Divakar Arumugam,Tian Wang,Tongxin Zhou,Lihua Zhang,Gihan Kwon,AM Milinda Abeykoon,Cheng-Hung Lin,Xiaowei Teng
{"title":"Electrochemical Capture and Accumulation of Uranium Using a Layered Uvanite Electrode","authors":"Divakar Arumugam,Tian Wang,Tongxin Zhou,Lihua Zhang,Gihan Kwon,AM Milinda Abeykoon,Cheng-Hung Lin,Xiaowei Teng","doi":"10.1021/acsenergylett.6c02821","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.6c02821","url":null,"abstract":"Extracting uranyl ions (UO22+) from uranium mining leachates can enhance national uranium security and mitigate the environmental impact of nuclear energy. Conventional techniques such as ion exchange and iron-based reductive precipitation have notable limitations. This study reports that the uvanite (U2V6O21) electrode, a layered uranium-vanadium oxide, enables potentiodynamic decoupling of UO22+ and proton intercalation/deintercalation, as well as proton-induced UO22+/UO3 precipitation and dissolution reactions. Building on a comprehensive understanding of charge-transfer and transport mechanisms, we found that potentiodynamic modulation enables selective capture of uranium species using a uvanite electrode. By allowing competing cations to deintercalate at lower potentials and preventing proton deintercalation, UO3 dissolution is inhibited, achieving a high UO3 recovery capacity of 515 mg/g at 10 times the competing cation concentration. The new electrochemistry of the uvanite electrode helps develop cost-effective, sustainable battery electrodes for critical ion extraction from water.","PeriodicalId":16,"journal":{"name":"ACS Energy Letters ","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":22.0,"publicationDate":"2026-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149359270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ultralow Electron Temperature Plasma for Damage-Reduced Processing of High-k/Metal Gate Films toward Vertically Stacked Nanosheet Devices","authors":"Hyung-dong Kim,Hyeonho Nahm,Seokhyeon Ha,Youngdon Kim,Min-seok Kim,Chin-Wook Chung","doi":"10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c02458","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c02458","url":null,"abstract":"In vertically stacked nanosheet devices, repeated plasma-processing steps are required to realize multiple threshold voltages (Vth), but such repeated exposure can accumulate plasma-induced damage (PID) in ultrathin high-k/metal gate (HKMG) stacks. Here, we demonstrate that ultralow electron temperature (ULET, Te < 1 eV) plasma generated using a DC-biased grid suppresses PID by controlling the electron temperature and ion energy distribution function (IEDF). Compared with conventional inductively coupled plasma processing at the same substrate bias (−100 V), ULET plasma reduces the mean ion energy from 131 to 101 eV and reduces the IEDF standard deviation by 44% (from 37.4 to 20.9 eV). Consequently, surface roughness decreases by up to 58%, fluorine incorporation decreases by up to 58%, and HfO2 Raman-band intensities are 1.32–1.81 times those under conventional ICP processing. These results establish electron-temperature control as a key parameter for minimizing PID in HKMG films relevant to vertically stacked nanosheet devices.","PeriodicalId":53,"journal":{"name":"Nano Letters","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":10.8,"publicationDate":"2026-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149374896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NanoscalePub Date : 2026-11-11DOI: 10.1039/d6nr02490d
Tao Wang,Jing Wang,Xupeng Zhu,Qiudi Zhang,Wenbo Liu,Yahui Wang,Kai Jiang,Yasi Wang,Huimin Shi
{"title":"Spatial confinement derived high-durability electrospun amorphous high entropy alloy anodes for lithium-ions batteries","authors":"Tao Wang,Jing Wang,Xupeng Zhu,Qiudi Zhang,Wenbo Liu,Yahui Wang,Kai Jiang,Yasi Wang,Huimin Shi","doi":"10.1039/d6nr02490d","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6nr02490d","url":null,"abstract":"The irreversible volume expansion and structure destroy during guest ion insertion/extraction declines the large current density long cycling stability of high entropy alloys (HEAs) nanoparticles-based electrodes in lithium ions batteries (LIBs).Herein, we proposed a spatial confinement strategy by electrospun three-dimensional networks carbon nanofibers integrated amorphous FeCoNiCrMo HEAs (a-HEA-CNFs) materials. The inherent isotropy, abundant active sites and disordered structure of amorphous materials provide unique advantages for energy storage. The a-HEA-CNFs anode displayed excellent specific capacity, rate performance and long-term stability.The discharge specific capacity of electrode reaches 675.9 mAh g -1 at 0.1 A g -1 and has a retained average capacity of 284.4 mAh g -1 at 3 A g -1 after 2500 cycles. Further investigation on the a-HEA-CNFs-7‖LiFePO 4 full cell also exhibits a high capacity of 167.2 mAh g -1 at 0.1 A g -1 after 700 cycles and a remarkable durability for 1000 cycles at 2 A g -1 . More importantly, the as-prepared a-HEA-CNFs in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) deliver an average capacity of 227.2 mAh g -1 at 0.1 A g -1 and more impressive durability for 5000 cycles at 2 A g -1 with the capacity of 134.2 mAh g -1 . The proposed spatial confinement effect of CNFs effectively inhibits the partial segregation of elements and protects the structure destroy of anode from the insertion/extraction of Li + /Na + , suggesting promising potential in future portable electronic devices.","PeriodicalId":92,"journal":{"name":"Nanoscale","volume":"172 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2026-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149374904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interfacial In-N orbital hybridization-induced p-band center shift: modulation of intermediate activation and adsorption for enhanced red-light-driven redox catalysis in crystalline carbon nitride/indium sulfide","authors":"Wanting Wang,Hui Yang,Yueyang Tan,Lihua Wu,Wenqing Yu,Bingwen Li,Xinfang Wang,Jiangwei Wen,Limin Huang,Juan Wang,Woon-Ming Lau,Zongzhao Sun","doi":"10.1039/d6ta07939c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6ta07939c","url":null,"abstract":"Traditional polymeric carbon nitride/indium sulfide composites exhibit low crystallinity, weak interfacial coupling and poor red-light utilization, limiting their photocatalytic redox performance. Herein, a one-step KSCN molten-salt in-situ strategy is developed to fabricate high-crystallinity PCN/In2S3 heterojunctions (CCNIS) with covalent In-N interfacial bonds, effectively addressing the deficiencies of conventionally assembled composites. The constructed In-N orbital hybridization upshifts the N p-band center, optimizes oxygen intermediate adsorption and activation, and removes the thermodynamic barrier for O2 reduction. Coupled with the built-in electric field-induced efficient charge separation and extended red-light response, the optimal CCNIS50 achieves prominent and stable photocatalytic H2O2 generation (509.42 mM g -1 h -1 under visible light and 5.47 mM g -1 h -1 under red light). It also enables red-light-driven synthesis of high-value α-trifluoromethyl ketones, demonstrating excellent multifunctional photocatalytic potential. This work reveals the orbital-modulated structure-activity relationship of n-n heterojunctions and provides a universal guideline for the design and preparation of high-efficiency, broad-spectrum carbon nitride-based photocatalysts for energy conversion and organic synthesis.","PeriodicalId":82,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Materials Chemistry A","volume":"88 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.9,"publicationDate":"2026-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149374930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fu-Ming Jhuang,Choung-Yi Huang,Yu-Hsiang Yen,Michael Zharnikov,Yian Tai
{"title":"Non-local Molecular Engineering Modulates Aluminum-Induced Crystallization toward Transferable Polycrystalline Silicon","authors":"Fu-Ming Jhuang,Choung-Yi Huang,Yu-Hsiang Yen,Michael Zharnikov,Yian Tai","doi":"10.1021/acsami.6c18763","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6c18763","url":null,"abstract":"Low-temperature metal-induced crystallization (MIC) has emerged as a promising and cost-effective technique for fabricating polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si), which is a key material in high-performance flexible electronics. However, conventional MIC often yields structurally compromised films due to chaotic interfacial thermodynamics and incomplete layer exchange. Herein, a molecular-level engineering strategy is presented that utilizes buried self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) to remotely control the macroscopic phase transformation and crystallization kinetics during MIC with aluminum as the metal. By systematically tailoring the terminal functional groups of the SAMs at the buried interface between the Al/Si stack and substrate (glass), a distinct structure-property relationship is established: electron-withdrawing groups intrinsically stabilize the amorphous Si (a-Si) network and suppress segregation, whereas electron-donating groups facilitate silicon dissolution. Notably, the best-performing SAM with nucleophilic –NH2 terminal groups functions as a dual-role molecular template that drastically lowers the macroscopic crystallization barrier of the MIC system. By driving a highly directed and accelerated kinetic pathway, this monolayer substantially suppresses stochastic interdiffusion, yielding a highly segregated, continuous, and transfer-ready poly-Si film. Ultimately, this SAM-mediated paradigm advances the fundamental design of non-local phase transformations, establishing a scalable, material-driven pathway for next-generation flexible silicon electronics.","PeriodicalId":5,"journal":{"name":"ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2026-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149374625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"MXene–Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Hybrid Flexible Piezoelectric Nanogenerators for Self-Powered Systems: From Materials Engineering to Device Architectures","authors":"Abhay Singh Rana, Manisha Sharma, Deepak Kumar, Omkar Pawar, Binay Kumar, Sooman Lim, Sanjeev Kumar Sharma","doi":"10.1021/acsaelm.6c01064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.6c01064","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Growing need for sustainable and autonomous energy solutions has accelerated the advancement of piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG)-driven self-powered systems. Two-dimensional (2D) materials, particularly MXenes and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), have gained considerable interest because their structural flexibility, tunable surface chemistry, and strong interfacial interactions collectively enhance piezoelectric performance under low-frequency mechanical stimuli. This review systematically discusses recent progress in MXene and TMD-based hybrid flexible PENGs, spanning materials engineering, device architecture, and application-oriented system integration. It emphasizes the correlation between material design and performance, highlighting strategies such as defect engineering, phase modulation, surface functionalization, and interface engineering to improve polarization behavior, charge transport, and energy conversion efficiency. The paper critically analyzes key limitations in practical operation, including oxidation instability, charge screening, leakage pathways, and long-term mechanical degradation. The review further examines advances in flexible architectures and system-level integration, highlighting the role of hybrid PENGs in wearable health monitoring, human-machine interfaces, smart sensors, industrial diagnostics, Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics. Future opportunities are outlined emphasizing scalable fabrication, environmental stability, power-management integration, and reliability validation to accelerate the transition of MXene–TMD flexible PENGs from laboratory prototypes to practical self-powered systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":3,"journal":{"name":"ACS Applied Electronic Materials","volume":"8 21","pages":"9200–9241"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149368437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Thiojulolidine Functionalized Benzimidazoline Dopant with Polarizability-Driven Counterion Coulombic Mitigation for High-Performance n-Doped Polymer Thermoelectrics","authors":"Guangwei Gao, Hao Li, Shikai Zhang, Wei Wang, Chun Zhan, Shengqiang Xiao","doi":"10.1021/acsaelm.6c01950","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.6c01950","url":null,"abstract":"<p>One of the fundamental limitations of n-doped thermoelectric polymers lies in Coulombic trapping between dopant counterions and polymer polarons, which severely restricts carrier generation and transport. Herein, we address this through a heteroatom engineering strategy that leverages atomic polarizability to mitigate counterion Coulombic attraction, using the benzimidazoline dopant 1,3-dimethyl-2-(julolidine-9-yl)-2,3-dihydro-1<em>H</em>-benzo[<em>d</em>]imidazole (JLBI) and its sulfur-substituted analogue as a model system for doping the n-type polymer ThDPP-CNBTz. Specifically, replacing 1,7-dimethylene in julolidine with sulfur atoms converts JLBI into 1,3-dimethyl-2-(1,7-dithiajulolidin-9-yl)-2,3-dihydro-1<em>H</em>-benzo[<em>d</em>]imidazoline (S-JLBI). This substitution at the meta positions transforms the localized surface electrostatic potential (ESP) of the JLBI cation into an extended potential in S-JLBI cation due to the dielectric shield from polarizable 3p valence electron cloud of sulfur, thereby weakening the dopant counterion Coulombic trap. The weakened trapping is evidenced by reduced conductivity activation energy across doping concentrations. Consequently, the S-JLBI-doped ThDPP-CNBTz films achieve a maximum power factor of 43.91 μW m<sup>–1</sup> K<sup>–</sup><sup>2</sup> with a conductivity of 37.83 S cm<sup>–</sup><sup>1</sup>, outperforming the JLBI-doped counterpart (34.10 μW m<sup>–</sup><sup>1</sup> K<sup>–</sup><sup>2</sup>, 20.80 S cm<sup>–</sup><sup>1</sup>) at the optimized doping level. Overall, this work establishes a blueprint for manipulating cation ESP and resulted counterion Coulombic trap via sulfur heteroatom substitution and highlights S-JLBI as a promising n-dopant for high-performance polymer thermoelectrics.</p>","PeriodicalId":3,"journal":{"name":"ACS Applied Electronic Materials","volume":"8 21","pages":"9743–9753"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149368491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jewook Kim, Myoung Woo Kang, Sunwoo Lee, Dong Gyun Hong, Min Su Kim, Jungmo Kim, Hee Jin Jeong, Seung Yol Jeong, Donghwi Cho, Myungwoo Choi
{"title":"Rational Design of ZnO-Based Thermoelectrics through Multiscale Electron and Phonon Engineering","authors":"Jewook Kim, Myoung Woo Kang, Sunwoo Lee, Dong Gyun Hong, Min Su Kim, Jungmo Kim, Hee Jin Jeong, Seung Yol Jeong, Donghwi Cho, Myungwoo Choi","doi":"10.1021/acsaelm.6c01627","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.6c01627","url":null,"abstract":"<p>ZnO is an attractive n-type oxide thermoelectric material for high-temperature energy harvesting because of its elemental abundance, environmental compatibility, chemical robustness, and thermal stability under oxidizing conditions. Its thermoelectric performance, however, remains constrained by intrinsically high lattice thermal conductivity and by the strong coupling among carrier concentration, carrier mobility, and Seebeck coefficient. Overcoming these limitations requires transport-engineering strategies that suppress phonon-mediated heat conduction, while minimizing penalties to electronic transport. This review critically examines recent advances in ZnO-based thermoelectrics through a multiscale transport-engineering framework. Rather than classifying studies solely by composition, synthesis method, or morphology, we correlate structural length scale with the dominant mechanisms governing electron and phonon transport. Compositional engineering, including cation substitution, anion modification, and defect control, is first discussed in terms of charge carrier optimization, lattice disorder, and point-defect phonon scattering. Grain-boundary and nanopore engineering are then compared as mesoscale approaches for enhancing boundary scattering, while maintaining continuous conductive pathways. Finally, multi-scale nanostructures are highlighted as an emerging design paradigm that integrates point defects, grain boundaries, pores, and heterogeneous interfaces to broaden the phonon-scattering spectrum, while enabling energy-dependent charge carrier filtering. By linking structure, characteristic length scale, transport mechanism, and thermoelectric performance, this review establishes design principles for the rational development of high-performance and thermally stable ZnO-based thermoelectric materials.</p>","PeriodicalId":3,"journal":{"name":"ACS Applied Electronic Materials","volume":"8 21","pages":"9252–9279"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149368595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Highly Sensitive Piezoresistance Conductive Fabric Based on Enhanced PEDOT:PSS/MWCNTs for Electronic Wearable Devices","authors":"Wenxuan Sheng, Haibin Li, Rubai Luo, Jingbo Hu, YiHao Wei, Baofeng Zhao, Yingwei Huang, Xing Zhou","doi":"10.1021/acsaelm.6c01835","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.6c01835","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Conductive fabrics are promising for applications in smart textiles and wearable electronics because they are lightweight, flexible, and easy to integrate. However, constructing a continuous, stable, and highly efficient functional organic/inorganic conductive network within the porous fibrous architecture remains a major challenge for the fabrication of high-performance conductive fabrics. In this study, PEDOT:PSS was modified via a high-speed non-solvent turbulent secondary doping (HNTD) process. Using the modified PEDOT:PSS as the carrier, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were loaded into cotton nonwoven fabrics through a simple dip-coating method to fabricate PEDOT:PSS/MWCNTs composite conductive fabrics (PPMF). Through π–π interactions between PEDOT:PSS and MWCNTs, this approach promoted the uniform distribution of MWCNTs throughout the fabric fibers. It also substantially suppressed the flake-like aggregation of doped PEDOT:PSS during solvent evaporation, thereby improving electron transport within the conductive fabric. The resulting PPMF exhibited excellent electrical performance, with a conductivity of 2.96 × 10<sup>–2</sup> S cm<sup>–1</sup>. The assembled flexible PPMF pressure sensor exhibited ultrahigh sensitivity (108.15 kPa<sup>–1</sup>) and rapid response and recovery times of 18 and 35 ms, respectively. This performance was attributed to the multilevel interwoven network of the cotton fabric and the uniform, synergistic organic/inorganic conductive network, which enabled the effective detection of minute external forces. Moreover, PPMF can be integrated into wearable sensors to monitor movements at different body sites, including large joint motions and subtle facial movements. This work therefore provides a viable strategy for developing next-generation textile electronics and electronic skin.</p>","PeriodicalId":3,"journal":{"name":"ACS Applied Electronic Materials","volume":"8 21","pages":"9680–9689"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2026-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149368648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}