High entropy alloys (HEAs) have gained significant attention in electrocatalysis research due to their distinctive multi-element composition, intricate electronic structure, and superior properties. By harnessing multi-component synergy, precise electron regulation, and the high-entropy effect, HEA electrocatalysts exhibit remarkable catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability. These materials demonstrate outstanding catalytic performance in a variety of electrocatalytic small molecule reduction reactions, including oxygen reduction (ORR), hydrogen evolution (HER), and CO₂ reduction (CO₂RR), making them promising candidates for clean energy conversion and storage applications, including fuel cells, metal-air batteries, water electrolysis, and CO₂ conversion technologies. This review highlights recent advancements in HEA electrocatalyst research, focusing on their synthesis, characterization, and applications in electrocatalytic small molecule reduction reactions. It also explores the underlying mechanisms of the high-entropy effect, multi-component synergy, and structural design. Finally, it discusses key challenges that remain in the application of HEAs for electrocatalytic small molecule reduction and outlines potential directions for future development in this field.

NH₃ has emerged as a promising candidate for low-carbon gas turbines, with NO_x emission issues being mitigated by air-staged combustion. However, the role of fuel/air mixing quality (represented by unmixedness) in NO_x formation in NH₃ systems remains poorly explored. In this study, the characteristics of NO_x formation under the effects of unmixedness have been numerically investigated using an NH₃/CH₄ fired air-staged model combustor consisting of perfectly stirred reactors (PSRs) and plug flow reactors (PFRs), employing the 84-species, 703-reaction Tian mechanism under H/J heavy duty gas turbine conditions. It was found that a primary-stage equivalence ratio of 1.2–1.5 corresponds to a low NO_x formation region under perfectly mixed fuel and air conditions. In this region, a relatively low NO_x formation is achieved when the unmixedness is less than 0.12 and NO_x formation exhibits low sensitivity to fuel/air unmixedness. Based on these findings and the fact that the air-staged combustion loses its advantage in reducing NO_x emissions when the unmixedness exceeds 0.12 across all equivalence ratios, recommended mixing quality thresholds for different equivalence ratios are proposed to guide combustor design and operation optimization. A parametric study of chemical reaction pathways at different unmixedness levels in the two stages demonstrates that NO_x is mainly formed in the main combustion zone of the secondary stage via the HNO pathway, which results in NO_x formation rising to thousand ppm when unmixedness exceeds 0.3, although NO_x reduction through NHi and N₂O pathways partially offsets contributions from the HNO and thermal NO_x pathways. To leverage the NO_x reduction potential of the NH_i and N₂O pathways, the residence time in both stages should be carefully adjusted to help suppress NO_x to as low as 48 ppm. The results of this study are important for engineering applications, providing guidance for the design of NH₃ fired combustors aimed at significantly reducing NO_x formation.

Fiber-shaped energy storage devices (FSESDs) with exceptional flexibility for wearable power sources should be applied with solid electrolytes over liquid electrolytes due to short circuits and leakage issue during deformation. Among the solid options, polymer electrolytes are particularly preferred due to their robustness and flexibility, although their low ionic conductivity remains a significant challenge. Here, we present a redox polymer electrolyte (HT_RPE) with 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (HT) as a multi-functional additive. HT acts as a plasticizer that transforms the glassy state into the rubbery state for improved chain mobility and provides distinctive ion conduction pathway by the self-exchange reaction between radical and oxidized species. These synergetic effects lead to high ionic conductivity (73.5 mS cm⁻¹) based on a lower activation energy of 0.13 eV than other redox additives. Moreover, HT_RPE with a pseudocapacitive characteristic by HT enables an outstanding electrochemical performance of the symmetric FSESDs using carbon-based fiber electrodes (energy density of 25.4 W h kg⁻¹ at a power density of 25,000 W kg⁻¹) without typical active materials, along with excellent stability (capacitance retention of 91.2% after 8,000 bending cycles). This work highlights a versatile HT_RPE that utilizes the unique functionality of HT for both the high ionic conductivity and improved energy storage capability, providing a promising pathway for next-generation flexible energy storage devices.

A team led by Pei-Yi Wu and Sheng-Tong Sun at Donghua University reported a strong hydrogel fiber material with water-induced adhesion properties that resolves the structural contradiction of simultaneously achieving mechanical strength and self-adhesion. The fiber exhibits reversible humidity-responsive characteristics, maintaining high strength in a dry state and rapidly transforming into a highly adhesive state upon contact with water. This water-activated self-adhesive behavior is completely reversible, providing new insights for the design of high-performance adhesive materials in fields such as intelligent capture and micro-soft robots. The article was was recently published as an open access research article in CCS Chemistry, the flagship journal of the Chinese Chemical Society.

In an innovative twist to sustainable agriculture, a new study reveals how sugarcane waste can be transformed into biochar—a powerful soil amendment that enhances soil quality. This research not only highlights a green approach to waste management but also provides a significant boost to soil health, offering a win-win for both the environment and farming practices.

Iron based nanoparticles are everywhere in soils, rivers, wetlands, and groundwater. Although invisible to the naked eye, these tiny particles help regulate how nutrients and contaminants move through nature. A new review by an international research team provides the most comprehensive explanation to date of why iron nanoparticles remain stable in some environments and rapidly transform or clump together in others. Their findings offer scientific insights that can improve strategies for managing water quality, soil remediation, and contaminant transport.

Researchers have uncovered surprising links between natural humification processes in soil, carbon metabolism, and the spread of antibiotic resistance. The findings provide fresh insight into how plant residues transform after entering soils and how these transformations influence microbial communities and ecological risks.

We experimentally demonstrate encrypted image transmission over 40 km of optical fiber with high decryption fidelity and achieve a 10 Gbit/s optical encryption rate using a lithium niobate photonic chip. This represents the first implementation of public-key encryption at the physical optical layer.