Scientists develop novel strategy to enhance water oxidation catalysis
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Apr-2025 04:08 ET (26-Apr-2025 08:08 GMT/UTC)
A research team led by Prof. YAN Ya from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with scientists from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the University of Auckland, has developed a highly stable and efficient water oxidation catalyst, marking a major advancement in the field of green hydrogen production via water splitting technology.
Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) and the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) have developed a novel top veto tracker system for the Taishan Antineutrino Observatory (TAO) experiment. Comprising 160 plastic scintillator (PS) modules with optimized wavelength shifting fiber (WLS-fiber) arrangements and silicon photomultipliers, the system offers enhanced light yield and muon detection efficiency.
A research article published by the Shanghai University presented a novel microfluidic chip design with a 3-layer configuration that utilizes a polycarbonate (PC) porous membrane to separate the culture fluid channels from the tissue chambers, featuring flexibly designable multitissue chambers. PC porous membranes act as the capillary in the vertical direction, enabling precise hydrogel patterning and successfully constructing a microfluidic environment suitable for microvascular tissue growth.
Time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy investigations discovered the fluctuating lattice-driven charge density waves at temperatures far above its transition temperature and reveal new insights into the formation mechanism of charge density waves in kagome superconductors KV₃Sb₅.
In a new study published in Science Bulletin, researchers from West China Hospital of Sichuan University present the largest human T cell reference for 68 subtypes and states, alongside STCAT, an automated annotation tool achieving 28% higher accuracy than existing methods. Their systematic analyses reveal T cell subtype dynamics in cancer and COVID-19, offering a valuable resource for the community. They also develop a TCellAtlas database for browse T cell expression profiles and analyzing customized scRNA-seq data by STCAT tool.
Research efforts on electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials have begun to converge on green and sustainable biomass materials. These materials offer numerous advantages such as being lightweight, porous, and hierarchical. Due to their porous nature, interfacial compatibility, and electrical conductivity, biomass materials hold significant potential as EMI shielding materials. Despite concerted efforts on the EMI shielding of biomass materials have been reported, this research area is still relatively new compared to traditional EMI shielding materials. In particular, a more comprehensive study and summary of the factors influencing biomass EMI shielding materials including the pore structure adjustment, preparation process, and micro-control would be valuable. The preparation methods and characteristics of wood, bamboo, cellulose and lignin in EMI shielding field are critically discussed in this paper, and similar biomass EMI materials are summarized and analyzed. The composite methods and fillers of various biomass materials were reviewed. this paper also highlights the mechanism of EMI shielding as well as existing prospects and challenges for development trends in this field.
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) possess advantages of high thermal stability, high flexibility, lightweight, easy controllable doping level. Their thermoelectric properties are almost comparable to those of conducting polymers and their composites, however there are few studies on them as thermoelectric materials alone and the mechanism of molecular doping remains to be well understood. Researchers based at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences improve the thermoelectric properties of p-type and n-type SWCNTs by 2 times and 3 times with solution processing methods.
A research article published by the Beijing Institute of Technology presented a piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) weighing only 46 milligrams. By matching the thoracic vibration frequency and optimizing the center of gravity distribution of bees, the device achieved high energy output (5.66 V and 1.27 mW/cm³), with experimental verification showing minimal interference with normal flight behaviors.
High-entropy materials (HEMs) have emerged as a promising frontier in electrochemical energy storage systems due to their unique compositional versatility and tunable physicochemical properties. By incorporating multiple principal elements with distinct chemical functionalities, HEMs exhibit tailored electronic/ionic configurations, enabling unprecedented structural adaptability and application potential. This review systematically analyzes the fundamental principles underpinning the entropy-driven optimization of electrochemical performance in battery materials, with a focus on the interplay between compositional disorder and functional enhancements. For the first time, recent advances in NASICON-type HEMs spanning cathodes, solid-state electrolytes, and anodes were comprehensively reviewed. Through investigations, the profound impact of high-entropy strategies on critical material parameters were elucidate, including lattice strain modulation, interfacial stability reinforcement, charge-transfer kinetics optimization, and ion transport pathway regulation. Furthermore, the current challenges in high-entropy NASICON-type battery design are evaluated, and actionable strategies for advancing next-generation high-entropy battery systems are proposed, with emphasis placed on rational compositional screening, entropy-stabilized interface design, and machine learning-assisted property prediction.