Themed collection Celebrating ten years of Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Past and present Editors-in-Chief and Editorial Board Chairs introduce the 10th anniversary issues of Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B and C, reflecting on the rich history of the journals and looking ahead to the exciting future of materials chemistry.

The latest advancement in developing MOF adsorbents for effective separation and purification of propylene from propane is summarized, with a focus on molecular exclusion based separation mechanism and propane-selective adsorption.

Giant caloric effects found in NdCu₃Fe₄O₁₂ and BiCu₃Cr₄O₁₂ are highlighted. The details of the giant caloric effects in the novel charge–spin–lattice coupled transition-metal oxides are summarized and the mechanism of the effects is discussed.

Oxide ions are traditionally regarded as forming the inert anion sub-lattice of oxide structures whose properties are largely dominated by the cations present.

Dyes play a crucial role in the cell performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and versatile synthetic strategies towards well-tailored porphyrins for DSSCs have been developed for achieving high photovoltaic performances.

The features of COF and HOF in porosity, light harvesting, and structural multifunctionality enable their application for photocatalysis. Focusing on the existing merits, rational developing way is helpful for constructing more excellent porous photocatalyst.

Solar driven CO₂ reduction is a promising technology for achieving carbon neutrality. The optimized photo-absorber, catalyst and device and their synergistic operation are essential for realizing a highly efficient solar driven CO₂ reduction system.

We provide comprehensive analyses of various methods to regulate the electronic structure of single-atom catalysts, which have shown great promise for optimizing electrochemical energy conversion efficiency.

This review deals with hybrid polymer gels, presently and significantly used for low-cost and high performance solar cells, fuel cells, solid state batteries and supercapacitors with high stability, flexibility and stimuli-responsiveness.

This review focuses on halide perovskite quantum dots (QDs) for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction, discussing the structures and properties of perovskite QDs, the mechanism for CO₂ reduction, photocatalyst design, challenges and directions for future research.

Sorbent-assisted AWH and moisture-enabled energy generation are reviewed in parallel to reveal the correlation between these two technologies.

The design strategies and underlying mechanisms of versatile carbon superstructures for energy storage are reviewed. Current challenges and development roadmaps are proposed to spur the further exploration of carbon superstructures.

The performance of metal oxide and MXene cocatalysts for the photocatalytic conversion of H₂O, CO₂ and N₂ over semiconductors are summarised and compared.

Herein, to provide ideas for the design of highly selective CO₂ reduction materials, we introduce each step of the photocatalytic CO₂ reduction process and summarize how each step is adjusted to promote the selectivity of CO₂ reduction.

The hydrogen evolution efficiency of MOP-based photocatalysts was enhanced with the aid of afterglow phosphorescent materials.

Noble metal nanoparticles anchored on flexible polyurethane foams were synthesized by hydrothermal synthesis. Through employing a robotic arm, these ‘catalytic sponges’ were used for organic reductions towards automated lab-scale organic synthesis.

A three-dimensional carbon-reinforced ionic-electronic composite (CRIEC) boosts the cycling areal capacities of working anode-free all-solid-state lithium batteries.

Sodium gadolinium silicate solid electrolyte showed an outstanding sodium plating/stripping performance for 1000 cycles that proves excellent interfacial contact between the sodium anode and solid electrolyte.

A series of Li₃MI₆ compounds with M = Lu–Sm were produced by ball milling and solid state synthesis. Cation disorder within the layers largely influences the ionic transport properties, which can be tuned by isovalent and aliovalent substitution.

Highly efficient (PCE = 13.1%) and stretchable (strain at PCE_80% = 34%) IS-OSCs are developed using a molecular interdiffusion-assisted TPU-PEDOT:PSS bilayers with excellent adhesion properties.

Anion polarisation in heterocationic Li₂FeSO stabilises polar anion coordination in opposition to the predictions from simple point-charge electrostatics. This behaviour gives local configurational under-constraint and causes long-range disorder.

We present a PVA–FeCl₃ composite as a substrate and packaging material that can initiate the controlled dissolution of non-transient metals such as Al and Cu in water.

Metal nanoparticles supported on powder and fiber perovskites via exsolution. The fiber shows a weight loss about 4.4 times higher than the powder sample. These have been applied in solid oxide fuel cell configuration.

Monodisperse β-NaYF₄:Er³⁺@NaYbF₄@NaYF₄ upconversion nanoparticles are synthesized using a one-step thermal decomposition process and further incorporated into the hole transporting layer to improve the efficiency of Sb₂(S,Se)₃ solar cells.

Oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG)-substituted viologens enable superior cycling stability of the first-electron redox reaction and accessibility of the second-electron energy storage in aqueous organic redox flow batteries (AORFBs).

A theoretical framework and analysis are presented that can be generally used for any complex material surface where an adsorption or interaction at single sites can be modulated by the electronic structure of the local environment.

Lithiated oxides like Li[Ni_xCo_yMn_z]O₂ (x + y + z = 1) with high nickel content (x ≥ 0.8) can possess high specific capacity ≥200 mA h g⁻¹ and have attracted extensive attention as perspective cathode materials for advanced lithium-ion batteries.

Lanthanum zirconate nanofiber membranes with superior flexibility, toughness and high-temperature resistance can be obtained by an in situ hyper-connective network strategy.

High-quality single-walled carbon nanotube films are promising current collectors for flexible supercapacitors.

A series of transition metal-doped In₂O₃/C photocatalysts are synthesized by a feasible bimetallic MOF template strategy. The investigation demonstrates that Cu–In₂O₃/C significantly enhances performance for photoreduction of CO₂ to CO.

Based on the workflow of the materials genome approach, the challenge of enhancing multiple conflicting properties of an advanced thermosetting polymer of polycyanurates was addressed through high-throughout screening using machine learning.

The optoelectronic properties of a given conjugated polymer depend on the chain rigidity and more importantly local chain planarity. The local backbone planarity determines the conjugation length as large twists result in break of conjugation.

A pore-nanospace-engineering strategy has been developed to construct a series of UiO-66-type Zr-MOFs by introducing different aromatic linkers. UiO-66-Naph exhibits the best C₂H₆/C₃H₈ light hydrocarbon separation performance from CH₄.

i-PLD measurements reveal beneficial effects of SrO at high temperatures and detrimental effects of CO₂ adsorbates at low temperatures.

A proof-of-concept of a combination of unimpeded 3D electron transport pathways and abundant lithiophilic N/Zn sites has been demonstrated to concurrently tackle the growth of dendritic Li and infinity-dimension changes.

Unusual thermostable and insensitive high-energy compounds which contain dioximes with donor–acceptor H-bond sites, were synthesized from glyoxal (40% in water) in straightforward steps.

In this paper we activate carbons from precursors of varying nitrogen content with different activating cations. The charge density of the cation helped to tune material properties and influence CO₂ adsorption thermodynamics.

Novel structured thiadiazole-attached carbon nitrides are first synthesized via sintering 5-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-thiol, demonstrating excellent performances towards photocatalytic H₂ evolution under visible light irradiation.

A multistep electron transfer process is realized over C12A7:e⁻ electride composite material. The graphene promotes electron transfer from C12A7:e⁻ through surface Pd to the aryl halide substrates, affording a series of cross-coupling reactions.

An ultrahigh zT of 2.5 at 723 K is achieved in an entropy driven Ge_0.84Pb_0.025Sn_0.025Sb_0.11Te sample showing a promising output power density (PD_max) of ∼590 mW cm⁻² at ΔT = 448 K in a fabricated double leg device.

A new type of artificial neural network to predict the reaction rate constant from two molecular structures. An explainable model was constructed using the multi-head intermolecular attention technique.

A novel and efficient strategy was developed to enhance the stability, control the catalytic activity, and improve the selectivity of Cu(I) cyclic trinuclear unit (Cu-CTU)-based metal–organic frameworks by steric modification of copper nodes.

A novel acid-base HT-PEM consisting of PI-COOH and OPBI was prepared. The OPBI-50PI-COOH composite membrane delivered superior cell performance and durability under low PA uptake due to the continuous hydrogen bond network between OPBI and PI-COOH.

Perovskite nanocrystals with high chirality and stability were synthesized via chirality transfer from a chiral supramolecular nanoreactor assembled from an achiral block copolymer complexed with racemic alanine.

Synergistic photo-driven plastic waste oxidation and CO₂ reduction on Bi₄V₂O₁₁ nanorods with abundant oxygen vacancies.

Improving the perovskite/electron-transporting layer (ETL) interface is a crucial task to boost the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs).

Since its verification in 2019, there have been numerous high-profile papers reporting improved efficiency of lithium-mediated electrochemical nitrogen reduction to make ammonia.

N doped coal-based activated carbons, which are decorated with Ru and Ni₃N nanoparticles, exhibit excellent OER/HER bifunctional activities and outstanding performance for water splitting, due to synergies of N, Ru, Ni₃N and large surface areas.

Organic ligand facilitated in situ exsolution of CoFe alloys over Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe_0.2O₃ perovskite toward enhanced oxygen electrocatalysis for rechargeable Zn-air batteries.

Enlargement of micropores in zeolitic imidazolate framework particles into mesopores is achieved via an ethylene glycol-assisted aqueous etching method. The etched carbon shows a higher specific capacitance than unetched one at high scan rates.