In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Chemistry, two ion-intercalated iso-structural silver(I)-based coordination networks were prepared, with counterions/intercalants as the sole influencing factor, to clarify their effects for the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Chemistry, a series of thermodynamically stable 2D cluster-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) Fe_n-(pyz) (n = 1~6) with room-temperature ferrimagnetism has been proposed based on first principles calculations. The strong d–p spin exchange interactions between the clusters and pyrazine ligands lead to robust ferrimagnetic ordering. Interestingly, altering the size of Fe_n clusters in Fe_n-(pyz) (n = 1~6) MOFs results in diverse functional spintronic properties, including bipolar magnetic semiconductors (BMS), half semiconductors (HSC) and Dirac half metals (HM).

In a paper published in Science Bulletin, an international team of scientists studied the effects of China’s two-phase clean air actions, namely the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (APPCAP) in 2013-2017 and the Blue-Sky Defense War (BSDW) in 2018-2020, on the temporal trend of Beijing’s ambient concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and human exposure to PAHs in healthy young adults who traveled from Los Angeles to Beijing. The results demonstrated the superb effectiveness of long-term air pollution control in reducing population exposure to PAHs.

In the paper published in National Science Review, the authors report a general and completely new effect of polymeric insulators in organic semiconductors: the insulator-donor electron wavefunction coupling effect. Such insulators can couple with a series of donor polymers to reduce the energy barrier level and facilitate the intramolecular electron transport. This coupling effect offers a simple yet effective method for enhancing the performance of organic solar cells.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Chemistry, a step-scheme (S-scheme) heterojunction involving a donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated polymer and manganese cadmium sulfide (BTz@MCS) has been fabricated to achieve efficient photocatalytic H₂O₂ production in a non-sacrificial system. The high photocatalytic performance of the developed catalyst is attributed to well-designed S-scheme heterojunctions with improved charge separation and transfer.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Chemistry, an indium-involved modification strategy is employed to address the instability of sulfide electrolyte and Lithium metal. The optimized doping yields a high Li-ion conductivity of 7.5 mS cm⁻¹ for Li_5.54In_0.02PS_4.47O_0.03Cl_1.5 electrolyte, accompanied by enhanced endurance against air/moisture and bare Li metal. Additionally, a composite layer comprising Li–In alloy and LiF phases is generated on the surface of lithium metal anode via the reaction between InF₃ and molten Li. Consequently, the combination of the Li_5.54In_0.02PS_4.47O_0.03Cl_1.5 electrolyte and the InF₃@Li anode provides exceptional electrochemical performances in both symmetric cells and solid-state lithium metal batteries across different operating temperatures.