Researchers in China have developed a cobalt-free electrode material for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) by doping calcium into a layered iron-based perovskite. The new material, Sm_0.9Ca_0.1BaFe₂O_5+δ (SCBF), shows significantly improved oxygen kinetics and electron conductivity, delivering a peak power density of 2.14 W·cm⁻² at 800 °C –the highest among reported iron-based SOFC cathodes.

This study designs a phosphorus-doped vacancy regulation and phase interface engineering strategy to fabricate a MOF-derived metal selenide@carbon dual-matrix material, denoted as P-NiSe₂/CoSe₂@NC (PNCS). By optimizing the phosphorus source doping ratio and calcination temperature, the optimal electromagnetic wave absorption mechanism is explored. The results demonstrate that through iterative optimization of doping concentration and thermal conditions, the material achieves a synergistic balance between defects and heterogeneous interfaces, leading to superior electromagnetic wave absorption performance. At a matching thickness of only 2.1 mm, an effective absorption bandwidth of 7.04 GHz is attained, and the entire X-band and Ku-band can be covered within a controllable thickness of 2.6 mm, showing significantly enhanced performance compared to analogous samples. The “dual-core driven” strategy, combining oxygen vacancies and selenide heterointerfaces, optimizes dielectric relaxation and polarization loss, offering new insights for the development and application of next generation high-efficiency electromagnetic wave absorbing materials.

Wearable sensors that can heal themselves after damage are critical for the next generation of human-machine interfaces. Researchers from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) have developed a sea cucumber-inspired ionotronic hydrogel that combines room-temperature self-healing, strong adhesion, and highly sensitive pressure sensing. The hydrogel can stretch to over ten times its original length, heal autonomously after cuts and punctures, and detect pressures ranging from gentle touches to firm grips. Integrated into a smart tactile glove, the sensor enables real-time tactile sensing, object-shape recognition, and directional-intent decoding for game control, demonstrating its potential for wearable electronics and seamless human-machine interaction.

Two-dimensional semiconductors could enable highly scaled, low-power electronic devices, but their performance is often limited by damaged metal–semiconductor interfaces and severe Fermi-level pinning. Researchers at Beijing Institute of Technology have developed a reactive phase-transformed contact strategy that protects the semiconductor during metal deposition and subsequently converts the protective layer into a conductive PdTe₂ electrode. The approach reduces contact resistance in MoTe₂ transistors and restores ambipolar transport in WSe₂ devices, offering a scalable pathway toward high-performance 2D electronics.

Fruit shape determines market value in wax gourd (Benincasa hispida), but the genetic programs that make some fruits long and cylindrical while others turn out short and round have remained largely mysterious. 

Distributed sensor networks use data from multiple sensors to locate targets. However, tracking many targets at once requires sorting out which measurements belong to which targets across sensors, which is difficult without a centralized system. To address this problem, researchers from China have developed MASTER, a distributed optimization method that combines swarm optimization with contribution-based cooperation. Experiments show that MASTER achieves lower localization errors and more stable consensus than existing distributed methods.