Materials Today Physics最新文献

{"title":"Interfacial thermal transport analysis using machine learning potential at AlN/Cu van der Waals interface","authors":"Weitao Wang ,&nbsp;Xin Wu ,&nbsp;Yunhui Wu ,&nbsp;Sebastian Volz ,&nbsp;Takeshi Takagi ,&nbsp;Masahiro Nomura","doi":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102057","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102057","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Three-dimensional integration is critical for next-generation integrated circuits, yet thermal management remains challenging due to complex interface environment. Owing to its high thermal conductivity, aluminum nitride (AlN) is a promising insulating layer for through-silicon via structures, yet its interfacial thermal behavior with copper (Cu) electrodes remains insufficiently understood. Here, we investigate phonon transport across non-bonded AlN-Cu interfaces governed by van der Waals (vdW) interactions using a machine learning potential (MLP) trained by density functional theory (DFT) data. The MLP accurately reproduces DFT-level phonon dispersion, energy-volume relationships, and interfacial binding energies. Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations reveal total thermal resistance values of 10-14 m²K/GW at room temperature, approximately five times smaller than values obtained with empirical potentials and in excellent agreement with experimental data for similar semiconductor-metal interfaces. Unlike empirical potentials, the MLP predicts increasing thermal resistance with temperature, attributed to phonon softening and vibrational mismatch. Spectral decomposition analyses confirm reduced phonon thermal conductance at elevated temperatures. This work provides fundamental insights into weakly bonded semiconductor-metal interfaces and guidance for thermal management in 3D integrated systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18253,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Physics","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 102057"},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146778793","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":"Microwave-induced tailoring of N-doping configurations in lightweight graphene for enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption","authors":"Yanan Liu,&nbsp;Xinrui Cai,&nbsp;Yu Zhang,&nbsp;Yaqing Liu,&nbsp;Yaxing Liu,&nbsp;Fan Zhang,&nbsp;Jiangyong Liu,&nbsp;Xiaogang Su","doi":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102058","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102058","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Exceptional electrical conductivity combined with unique two-dimensional layered nanostructure renders graphene a pivotal material for constructing next-generation ultra-lightweight and high-efficiency electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbers. However, intrinsic graphene suffers from poor impedance matching and strong reflection of EMWs, which severely limits its practical application. This study proposes a strategy based on rapid microwave-assisted reduction coupled with N doping to achieve efficient synthesis of lightweight and high-performance N-doped reduced graphene oxide (N/rGO) absorbers. Reduction and doping were simultaneously accomplished within seconds by employing graphene oxide (GO) as the precursor and urea, 2-methylimidazole, and pyrrole as N precursors. By controlling the microwave irradiation time, N configurations and electromagnetic properties was effective regulated. Experimental results show that the sample N_U/rGO-40, with only 1 wt% filler loading and a thickness of 2.8 mm, exhibits an ultra-wide effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 7.44 GHz (10.56–18.00 GHz). Moreover, its radar cross section (RCS) reduction reaches −8.3 dB m². Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the balanced regulation of different N configurations can synergistically optimize conduction loss and polarization loss, which is the core reason for significantly improving the impedance matching degree and attenuation capability of materials. This study provides new insights into the rapid, energy-efficient, and scalable synthesis of high-performance lightweight EMW absorption materials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18253,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Physics","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 102058"},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146777420","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":"Selenium bonded bismuth-based oxides enables high-energy and high-rate aqueous sodium-ion batteries","authors":"Yi Zhai ,&nbsp;Jiwei Wang ,&nbsp;Yijie Mao ,&nbsp;Jinwen Fu ,&nbsp;Xinxin Liu ,&nbsp;Yongbao Feng ,&nbsp;Wenbin Gong ,&nbsp;Pan Xue ,&nbsp;Qiulong Li","doi":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102066","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102066","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Aqueous sodium-ion batteries (ASIBs) have shown great promise for large-scale energy storage due to their notable advantages in safety, environmental friendliness, and low cost. However, their practical application is impeded by their poor energy density, which is subject to the low capacity of anode materials. Bismuth oxide (Bi₂O₃) anode material exhibits a high theoretical Na⁺-storage capacity, but shows poor conductivity and structure stability. Herein, we successfully prepared a novel 2D layered Bi₂O₂Se nanosheet arrays directly grown on carbon cloth (CC) via a facile solvothermal-selenium bonding synthesis strategy as self-standing Bi₂O₂Se NSs/CC anodes. Selenium-bonding not only enhances the conductivity, but also improves the Na⁺ capture ability and decreases the Na⁺ migration energy barrier of Bi₂O₃. As a result, the Bi₂O₂Se NSs/CC delivers an ultrahigh capacity of 512.9 mAh g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ and maintains a high-capacity retention of 63.4% over 500 cycles at 2 A g⁻¹. When coupled with InHCF/CC cathode, the as-assembled ASIBs deliver a high energy density of 95.11 Wh kg⁻¹ at 21.37 kW kg⁻¹, and can stably operate 500 cycles with an excellent retention of 96.8% at 2 A g⁻¹. This “structural-chemical” synergistic modulation provides a valuable theoretical guidance for the development of high-performance ASIBs’ anode materials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18253,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Physics","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 102066"},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147359798","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":"Superhydrophobic cooling coils with uniformly generated micro/nanostructures for enhanced condensate droplet repellency","authors":"Wei Tong ,&nbsp;Leymus Yong Xiang Lum ,&nbsp;Huanyu Zhao ,&nbsp;Xuwen Wang ,&nbsp;Jin Yao Ho","doi":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102060","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102060","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite advances in superhydrophobic cooling coil technology, challenges such as delayed condensate drainage and flooding still frequently occur in air-conditioning systems. Herein, we developed superhydrophobic cooling coils featuring uniformly generated micro/nanostructures. Our method enables scalable treatment of 6061 aluminum cooling coils measuring 25 × 24 × 9 cm or larger, including those with irregular geometries. To our knowledge, this work reports the first systematic study to generate micro/nanostructures uniformly on large-scale superhydrophobic cooling coils that are free of unetched regions. These uniform micro/nanostructures prevent the formation of nanoscale Wenzel wetting states and leverage fin pitch to limit the maximum condensate droplet diameter before self-repellency to 1 mm, thereby minimizing flooding risk. We demonstrate that such coils can maintain continuous and complete condensate droplet repellency for 6 h during atmospheric condensation of humid air. This approach holds strong potential for scalable integration into air-conditioning systems to enhance dehumidification and overall thermohydraulic performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18253,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Physics","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 102060"},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147292409","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":"Quantum heterostructured catalytic materials for selective multi-carbon green products","authors":"Manisha Sharma ,&nbsp;Deepak Kumar ,&nbsp;Sangeeta Shukla ,&nbsp;Jong-Sung Yu ,&nbsp;Rupendra Kumar Sharma ,&nbsp;Yogendra Kumar Mishra ,&nbsp;Raj Kishore Sharma ,&nbsp;Sanjeev Kumar Sharma","doi":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102061","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102061","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Quantum heterostructures have emerged as next-generation catalytic architectures capable of driving highly selective multi-carbon products for sustainable energy advancement. The quantum-confined electronic structures, ultrahigh surface-to-volume ratios, and interfacial charge dynamics enable efficient activation and transformation of inert carbon feedstocks, such as CO₂, into value-added C₂⁺ molecules. Recent breakthroughs in compositional modulation, defect engineering, and controlled lattice coupling have unlocked new pathways for tunable binding energetics, suppressed parasitic reactions, and enhanced multi-electron transfer kinetics. This review systematically addresses advances in 2D/3D-driven catalytic platforms, including TMDs, MXenes, MOFs, COFs, g-C₃N₄, and emerging layered materials, highlighting engineered hybrid interfaces that integrate the chemical selectivity of 2D surfaces with the structural robustness of 3D supports. Mechanistic insights from electro-, photo-, and bio-assisted catalytic systems are analysed with an emphasis on C-C coupling efficiency, intermediate stabilization, and product branching rules. Critical bottlenecks encompassing durability, system-level integration, theoretical uncertainties, and scalable manufacturing are assessed, alongside strategic directions for industrial-grade carbon valorisation. This article aims to chart a forward-looking roadmap toward converting anthropogenic carbon into sustainable fuels and chemicals through atomically precise catalytic design.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18253,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Physics","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 102061"},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147320068","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":"Ultralow-Ru surface modification of Fe3O4 on iron foam for electronically and photothermally enhanced alkaline hydrogen evolution","authors":"Li Li ,&nbsp;Shiwei Zhang ,&nbsp;Ting Lei","doi":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102069","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102069","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Developing high-performance electrocatalysts for the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is essential for sustainable hydrogen production. Herein, we fabricate ultralow-Ru modified Fe₃O₄ catalyst grown directly on iron foam (Ru/Fe₃O₄/IF) via a one-step galvanic corrosion route, where the IF serves simultaneously as a conductive 3D scaffold and the iron source. The spontaneous redox reaction between Ru³⁺ and Fe⁰ yields highly dispersed Ru species anchored on Fe₃O₄, generating abundant metal/oxide interfacial sites with low Ru loading. Experimental characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations collectively reveal that interfacial Ru species regulate the local electronic structure of Fe₃O₄, downshift the Fe d-band center, and optimize the hydrogen adsorption free energy (ΔG_H*), thereby promoting water dissociation and facilitating H* desorption. As a result, the optimal Ru/Fe₃O₄/IF electrode delivers an ultralow overpotential of 56 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² in 1.0 M KOH, along with a long-term durability of 168 h of water electrolysis at 1A cm⁻². Additionally, under 808 nm near-infrared irradiation, localized photothermal self-heating markedly accelerates alkaline HER kinetics, leading to a dramatic reduction of η₁₀ to 11 mV. Temperature-dependent measurements and Arrhenius analysis further demonstrate that NIR illumination lowers the apparent activation energy, corroborating the photothermal contribution to overcoming the sluggish Volmer step in alkaline media. The catalyst also exhibits no significant deactivation under repeated light on/off cycling, highlighting its robustness. This work presents an effective strategy that integrates interfacial electronic modulation with localized photothermal activation to develop energy-saving electrocatalysts for alkaline water electrolysis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18253,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Physics","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 102069"},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147380540","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":"Self-rectifying dynamic memristor based on 2D-graphene/V-doped Ga2O3 for neuromorphic processing","authors":"Ashish Kumar ,&nbsp;Shahid Iqbal ,&nbsp;Hyumin Dang ,&nbsp;Taehyeon Yoon ,&nbsp;Hyungtak Seo","doi":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102064","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102064","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Memristors adjust their internal resistance in response to external stimuli, enabling random-access memory, neuromorphic computing, sensing, and in-memory processing functions that are difficult to achieve with conventional devices. These capabilities arise from diverse switching mechanisms, making mechanistic understanding and the discovery of new memristive operation modes crucial for reliable implementation and advanced applications. In this work, we present a flexible Au/V-doped a-Ga₂O₃/single-layer graphene (SL-Gr)/Cu memristor platform, benchmarked against a reference device without graphene, in which mechanical strain directly modulates the switching mechanism. The SL-Gr interlayer regulates Cu⁺ injection and diffusion so that Cu-rich nanoclusters nucleate predominantly at graphene defect and edge sites (ECM contribution), while concurrent oxygen-vacancy (V_o) enrichment and field-driven redox in the V-doped a-Ga₂O₃ contribute to a valence-change pathway (VCM contribution), yielding a controllable hybrid-filament system. Notably, under stable and flexible operation, the device exhibits key neuromorphic functions, including Pavlovian associative learning, image memorization in a 3 × 3 array of letter “C”, “F”, “I”, and “L”, 4-bit state encoding, and digit recognition within a reservoir computing (RC) framework, underscoring its potential as a promising candidate for next-generation artificial intelligent (AI) hardware.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18253,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Physics","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 102064"},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147359799","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":"Intrinsic photothermal performance and flexibility of polyurethane phase change materials via π-π conjugation for personal thermal management in outdoor cold environments","authors":"Wenxing Luo ,&nbsp;Minming Zou ,&nbsp;Jue Wang ,&nbsp;Yan Ma ,&nbsp;Xiaowu Hu ,&nbsp;Wenjing Chen ,&nbsp;Xiongxin Jiang ,&nbsp;Qinglin Li","doi":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102039","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102039","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Phase change materials (PCMs) with photothermal properties can effectively convert solar energy into thermal energy and store it via phase change, subsequently provide heat for human body in cold environments. The introduction of photothermal fillers into polyurethane PCMs to develop photothermal polyurethane PCMs has been widely studied. However, the incompatibility between photothermal fillers and matrix leads to severe deterioration in the composite's flexibility. Therefore, achieving both the mechanical and photothermal properties of polyurethane PCM in wearable products is a pressing issue. In this work, a polyurethane PCM with intrinsic flexibility and photothermal properties was designed. It consists of small molecules filled with π-π conjugated structures and polyethylene glycol crosslinked through chemical interactions. By selecting diamine crosslinkers with varying conjugation strengths, the influence of π-π conjugation on flexibility and photothermal properties of polyurethane PCM was investigated. The results demonstrate that the stronger the π-π conjugation, the better the photothermal performance, with a photothermal conversion efficiency reaching up to 71.4%. Additionally, the strong intermolecular forces generated by π-π stacking also endow polyurethane PCM with high-temperature morphological stability, high tensile strength (22.4 MPa), and excellent toughness (351.1 MJ/m³). The intrinsic photothermal properties and good mechanical performance of polyurethane PCM make it suitable as a material for fabrics and coatings, ideal for wearable products in extreme cold environments, such as north pole and snowfields, where thermal energy is required.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18253,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Physics","volume":"61 ","pages":"Article 102039"},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146134580","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":"Semi-supervised spatiotemporal segmentation of in situ transmission electron microscopy for nanoparticle dynamics","authors":"Manpreet Kaur ,&nbsp;Ali Ebadi ,&nbsp;Xingying Zhang ,&nbsp;Huanjing Liu ,&nbsp;Cheng-Yu Chen ,&nbsp;Eric A. Stach ,&nbsp;Qian Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102033","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102033","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the real-time morphological evolution of nanoparticles under varying thermal and environmental conditions is crucial for revealing the mechanisms that govern their stability, growth, and functional performance in applications such as catalysis and nanomanufacturing. <em>In-situ</em> transmission electron microscopy provides direct, atomic-scale visualization of these dynamic processes through sequential imaging, capturing subtle transformations on a frame-by-frame basis. However, extracting reliable shape descriptors from such sequential image data remains challenging due to high noise, low contrast, inter-particle overlap, and the manual effort required for annotation. Existing segmentation methods often treat each frame independently, overlooking the temporal continuity inherent in <em>in-situ</em> imaging and failing to capture subtle but critical morphological transitions that underpin particle reshaping, coalescence, and structural evolution. To address these limitations, we present Swin U-Net Transformer with Temporal Convolutional Network for Segmentation (SwinTCN-Seg), a semi-supervised, spatiotemporally-aware framework that fuses transformer-based spatial encoding with temporal modeling to enable reliable analysis of morphological evolution in dynamic nanoparticle systems. Moreover, to reduce the need for dense manual labels, SwinTCN-Seg employs a pseudo-label propagation scheme that utilizes high-confidence predictions from labeled frames to guide learning on unlabeled ones, thereby uncovering transitional configurations. We validate SwinTCN-Seg on a large corpus of <em>in-situ</em> sequences of gold (Au) and platinum (Pt) nanoparticles imaged from 650 °C to 900 °C under vacuum and air environments. Despite being trained on only 5% of the labeled frames, the model achieves high segmentation accuracy, particularly in high-temperature regimes (<span><math><mo>≥</mo></math></span>800 °C) where conventional methods struggle to detect complex phenomena such as faceting, sintering, and fragmentation. Code and models are available at <span><span>https://github.com/kaur-manpreet325/TEM-Seg</span><svg><path></path></svg></span>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18253,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Physics","volume":"61 ","pages":"Article 102033"},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146072551","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":"Advanced high-entropy nanoalloys toward renewable energy electrocatalysis","authors":"Yajing Qi ,&nbsp;Tianci Wei ,&nbsp;Lin He ,&nbsp;Xiaoran Bi ,&nbsp;Xiaoyue An ,&nbsp;Chunji Li ,&nbsp;Weiwei Yang ,&nbsp;Yongsheng Yu ,&nbsp;Menggang Li","doi":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102035","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mtphys.2026.102035","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Alloying has long been recognized as one of the most promising strategies for designing high-performance metal-based electrocatalysts. However, the limited range of available elemental species in conventional alloys often restricts the continuous-tuning of the surface electronic structure of metal catalysts. High-entropy nanoalloys (HENAs), with their diverse compositional and structural characteristics, offer a pathway to overcome the limitations of traditional binary or ternary alloys, providing adsorption/desorption energies towards reaction intermediates closer to the optimum. Therefore, HENAs have emerged as promising candidates for electrocatalytic reactions integral to various renewable energy technologies, such as fuel cells, water electrolyzers, <em>etc.,</em> and have witnessed remarkable progress in recent years. This review summarizes recent advances in HENA-based electrocatalysts for energy-related applications and highlights the crucial role of rational structural design in enhancing their performance. It begins with an introduction to the fundamental concepts, physicochemical properties, and structural characterizations of HENAs. Then, we categorize state-of-the-art HENA electrocatalysts based on their dimensionality, with particular emphasis on understanding their formation mechanisms at the nanoscale and atomic-scale. Furthermore, we discuss the rational underlying the structural regulation of electronic structures, electrocatalytic properties, and functional mechanisms of HENAs in several key electrocatalytic reactions. Finally, we outline the remaining challenges and future perspectives in this field, aiming to inspire the development of more advanced HENA-based catalysts to touch the ceiling of electrocatalytic activity and stability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18253,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Physics","volume":"61 ","pages":"Article 102035"},"PeriodicalIF":9.7,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146089232","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}