Accounts of materials research最新文献

{"title":"Silica-Based Encoding of Biological Structure, Information, and Activity","authors":"Ting Ruan, Muyuyang Lin, Jiangfan Cao, Qi Lei, C. Jeffrey Brinker, Wei Zhu","doi":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00084","DOIUrl":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00084","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Preservingthe structure, molecular information, and functionalactivity of biological systems across time remains a central challengein modern biotechnology. Existing preservation strategies often involvetrade-offs: approaches that maintain structural fidelity frequentlycompromise molecular integrity, whereas methods designed to stabilizebiomolecules typically disrupt native architecture or function. Nature,however, provides compelling precedents for long-term biological preservation.Fossils recovered from Siberian permafrost have retained readablegenetic material for millions of years, and silicified organisms frequentlypreserve detailed morphological features together with molecular chemicalsignatures embedded within mineral matrices. These natural examplessuggest that silicification can simultaneously immobilize biologicalstructures and stabilize core biomolecular information. However, fossilizationis inherently slow, uncontrolled, and irreversible, unfolding overgeological time scales. A key challenge therefore emerges: whetherartificial, biomimetic silica shells can be engineered to captureand preserve biological systems with comparable fidelity but undercontrollable laboratory conditions and across practical time scales.In this context, silica-based encoding is used here to denote morethan passive preservation: it converts biological structures, molecularinformation, and functional states into mineral-stabilized forms thatremain readable and, in selected cases, recoverable.</p><p>In thisAccount, we summarize recent advances in a controllablebiomimetic silicification platform developed by our group that enablesmultilevel preservation of biological systems. At the structural level,silica replication produces high-fidelity three-dimensional preservationof biological architectures spanning subcellular organelles, individualcells, and complex tissues, overcoming the conventional compromisebetween morphological resolution and preservation stability. At themolecular level, <em>in situ</em> encapsulation within a silicamatrix substantially enhances the chemical stability of biomacromolecules,allowing genomes, transcriptomes, and proteomes to be preserved atroom temperature for extended periods without reliance on cryogenicstorage. At the functional level, the approach extends beyond staticpreservation: enzymatic activity and cellular viability can be retainedduring encapsulation and subsequently restored after controlled silicaremoval, enabling the recovery of biological function from preservedsamples. These capabilities arise from key physicochemical propertiesof silica matrices. Their high surface area and tunable chemical environmentstabilize biomolecules through non-covalent interactions such as electrostaticattraction and hydrogen bonding, while the mild and controllable dissolutionof silica enables on-demand decapsulation with minimal perturbationto molecular integrity and biological activity.</p><p>Looking ahead,advancing this technology d","PeriodicalId":72040,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of materials research","volume":"7 9","pages":"913–926"},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148718033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reframing Lectin-Glycan Interactions as Robust Underwater Glues","authors":"Jimin Choi, Dong Soo Hwang","doi":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00117","DOIUrl":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00117","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Achievingrobust and biocompatiblewet adhesion─with robustnessdefined here as mechanical resilience under appropriate biochemicalconditions─is essential for traditional wound management andnext-generation biointerfaces, such as drug deliveries, bioelectronics,biosensors, and medical implants. Bioinspired wet adhesion has largelybeen shaped by mussel-derived catechol chemistry. Although catechol/DOPA-basedmaterials remain among the most mature and versatile platforms, theirperformance can be affected by oxidation state and by the difficultyof reproducing biological redox control in synthetic systems. ThisAccount centers on lectin–glycan interactions as a programmablebiological adhesion mechanism, in which carbohydrate-binding proteinscalled lectins recognize specific sugar motifs on glycan chains andprovide an orthogonal strategy to catechol-based wet adhesion. Unlikecovalent or coordination-based catechol systems, lectins achieve strongyet reversible attachment via specific noncovalent recognition. Recentnanomechanical studies have highlighted multivalency, in which multipleweak lectin–glycan bonds act cooperatively at an interface,as a central mechanism for amplifying lectin–glycan adhesionunder defined conditions. In parallel, force-responsive behaviorssuch as selectin-mediated catch bonds─force-stabilized molecularbonds whose lifetimes increase over a defined range of tensile force,in contrast to conventional slip bonds that dissociate more rapidlywith increasing force─illustrate how glycan recognition canbe coupled to mechanical stress, although direct evidence for catch-bondbehavior in marine adhesive systems remains limited. By integratingthese features into dynamic supramolecular networks, lectins functionnot merely as recognition elements, but as mechanically active mediatorsthat translate molecular specificity into resilient, macroscopic adhesion.Marine biointerfaces illustrate how these principles are integratedinto natural adhesive architectures. In sea stars, lectin domain-containingproteins contribute to fibrillar adhesive networks that support rapidattachment and detachment. In the fan shell <em>Atrina pectinata</em>, C-type lectin domains act as interfacial linkers, bridging stiffbyssal threads to soft tissues while functioning as sacrificial bondsthat dissipate mechanical stress. Recent studies of mussel and ark-clamadhesive proteins further indicate that selected tandem EGF/EGF-likedomains can act as lectin-like glycan-binding modules when directevidence supports glycan-specific binding or adhesion. Beyond macroscopicunderwater attachment, lectin–glycan interactions also regulatemicroscale adhesion at cell and microbial interfaces. Examples includeselectin-mediated leukocyte rolling, FimH-dependent bacterial anchoring,mucosal residence, and biofilm stabilization. These systems illustratehow specificity and context dependence, together with multivalency,reversibility, or force responsiveness in selected cases, can regulatetransi","PeriodicalId":72040,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of materials research","volume":"7 9","pages":"952–961"},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148821772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dynamic Covalent Organic Frameworks: From Responsive Structures to Programmable Functions","authors":"Tengwu Zeng,&nbsp;Lei Wei,&nbsp;Yue-Biao Zhang","doi":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00098","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/accountsmr.6c00098","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Structural adaptability is ahallmark of biological systems, rangingfrom the localized conformational freedom of proteins to the macroscopicresponsiveness of complex organisms. This profound biological flexibilityprovides a compelling blueprint for engineering the next generationof functional materials. Reticular chemistry allows us to translatethis blueprint into synthetic porous frameworks, where ordered structuresallow the precise arrangement of responsive functionalities. Whilepioneering work on metal–organic frameworks demonstrated thatporous solids can respond dynamically to external stimuli, the labilenature of metal–ligand coordination bonds can hinder repeatedcycling. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), by contrast, combinethe chemical resilience of covalent linkage with molecular designability,providing a uniquely attractive platform to embed and exploit structuraldynamics. Two-dimensional COFs typically express responsiveness viainterlayer motions (slip, delamination, solvent-swelling) mediatedby relatively weak π–π and dispersion forces. Three-dimensionalCOFs, however, qualitatively expand the design space. The fully covalent,interpenetrated networks convert local molecular perturbation, suchas linker torsions, node deformations, pedal rotations, tautomerization,and guest–guest clustering, into collective, long-range latticedeformations. These couplings can yield large-amplitude breathingand pore reconfiguration (in some cases &gt;50% vol unit-cell changes)that are highly guest- and stimulus-selective. In this Account wesummarize our group’s recent contributions to the field ofdynamic 3D COFs. We first describe design principles and syntheticroutes that yield both single crystals and scalable, highly crystallinepowders. We then summarize the multimodal structural toolbox thatdelivers atomic-level models of dynamic states, and we distill mechanisticparadigms coupling local chemistry to collective motion. Finally,we illustrate how these dynamics can be harnessed for programmablefunctions, such as selective adsorption and fluorescence transduction,closing with a perspective on future strategies to encode cooperativeswitching in practical devices.</p>","PeriodicalId":72040,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of materials research","volume":"7 9","pages":"927–940"},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149027891","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New Soft-landing Ion Sources and Strategies for Single Ion Science","authors":"Xianzheng Liu,&nbsp;Qiwei Chen,&nbsp;Xiong Zhou,&nbsp;Kai Wu","doi":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00150","DOIUrl":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00150","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72040,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of materials research","volume":"7 9","pages":"887–893"},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148692452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Interview with Our Two New PI Viewpoint Authors","authors":"Jiaxing Huang,&nbsp;Jiayin Yuan,&nbsp;Lauren Zarzar","doi":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/accountsmr.6c00207","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72040,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of materials research","volume":"7 9","pages":"884–886"},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149028000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Optical-Thermal\u0000Regulation Materials: A Product-Engineering\u0000Design Logic from Application Demands to Multifunctional Material\u0000Realization","authors":"Zhuojing Zhao,Ya Huang,Rufan Zhang","doi":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/accountsmr.6c00233","url":null,"abstract":"Conspectus Optical-thermal regulation materials (OTRMs) control wavelength-dependent reflection, transmission, absorption, and emission across the ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and mid-infrared regions to regulate heat transfer and optical functionality. Their importance is increasing as extreme and variable climates threaten human health, thermal comfort, and energy security, while conventional mechanical heating and cooling technologies impose growing electricity demand and greenhouse-gas emissions. Optical-thermal regulation can be broadly implemented through passive, active, or hybrid modes. Passive regulation relies on intrinsic material properties or structurally defined spectral responses without continuous external input, whereas active regulation dynamically adjusts spectral properties under external stimuli. Hybrid regulation integrates passive and active mechanisms within the same material, device, or system, allowing dynamic tunability to coexist with persistent optical-thermal functions in other spectral bands or functional channels. Radiative cooling and electrochromic modulation are representative implementations of passive and active regulation, respectively. Although OTRMs rely fundamentally on wavelength-dependent light–matter interactions, their spectral design and multifunctional strategies are strongly application-oriented. Therefore, in this Account, we extract a product-engineering design logic comprising four interconnected stages: application-demand analysis, optical-thermal regulation strategy definition, material, structural, and device realization, and multifunctional integration and validation. Application-demand analysis identifies the thermal boundary conditions, optical functions, service environments, user requirements, and manufacturing constraints of a target scenario. These requirements are then translated into appropriate passive, active, or hybrid regulation modes and corresponding wavelength-dependent target spectral responses. The resulting specifications guide material selection, structural construction, device configuration, and fabrication. The developed systems are subsequently evaluated not only for optical-thermal performance but also for application-relevant requirements such as durability, scalability, safety, manufacturability, and system compatibility. Importantly, the latter two stages are iterative rather than strictly sequential: validation results can feed back into material, structural, device, and fabrication optimization when the realized performance does not fully satisfy the predefined application-specific criteria. This framework therefore integrates these four stages within a unified design process. This Account uses our group’s recent work to illustrate how this product-engineering design logic can guide the design of OTRMs across four representative application classes: building energy savings, including spectrally engineered transparent and opaque envelope structures; vehicle ","PeriodicalId":72040,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of materials research","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149049999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fusogenic Lipid Cubosomes as Nanocarriers for Next-Generation Nanomedicine","authors":"Haitao Yu,&nbsp;Xudong Cai,&nbsp;Biserka Lakic,&nbsp;Calum J. Drummond,&nbsp;Brendan P. Dyett","doi":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00122","DOIUrl":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00122","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;The further development of lipidnanocarriers remains central toadvancing next-generation nanomedicine and gene delivery. Althoughclinically approved lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have achieved remarkableclinical impact, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, their relianceon endocytosis often leads to endosomal degradation and low cytosolicdelivery efficiency; e.g., typically less than 10% of mRNA in theclinical COVID-19 vaccines reaches the cytosol. Lyotropic liquid crystallineLNPs with internal inverse cubic phases, namely, cubosomes, presentan attractive alternative owing to their intrinsic fusogenicity withbiological membranes. Their lipid bilayer architecture promotes fusionwith plasma or endosomal membranes, providing a pathway for efficientcytosolic release of therapeutic cargo. The fusion behavior of individualcubosomes remained elusive for many years due to limitations in sufficientspatiotemporal resolution and the complexity of disentangling multipleinteractions occurring simultaneously. Another major barrier to exploitingcubosomes in nanomedicine has been the lack of control over particlesize in the traditional homogenization preparation method, restrictingboth fundamental research and large-scale industrial translation.For nano–bio interactions, the connections between the LNPproperties, including internal nanostructure and particle size, withtheir biological performance are still poorly defined.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For morethan two decades, our Molecular Assembly Lab has had extensiveexperience with amphiphile self-assembly, particularly in the preparation,characterization, and application of cubosomes. In this Account, wefocus on introducing our progress on cubosomes since 2019, includingthe mechanistic understanding of their membrane fusion behavior, microfluidic-basedformation with precise size control, phase- and size-dependent nano–biointeractions across multiple &lt;em&gt;in vitro&lt;/em&gt; mammalian cellsand bacteria systems, and proof-of-concept therapeutic applications.We have deciphered that the fusion behavior of lipid dye-labeled cubosomeswith supported lipid bilayers (SLBs), mammalian cell membranes, andthe outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria follows a universal scalinglaw of lipid dye fluorescence intensity over time, &lt;em&gt;I&lt;/em&gt; ∼ &lt;em&gt;t&lt;/em&gt;&lt;sup&gt;–1/6&lt;/sup&gt;, as characterizedby advanced total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRF).Moreover, we have tailored cubosome sizes with precise control from130 nm to over 300 nm using a commercial microfluidic platform followinga quantitative scaling law with total flow rate (&lt;em&gt;Q&lt;/em&gt;), Size ∼ &lt;em&gt;Q&lt;/em&gt;&lt;sup&gt;–0.15&lt;/sup&gt;. A systematic &lt;em&gt;in vitro&lt;/em&gt; evaluation of how the mesophase and particle sizeof LNPs modulate biological performance revealed that lipid nanocarrierswith cubic phases and smaller sizes displayed stronger cell association,compared to their corresponding counterparts. Finally, we demonstratedenhanced antibiotic penetration across bacterial envelopes and elevatedantimic","PeriodicalId":72040,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of materials research","volume":"7 9","pages":"962–975"},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148655697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatially Confined DNA Nanodevices for Sensing and In Situ Imaging of Biomolecules","authors":"Jie Liu,&nbsp;Liuqing Tan,&nbsp;Xiuli Tao,&nbsp;Lu Yan,&nbsp;Ying Zhuo","doi":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00140","DOIUrl":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00140","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Leveraging the predictabilityof Watson–Crickbase pairingand the programmability of nucleic-acid structures, DNA nanodevicescan be rationally designed into diverse architectures that incorporatefunctional motifs such as aptamers and DNAzymes. These multifunctionalconstructs enable the integration of target recognition, signal transduction,and amplification within a single framework, facilitating versatilebiomolecular sensing. However, translating conventional DNA nanodevicesinto practical applications within complex biological samples remainschallenging due to their high susceptibility to nuclease degradation,which compromises structural integrity and leads to signal leakage.Additionally, the low abundance of target analytes and the crowdednature of biological fluids significantly reduce molecular collisionfrequency and slow interfacial reaction kinetics, thereby resultingin poor sensitivity and a high detection limit. Therefore, developingnext-generation DNA nanodevices with enhanced structural stabilityand improved reaction efficiency is crucial for their practical usein real biological environments.</p><p>Confinement refers to the spatialrestriction of molecules, reactants,or reaction interfaces within nanometer-sized domains, where theirphysicochemical behaviors differ markedly from those in bulk solutions.Under confined conditions, reactive components can be shielded fromexternal interference, thus enhancing molecular stability. Moreover,confined environments can locally enrich reactants and reduce theconfigurational entropy of reaction components, greatly improvingthe thermodynamic and kinetic efficiency of molecular interactions.Thus, integrating confinement effects into DNA nanodevices offersa promising strategy for the synergistically enhancing both structuralrobustness and sensing performance in complex biological samples.</p><p>In this Account, we describe our recent efforts to design and developspatially confined DNA nanodevices aimed at improving molecular sensingin real biological samples. By engineering the molecular interactioninterface of DNA nanodevices through confinement strategies, we havedeveloped four representative classes of such materials, that arecavity-confined, surface-confined, topological structure-confined,and network-confined DNA nanodevices. We systematically explore theiradvanced applications in biomarker sensing within biological samplesand discuss the underlying mechanisms responsible for the enhancedstructural stability and the analytical performance, including sensitivity,limit of detection, and reaction kinetics. The experimental progresssummarized in this Account suggests that confinement strategy couldserve as a versatile design principle for engineering DNA nanodeviceinterfaces, thereby advancing practical biosensing applications incomplex biological environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":72040,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of materials research","volume":"7 9","pages":"976–988"},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148821821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Thermoelectric\u0000Performance Optimization toward Practical\u0000and Wearable Applications","authors":"Menghan Shang,Tingting Sun,Vladimir G. Kytin,Vladimir A. Kulbachinskii,Lianjun Wang,Wan Jiang","doi":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/accountsmr.6c00183","url":null,"abstract":"Conspectus Although maximizing the thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) has long been the central objective in thermoelectric research, our studies reveal that high intrinsic material performance alone cannot guarantee a stable and efficient thermoelectric output in practical operating environments. During long-term device operation, interfacial degradation, elemental interdiffusion, thermomechanical mismatch, and contact instability frequently induce severe performance deterioration, indicating that practical applications require not only high-performance materials but also stable electrical, thermal, and mechanical integration across the entire device architecture. This evolution from material-centered optimization toward system-level design has become increasingly important with the emergence of new application scenarios, particularly wearable electronics. Unlike conventional waste-heat recovery systems with large and stable temperature gradients, wearable thermoelectrics work at soft human–device interfaces under ultralow, spatially heterogeneous and dynamically fluctuating thermal conditions. In such working scenarios, thermoelectric performance is no longer determined merely by intrinsic material efficiency, while effective heat utilization, interfacial thermal contact, mechanical adaptability and stable output become equally essential. In this context, wearable thermoelectrics can be regarded as an extension of thermoelectric technology toward application-specific device architectures, where the optimization of material properties is coupled with interfacial engineering, heat utilization, and mechanical integration to meet the stringent requirements of human-centered energy harvesting. Driven by these demands, our research contributions have progressively expanded in two interconnected directions. The first focused on developing high-performance and operationally stable traditional thermoelectric systems through the coordinated regulation of carrier transport, phonon scattering, interfacial diffusion, and module reliability. The second extended thermoelectric system toward wearable applications requires that materials and devices simultaneously maintain energy conversion capability, mechanical deformability, and stable thermal contact under continuous deformation and dynamic thermal environments. This Account first summarizes our progress in developing high-performance bulk thermoelectric materials and a stable device output. By adopting carbon modification, elemental doping, diffusion barrier construction, and optimized module design, we developed multiple strategies to optimize electrical transport, suppress thermal conduction, stabilize microstructures, and reduce interfacial electrical loss simultaneously. We further discuss the advancement of flexible thermoelectric systems driven by wearable applications. Flexible thermoelectric devices are fabricated via heterogeneous interface engineering, printing techniques, and structural optimiz","PeriodicalId":72040,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of materials research","volume":"219 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149050003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Lanthanide Doped\u0000Metal Halide Materials Based on 4\u0000 f\u0000 -4\u0000 f\u0000 Electronic Transitions: From\u0000Luminescence Regulation to Versatile Applications","authors":"Yingsheng Wang,Peipei Dang,Dongjie Liu,Guogang Li,Jun Lin","doi":"10.1021/accountsmr.6c00161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/accountsmr.6c00161","url":null,"abstract":"Conspectus Lanthanide doped metal halide luminescent materials (MHLMs) have recently emerged as a research focus, combining the rich energy level transitions of lanthanide ions with the versatile structural tunability of metal halides. The materials enable the development of highly tunable luminescent systems with diverse emission wavelengths and modes. By contrast with conventional lead-based luminescent materials, many MHLM systems provide more environmentally friendly alternatives. Consequently, lanthanide activated MHLMs have demonstrated significant potential in a wide range of applications, including anticounterfeiting technologies, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), as well as near-infrared (NIR) and X-ray detection. Compared with organic dye-based fluorescent labels, these materials exhibit superior photostability and color performance, characterized by higher color purity and spatial resolution. Among the 17 rare-earth elements, luminescence primarily arises from either 4f-5d or 4f-4f transitions. Different from the 4f-5d transitions, lanthanide ions exhibiting 4f-4f transitions are relatively insensitive to the external environment. Therefore, theys usually display characteristic narrow emission bands with fixed peak positions and superior spectral stability. In addition, the 4f-4f transitions are parity-forbidden, resulting in intrinsically small absorption cross sections and relatively low luminescence efficiencies. With the rapid development of MHLMs, substantial efforts have recently been devoted to developing strategies such as compositional engineering, codoping approaches, low-dimensional structural design, and defect engineering, leading to significant advances in enhancing luminescence properties. However, there are few systematic reports on the understanding and modulation of lanthanide luminescence based on 4f-4f transitions in MHLMs, which not only limits the predictability of lanthanide activating strategies but also increases the experimental cost associated with empirical optimization of luminescent performance. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the recent research progress of our group on lanthanide doped MHLMs based on 4f-4f electronic transitions. We begin by introducing the design principles underlying the enhancement of luminescent properties in lanthanide doped MHLMs, including energy transfer (ET), self-trapped exciton emission (STE), and ion emission, thereby providing a theoretical framework for optimization and prediction of optical characteristics. Additionally, based on these design principles, we propose specific strategies for luminescence modulation, such as compositional substitution, dimensional tailoring, core–shell structure and environmental factors, which enable the modification of emission wavelengths and improvement of material stability. Finally, considering the unique luminescent features of different material system, we comprehensively discussed the potential applications of our group’s and","PeriodicalId":72040,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of materials research","volume":"75 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149050004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}