A recent study maps the limitations of today’s lithium-ion batteries and outlines several promising alternatives, including lithium-sulfur, lithium-metal, lithium-air, zinc-air, sodium-ion, and redox flow batteries. The authors argue that breakthroughs such as solid-state electrolytes, self-healing components, and flexible energy-storage architectures will be essential to meet future demands for greater safety, better performance, and stronger sustainability goals. They also emphasize the need for a chemistry-neutral battery roadmap beyond 2030, one in which artificial intelligence and advanced materials-discovery tools accelerate the shift toward safer, more reliable, and climate-neutral energy-storage technologies.

Next-generation sodium- and potassium-ion batteries offer resource-unconstrained, cost-effective, and sustainable energy storage systems. In a recent review, researchers from Japan redefine the electrode-electrolyte interphase (SEI and CEI) to improve battery stability and performance. By systematically analyzing these overlooked layers, the team demonstrates how controlling interfacial reactions can influence electrochemical performance and safety. Their findings could accelerate the development of the next-generation battery systems for grid storage, electric vehicles, and other energy applications.

A new study suggests that dark matter may consist of particles with different masses. By introducing a two-component self-interacting dark matter model, the researchers show that both the low-density cores of dwarf galaxies and the unexpectedly dense substructures seen in strong gravitational lensing can be explained within a single framework, offering new insight into the nature of dark matter.

Recent experiments on twisted MoTe₂ have observed the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect in the absence of an external magnetic field. Now, a theoretical study employing a real-space lattice model and precision many-body calculations presents a comprehensive ground-state phase diagram and elucidates the finite-temperature and dynamical behaviors of the system. The work reveals competing phases, including fractional Chern insulators and quantum anomalous Hall crystals, and identifies experimentally testable energy scales.

Researchers have developed a novel capillary slit self-assembly method to produce freestanding graphene laminate films with high areal capacitance and exceptional cycling stability, offering a promising solution for more efficient and durable supercapacitors.

A new perspective article outlines a roadmap for harnessing light emission from individual molecules. By precisely controlling currents through a single molecule, researchers can generate light with unparalleled spatial precision. This “single-molecule electroluminescence” technology, controlled via nanocavity plasmon, interface engineering, electric-field modulation, and molecular design, could lead to ultra-efficient quantum light sources, molecular-scale LEDs, and programmable optoelectronic chips for future computers.

Bacteriophages are viruses that can kill bacteria through highly specific interactions. While this property can be beneficial in selected applications, bacteriophages represent a serious threat to laboratories and industries that rely on bacterial cultures for production. Their selective inactivation remains a major challenge. Recently, researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences in Poland, demonstrated an innovative solution that enables targeting the surface of bacteriophage through electrostatic interactions as a promising strategy for their inactivation without adversely affecting bacterial strains or eukaryotic cells.