Laser processing is widely used to “repair” and pattern graphene oxide for flexible electronics. Surprisingly, researchers found that laser treatment can shorten rather than improve the material’s fatigue lifetime. By combining Raman spectroscopy, nano-infrared imaging and atomic force microscopy, the team discovered that laser irradiation selectively removes epoxide groups while leaving behind vacancy defects, revealing the chemical origin of fatigue degradation.

Oxide semiconductors are promising building blocks for complementary transparent electronics, and however p-type oxide semiconductors suffer from limited material choice and low carrier mobility as compared to their n-type counterparts. Herein, a wafer-scale growth of amorphous tellurium oxide (TeO_x) thin films with p-type transport characteristics was demonstrated, through a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method coupled with a low-temperature post-annealing treatment. Ultrathin TeO_x with the thickness down to several nanometers is prepared by oxidizing the Te thin films precisely deposited and controlled by PLD technique, where their stoichiometric ratio can be modulated by the annealing time. Moreover, the optical bandgap of TeO_x is found to be varied from 0.59 eV to 0.98 eV during the oxidation process. As a result, the TeO_x-based field-effect transistors exhibit a competitive hole transport behavior as compared to reported amorphous TeO_x, along with the current on/off ratio exceeding 2 × 10³ (1.3 × 10⁷) and hole mobility of 47.6 ± 2 cm²·V^-1·s^-1 (41.8 ± 0.5 cm²·V^-1·s^-1) at 300 K (80 K). These findings promise a facile and controllable approach to synthesize wafer-scale and ultrathin p-type oxides for future complementary electronics.

Flexible carbon nanotube thin-film transistors combine high carrier mobility, low-temperature fabrication and mechanical compliance, but reliable circuits require several tightly coupled electrical metrics to be optimized at the same time. Researchers at Peking University developed a machine-learning-guided framework that translates circuit-level targets into fabrication recipes, enabling 2 V ring oscillators, basic logic gates and a 1-bit full adder on flexible substrates.

The rapid advancement of solid-state lighting technology has made white LEDs the preferred choice for energy-efficient illumination. Nevertheless, commercial white LEDs based on blue chips and yellow phosphors suffer from inadequate red components and poor spectral continuity, leading to low color rendering index (CRI). Lead-free Cs-Cu-I perovskites, with their unique self-trapped exciton (STE) emission, offer a promising single-component white-light platform, yet their low photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) remains a major obstacle. Therefore, enhancing both the PLQY and spectral coverage of Cs-Cu-I is critically important.

A team led by Aiwei Tang professor from Beijing Jiaotong University recently reported a Zn²⁺ doping strategy for Cs-Cu-I perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) to achieve high-CRI white LEDs, advancing eco-friendly solid-state lighting.

Prof. Jun Bao’s team developed a synergistic PtPd-Al₂O₃ catalyst for highly selective (96%) and durable (>20 h, FE >80%) electrochemical H₂O₂ production via the 2e⁻ oxygen reduction pathway under neutral conditions. In-situ synchrotron and DFT studies revealed that Pd modulates Pt’s electronic structure, upshifts the d-band center, optimizes *OOH adsorption, and suppresses O–O cleavage, while also stabilizing the alloy structure during operation. This work offers a general strategy for designing stable noble-metal catalysts for various electrochemical transformations.

Extreme-environment protection requires lightweight materials that can simultaneously provide thermal insulation, mechanical resilience, and impact resistance. Inspired by the hierarchical structure of bamboo, researchers at Donghua University developed a biomimetic polyimide composite aerogel with cross-scale molecular crosslinking, nanofiber interlocking, and porous scaffold support, enabling rigid–flexible coupling and integrated thermo-mechanical protection for aerospace, firefighting, and other harsh-environment applications.

The research group led by Mingyu Li at Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen) developed a bayberry-like AgMP/AgNP micro–nano composite sintered silver paste (AgPs-BM), in which bayberry-like porous silver microparticles serve as the primary structural framework and silver nanoparticles act as the filling and interconnecting phase. The bayberry-like AgMPs feature a low surface organic content, a relatively high specific surface area, and abundant surface pores. The AgNPs not only fill the large voids formed by the packing of AgMPs but are also distributed between adjacent AgMPs and at particle–interface regions, thereby increasing the number of effective contact sites and establishing interparticle connections. In addition, the AgNPs can fill the surface pores of the AgMPs, shifting the sintering behavior of the AgMPs from predominantly individual-particle self-sintering toward the growth of an interparticle interconnected network.

High-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines are often described as the power highways of the clean-energy era, carrying large amounts of electricity across long distances with high efficiency.