Luminescence saturation and severe thermal accumulation remain major challenges for high-brightness laser lighting. To address these issues, a novel PiGF@ZS color converter with a ZrO₂ microsphere-embedded reflector was developed to recycle unabsorbed blue light and enhance heat dissipation simultaneously. Benefiting from the synergistic opto-thermal design, the optimized converter achieved a high luminous efficacy of 240.5 lm/W and a maximum luminous flux of 3782 lm under 25 W laser excitation. Moreover, the surface temperature was reduced to 54.6 ℃ under 3 W excitation with a 5 mm spot diameter. This work provides a low-cost and high-efficiency strategy for next-generation laser lighting, projection displays, and high-power illumination applications.

High-performance piezoceramics are urgently needed for precision actuation, but conventional lead-based materials face environmental restrictions. The BiFeO₃‑BaTiO₃ (BF-BT) lead-free system offers high Curie temperature yet suffers from large leakage current and poor process stability. A team led by Prof. Bo-Ping Zhang at University of Science and Technology Beijing developed a one-step sintering method to fabricate 0.7BiFeO₃‑0.3BaTiO₃ ceramics, achieving a d₃₃ of 201 pC/N, a high-field d₃₃* of 1021 pm/V, a large strain of ~0.38%, and a Curie temperature of 501 °C. Through precise Fe non-stoichiometry defect engineering, the study reveals the temperature-dependent leakage conduction mechanisms in the BF-BT system and the synergistic role of internal bias fields on strain behavior, providing insights into defect–property relationships for lead-free piezoceramics.

The escalating complexity of the electromagnetic environment calls for advanced electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption materials capable of efficient multi-frequency attenuation. Silicon carbide (SiC) is a promising dielectric candidate but is hindered by intrinsic impedance mismatch and limited polarization loss. Herein, we report a novel ternary heterostructure absorber consisting of SiC nanowires synergistically coupled with dual rare-earth silicides (Ce₅Si₄ and Pr₅Si₄), fabricated via a combined magnesiothermic/carbothermal reduction process using an MFI-type zeolite precursor. This unique architecture creates an intricate porous network featuring abundant multiple heterogeneous interfaces (SiC/Ce₅Si₄, SiC/Pr₅Si₄, and Ce₅Si₄/Pr₅Si₄). The simultaneous incorporation of Ce and Pr optimizes the complex permittivity for impedance matching and induces intense multi-interface polarization relaxation. Consequently, the designed composite achieves efficient and strong EMW absorption performance in the C-band (4.30 GHz), X-band (8.24 GHz), and Ku-band (16.51 GHz), demonstrating remarkable multi-frequency points absorption performance. Radar cross-section (RCS) simulations further demonstrate its significant stealth capability, highlighting the potential of dual rare-earth synergistic engineering. This work provides a pioneering strategy for designing high-performance, multi-frequency SiC-based absorbers through the construction of ternary rare-earth silicide heterostructures.

As the core foundational materials for modern wireless communication systems, microwave dielectric ceramics (MWDCs) directly determine the performance of key components such as antennas, resonators, and filters in 5G/6G mobile communications, satellite communications, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. With the rapid evolution of communication frequencies toward millimeter-wave and even sub-terahertz bands, the materials science community has imposed increasingly stringent requirements on the accurate characterization, property regulation, advanced fabrication, and intelligent development of microwave dielectric ceramics.

To systematically review the scientific progress and technological breakthroughs in this field, 14 institutions jointly published a comprehensive review on microwave dielectric ceramics. Starting from the three core parameters (ε_r, Q×f, and τ_f), this review discusses the latest research advances, prospects, and challenges across five key dimensions: property evaluation, mechanistic understanding, innovative processing, device applications, and data-driven discovery.

Electrocatalytic nitrite reduction reaction (NO₂⁻RR) to synthesize ammonia (NH₃) has been constrained by sluggish kinetics of water dissociation and the weak adsorption of nitrite. In this work, we develop an in-situ reconstruction strategy that transforms Ni-doped BiO_2-x (NiBiO_2-x) to Bi/NiBiO_2-x, which exhibits excellent activity and selectivity for NO₂⁻RR to synthesize NH₃. Diverse ex-situ and in-situ characterizations reveal potential-driven structural transformation from NiBiO_2-x to Bi/NiBiO_2-x, which features dual Ni²⁺-Bi⁰ active sites. The Ni²⁺ site is able to reduce the water dissociation barrier from 0.79 to 0.41 eV, while concurrently the Bi⁰ site can strengthen NO₂⁻ adsorption to promote *NO₂H intermediate formation. Consequently, the in-situ constructed Bi/NiBiO_2-x catalyst with Ni²⁺-Bi⁰ catalytic pairs enable an excellent NO₂⁻RR performance, achieving a NH₃ Faradaic efficiency (FE_NH3) of 94.5% at −0.6 V vs. RHE. The present study opens the new direction to in-situ construct high-performance electroreduction catalysts for small molecule synthesis.