Efficient overall water splitting (OWS) technology has been highly demanded across the world, of which the key is the development of active and stable electrocatalysts for both hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER/OER). Herein, novel crystalline Ni₃S₂ nanorods tuned by low-crystalline NiCoS_x (NiCoS_x@Ni₃S₂) are synthesized via an ion-exchange strategy. The built-in electric field at the heterogeneous interface driven by work function difference, facilitates rapid electron transfer from Ni₃S₂ to NiCoS_x via a robust Ni–S–Co bond bridge. This synergistic combination of the conductive crystalline core and low-crystalline shell optimizes the d-band center, balancing intermediate adsorption/desorption, speeding up water dissociation, enhancing hydrogen adsorption/desorption for HER, and lowering the energy barrier for OER, ultimately boosting OWS efficiency. The defect-rich, low-crystalline NiCoSx shell, bonded to the crystalline core via Ni–S–Co bonds, serves as a protective armor, enabling dynamic reconstruction into NiCoOOH and suppresses sulfide leaching, ensuring catalytic stability. The optimized NiCoS_x@Ni₃S₂ achieves low HER/OER overpotentials of 346/520 mV@1000 mA cm⁻², evidenced by an ultralow cell voltage of 2.10 V@1000 mA cm⁻² for OWS and long-term durability up to 400 h. The work paves a novel way to fabricate sulfur-based electrocatalysts with high yet balanced activity and stability for OWS via an interface engineering strategy.

The utilization of solar energy to address energy and environmental challenges has a seen a significant growth in recent years. Metal halides, which offer unique advantages such as tunable bandgaps, high light absorption efficiencies, favorable product release rates, and low exciton binding energies, have emerged as excellent photocatalysts for energy conversion. This paper reviews the recent advancements in both all-inorganic and organic-inorganic hybrid metal halide photocatalytic materials, including the fundamental mechanisms of photocatalytic CO2 reduction, various synthesis strategies for metal halide photocatalysts, and their applications in the field of photocatalysis. Finally, it examines the current challenges associated with metal halide materials and explores potential solutions for metal halide materials, along with their future prospects in photocatalysis applications.

Gallium nitride (GaN) nanostructures are highly promising for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting due to their excellent electron mobility, chemical stability, and large surface area. However, the wide bandgap (~3.4 eV) of GaN limits its ability to absorb a broad spectrum of solar radiation, restricting its PEC performance. To address this limitation, MoS₂/GaN nanorods (NRs) heterostructures for enhanced PEC applications were fabricated on thin tungsten foil using a combination of atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and laser molecular beam epitaxy (LMBE). The Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction revealed the hexagonal phase of GaN and MoS₂. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy examined the electronic states of the GaN and MoS₂. PEC measurements revealed that the MoS₂-decorated GaN NRs exhibited a photocurrent density of approximately172 μA/cm², nearly 2.5-fold compared to bare GaN NRs (~70 μA/cm²). The increased photocurrent density is ascribed to the Type II band alignment between MoS₂ and GaN, which promotes effective charge separation, the decrease in charge transfer resistance, and the increase in active sites. The findings of this work underscore that the CVD and LMBE technique fabricated MoS₂/GaN heterostructures on W metal foil substrate can provide the vital strategy to raise the PEC efficiency toward solar water splitting.

Arsenic contamination in rice is a growing food safety concern in Asia. A new study presents a cost-effective, sustainable solution using silicon extracted from rice husks. 

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are widely used in elderly cancer patients, but data on tumor-specific immune-related adverse events (irAEs) remain limited. A Chinese Medical Journal study analyzed 407 elderly patients with gastrointestinal (GI) tumors or lung cancer. Results showed higher irAE incidence in lung cancer patients, skin toxicity more prevalent in GI tumor patients, and thyroid dysfunction more common in lung cancer patients. This study provides evidence for personalized safety management of immunotherapy in elderly patients.