Semitransparent thin-film photovoltaics (PV) have been increasing popular for urban structures, vehicles, and applications requiring visible transparency. However, these materials suffer from reduced light absorption, owing to limited absorber volume, leading to low efficiency. In a new study, researchers utilized geometric optics principles to create a novel microprism sheet that leverages light trapping effect to significantly enhance light absorption of thin-film PV sheets.

Batteries are part of everyday life, powering everything from phones and laptops to electric cars. Most rechargeable batteries use a liquid to help lithium ions move during charging and discharging. But this liquid can create safety issues and limit how far battery performance can improve.

Solid-state batteries replace the liquid with a solid material. They could lead to safer, more compact and more powerful batteries. But making them work reliably remains a challenge. Unlike in a liquid, lithium ions must move through solid materials and if this movement is uneven, some parts of the battery may charge faster than others, reducing performance.

For the first time, a team at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) and its partners have watched the lithium movement in real time using neutron diffraction, the only technique sensitive enough to track lithium deep inside a thick, working battery.

Their results revealed unexpected structural complexity in the electrode, showing that lithium movement inside the battery was not as uniform as expected. Understanding this hidden behaviour could point the way toward smarter battery designs.

A review team led by researchers at Tsinghua University has established a unified kinetic framework for electrochemiluminescence (ECL). By deconstructing the ECL cascade into electron transfer, chemical reaction, and exciton emission modules, the study offers a roadmap for overcoming intrinsic efficiency bottlenecks. This approach enables next-generation applications ranging from super-resolution imaging to dynamic information encryption.

The defect-rich Zn₂SnO_4-x/SnO_2-x heterostructure was designed as a bi-functional material for both sulfur cathode and lithium anode to regulate its electronic structure, accelerate the charge transfer and create more anchor sites for polysulfides, which could concurrently expedite sulfur conversion reactions and inhibit lithium dendrite growth.

Producing clean fuels from water using electricity or sunlight hinges on how efficiently catalysts can drive the oxygen evolution reaction, yet scientists have struggled to see where and how this reaction actually happens on a material’s surface. In a new study, researchers have introduced a spatially, temporally, and chemically multi-resolved in situ imaging technique that makes these hidden processes visible in real time, revealing how atomic defects and charge carriers control catalytic behavior in two-dimensional semiconductors. By directly comparing reactions under dark and illuminated conditions, the work explains why some defects boost electrocatalysis while others preferentially enhance photoelectrocatalysis, offering practical guidance for designing more effective catalysts for solar energy conversion.

A research team from South China University of Technology has discovered that water molecules within sub-nanometer porous organic nanocages (POCs) act not merely as fillers, but as a critical "switch" regulating material properties. This study reveals how water drives the transition of POCs from a brittle glassy state to a flexible rubbery state, demonstrating immense potential for applications in biomimetic anti-freeze materials and high-performance solid-state lithium-ion battery electrolytes.

In the advancement of human-machine interaction and intelligent wearable devices, high-performance multifunctional fiber materials are crucial for enabling natural, efficient human-machine interaction and seamless system integration.

As electromagnetic environments become increasingly complex with the transition toward 6G communication technologies, materials that can actively adapt their absorption behavior are urgently needed. Researchers have developed an electrochemically driven, air-breathing ZAB-based device that enables reversible and broadband tuning of microwave absorption by regulating oxygen generation and consumption at the material–air interface.