic/ Martensitic (F/M) steels against the extreme environments in the lead-cooled fast reactors (LFR). Due to the wide diversity of elemental compositions and ratios, the rational design of HEAs with high wear resistance remains a huge challenge. In this work, we employed machine learning (ML) methods to guide the design of HEAs with high wear resistance as the protective coating for the F/M steels. The ML-based models were constructed to predict the phase structure and hardness of HEAs. The constructed SVM and XGBoost models exhibited the best performance in predicting the phase classification and the Vickers hardness of HEAs, respectively. Valence electron concentration (VEC) and Delta Hmix are identified as the most important factors affecting both the phase structures and Vickers hardness of HEAs. With these models, the FeCrVTiMoxSiy HEAs were predicted to exhibit a BCC phase and increasing hardness with the decreased ratio of Mo and Si elements. The following experimental results showed that FeCrVTiMo0.5Si1.5 exhibited optimal wear resistance with Vickers hardness, Young's modulus, H/E, H3/E2, and wear rate of 732.65 HV, 289.6 GPa, 0.0353, 0.0127 GPa, and 8.65 x 10-7mm3/ (N.m), respectively. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that decreasing the ratios of Mo and Si elements in FeCrVTiMoxSiy HEAs increases lattice distortion and increases the proportion of covalent bonds to enhance solid-solution strengthening, improving wear resistance. This work presents a paradigm shift in quantifying the relationship between elemental compositions and the properties of HEAs.

Ionizing radiation in space causes various damage to electronic devices in spacecraft and thus affects the normal conduct of space exploration missions. Therefore, it is urgent to develop radiation shielding materials with excellent radiation shielding properties to improve the anti-radiation ability of electronic devices. In this work, Lewis base-modified perovskite as a functional filler was prepared using the ligand-assisted reprecipitation method, and the influence of electron transferring induced by the modification with Lewis bases on the radiation shielding properties of materials was investigated. For the TAA-Cs4PbBr6/EP composite material, the XPS results show that the binding energy of the Pb 4f5/2 orbital electrons after TAA modification decreases from 143.1 eV to 142.8 eV. The theoretical calculation results show that the valence electron density of Pb modified by TAA has increased by 0.0167. Under the trade-off of the two effects of reduced electron binding energy and increased electron density, the radiation shielding efficiency of the material increased from 43.2 % to 46.4 %. The radiation resistance of the encapsulated MOSFET was investigated. TAA-MOS shows a lower threshold voltage offset of 1.55 V than that of the CPB-MOS (2.29 V) and Bare-MOS (3.36 V), indicating that the radiation shielding properties of TAA-Cs4PbBr6/EP have been significantly improved after modification. This study provides a new strategy for developing high-efficiency radiation shielding materials.

The radiative heat management provides a zero-energy thermal regulation strategy. However, most thermal management materials are static and single-functional, failing to meet the practical requirements of dynamic cooling and heating. Here, inspired by the switchable asymmetric optical structure of butterfly, a temperature adaptive dual-mode management material (TADM) is proposed. TADM is composed of asymmetric shape memory Janus arrays that can reversibly transform between tilted and collapsed states, allowing for adaptive switching between cooling and heating modes in response to temperature fluctuations. In cold weather, the TADM exhibits low solar reflectivity (14.7%) and atmospheric transparency window emissivity (25.4%). When the surface temperature of TADM exceeds the phase transition temperature, it demonstrates a radiative cooling mode, with 90.3% solar reflectivity and 96.0% atmospheric transparency window emissivity. The results indicate that TADM enables superior multi-band and wide-amplitude intelligent optical control. Outdoor tests and energy consumption simulation have confirmed that TADM has excellent thermal management performance. This study provides valuable references for the application of shape memory Janus arrays in dynamic thermal management systems, as well as in the design of switchable intelligent biomimetic materials.

The development of anti-irradiation packaging hardening high-entropy alloy (HEA) materials is critical for enabling the aerospace application of commercial devices. However, the interstitial structures formed by atomic stacking within the material remain weak points for radiation degradation. Here, carbon was introduced into the Cr12Nb22Mo22Ta22W22 by high-energy ball-milling, successfully filling the geometric interstitial in atomic stacking. DFT calculations further revealed that the interstitial filling effect induces significant charge accumulation around carbon atoms. The increased local electron density enhances the probability of inelastic collisions, improving the attenuation capability of the packaging material against incident electrons. Experimental results demonstrate that the C4HEA/EP exhibits a 10.43 % enhancement in radiation shielding efficiency for 1 MeV electrons compared to the C0HEA/EP composite, achieving 2.64 times of aluminum sheet. Moreover, packaged MOSFETs display exceptional irradiation stability. This "interstitial filling" effect provides novel strategy for developing packaging materials, significantly advancing the potential of commercial devices in aerospace applications.

Ultra-black coating can suppress stray light to ensure high-quality imaging of the spacecraft optical instruments. Currently, the mainly used coating is an organic ultra-black coating, which is easy to generate volatile substances at high temperatures, and contaminate the lens, leading to a decline in imaging quality. Therefore, it is urgent to develop a highly stable inorganic ultra-black coating. Herein, we developed all-inorganic coating composed of hollow CuCr2O4 microspheres (CuCr2O4-HS) and potassium silicate resin, which was fabricated through a spraying and self-assembly process. The solar absorptivity and average emissivity of CuCr2O4-HS coating (alpha = 96.26 %, epsilon = 92.21 %) is superior to that of commercial CuCr2O4-B coating (alpha = 94.43 %, epsilon = 88.79 %), and it shows a stable wide-angle absorption (up to an incident angle of 70 degrees), which can be attributed to synergistic effects at both the nanoscale and molecular levels: (1) structural absorption resulting from multiple scattering within the CuCr2O4 HS spherical close-packed arrays; and (2) strong forward scattering and internal multiple scattering by individual hollow spherical particles, as well as intrinsic light absorption due to LOMO-HOMO orbital transitions within the CuCr2O4 particles. Moreover, the coatings also offer favorable thermal resistance (alpha = 96.06 %, epsilon = 92.08 % after exposure to 800 degrees C for 3 h), making them a promising candidate for ultra-black surfaces in hypersonic vehicles. The work provides a strategy for preparing a highly stable and ultra-black inorganic coating with wide-angle light absorption.

Developing lightweight packaging materials with high radiation protection efficiency for MOSFET radiation hardening is highly significant for enhancing the radiation resistance of MOSFETs in space radiation environments. This work presented lightweight Bi-GdF3/Ti3C2Tx aerogel (BGTA) with high electron radiation protection efficiency (RPE) through self-assembly and directional freezing. Subsequently, a radiation hardened MOSFET was obtained by packaging with BGTA. The resulting BGTA packaging material demonstrates excellent electron protection efficiency (92.23 %) compared to conventional Al packaging materials (23.80 %) at the same areal density. Meanwhile, the BGTA-packed MOSFET shows outstanding radiation resistance, exhibiting a much smaller negative threshold voltage drift value of 0.10 V compared to the Al-packed MOSFET (1.17 V). The electron shielding mechanism of BGTA was analyzed and elucidated by FASTRAD simulation on a micro scale. Due to the synergistic effect of the honeycomb aerogel structure and Bi/GdF3 functional filler in BGTA aerogel, the incident electrons are effectively attenuated, thereby reducing radiation damage to the SiO2 layer of the MOSFET and improving the radiation resistance of the MOSFET. Theoretical calculation results substantiate that the BGTA-packed MOSFET exhibits lower threshold voltage shifts and trapped charges. This work presents a lightweight and highly efficient MXene aerogel packaging material for MOSFET radiation hardening.

The limited irradiation stability of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) devices has restricted their application in deep space exploration missions. Therefore, it is an urgent need to develop a new and efficient packaging hardening techniques to improve the irradiation stability of MOSFET devices. Herein, Cr0.5NbMoTaW was prepared by localized high-energy mechanical alloying and coated on the MOSFET's surface, and the packaged MOSFETs exhibit excellent irradiation stability. The threshold voltage change value of Cr0.5NbMoTaW packaged MOSFET device (0.26 V) is lower than the unpackaged MOSFET (4.15 V) after high-energy electron irradiation. Experimental and theoretical calculations show that Cr induces lattice shrinkage of Cr0.5NbMoTaW high-entropy alloys, leading to an improved density of nucleus. This increases the probability of elastic and inelastic collision between high-energy electrons and the nucleus, thus achieving excellent irradiation stability of packaged MOSFET devices. This work presents a strategy to improve the irradiation stability of MOSFET devices by using high-entropy alloy packaging.

High-entropy spinel oxides are promising catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction due to their unique structures and high stability. However, developing defect-enriched, active, self-supporting, high-entropy spinel oxide electrodes is still a challenge. This study is the first to report defect-enriched, self-supporting, coralline-like, high-entropy spinel oxide (FeNiCoMnCr)3O4 electrodes (HEO-H500@NF) prepared using a synergistic approach integrating hydrothermal synthesis with hydrogen reduction. The optimized electrode exhibited excellent OER performance with an overpotential of 280 mV at 100 mA cm-2 and a small Tafel slope of 40.3 mV dec-1, superior to that of most high-entropy oxide catalysts reported so far. Additionally, the electrode maintained a stable overpotential of 280 mV at a current density of 100 mA cm-2 for 200 hours. Experimental and computational studies showed that the large number of oxygen vacancies on the surface of the HEO-H500@NF electrode was capable of enhancing the adsorption of the OER intermediates at active sites and reducing the energy barrier (formation of *O) of the rate-determining step, thus improving the OER performance. This study provides a new strategy for improving the OER performance of self-supporting, high-entropy oxide electrodes.

Thermal control coatings (TCCs) play a crucial role in managing the temperature of spacecraft. However, most of the reported organic TCCs have a relatively high ratio of solar absorptivity to emissivity (alpha(s)/epsilon) and their space stability still needs to be improved, which cannot meet the thermal control requirements of future miniaturized and integrated spacecraft. Therefore, it is urgent to develop high-performance organic antistatic TCCs. Herein, hierarchically porous ZrO2@AZO-acrylate (ZrO2@AZO-ACR) antistatic TCCs were synthesized by combining the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology and the non-solvent polarity difference induced phase separation method. The developed coating by using water and ethanol mixed solvents exhibits excellent thermal control performance (alpha(s)similar to 0.118, alpha(s)/epsilon similar to 0.132) and a low volume resistivity (2.5 x 10(6) Omegam). Both experimental results and FDTD simulations indicate that the presence of a hierarchically porous structure with a wider size distribution and a high content of large-sized micropores enhances the scattering efficiency within the solar spectrum, thereby increasing the solar reflectivity of the ZrO2@AZO-ACR coating. Furthermore, the obtained ZrO2@AZO-ACR antistatic coating demonstrates strong adhesion to multi-substrate materials and good space stability under electron irradiation, UV irradiation and extreme temperatures. This study provides a novel strategy for preparing high-performance TCCs with good space stability.