Over 500 million years ago, nature evolved a remarkable trick: generating vibrant, shimmering colours via intricate, microscopic structures in feathers, wings and shells that reflect light in precise ways. This “structural colour” has continued to fascinate and perplex scientists—but now, researchers from Trinity College Dublin have taken a major step forward in harnessing it for advanced materials science.

A team, led by Professor Colm Delaney from Trinity’s School of Chemistry and AMBER, the Research Ireland Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research, has developed a pioneering method, inspired by nature, to create and programme structural colours using a cutting-edge microfabrication technique. 

The work, which has been funded by a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant, could have major implications for environmental sensing, biomedical diagnostics, and photonic materials.

Professor Chuang Yu from Huazhong University of Science and Technology significantly enhanced the air stability of chlorine-rich Li₅.₅PS₄.₅Cl₁.₅ electrolyte and improved the electrochemical performance of all-solid-state lithium metal batteries through a phosphate group doping strategy.

Boron-based compounds are known as a class of anion acceptors. Now, writing in the journal Science China Chemistry, a team of researchers from Nankai University use this chemistry in electrolyte design. According to the study, boron-based additives have been found to reduce charge transfer resistance, improve the Li-ion diffusion kinetics, and stabilize high-voltage cathode of batteries. The findings demonstrated versatileness of B-ads that effectively mitigated the critical challenges of energy-dense battery systems.

Recently, a research team led by Professor Caifu Jiang from China Agricultural University published a study titled "The ZmMPK3-ZmGRF1 module promotes maize growth by enhancing cell proliferation under salt stress" in Science Bulletin. This study shows that the ZmMPK3-ZmGRF1 module facilitates maize growth under salt stress through enhanced cell proliferation, providing new insights into how MPK signaling pathways and GRF growth regulators govern plant responses to saline environments. Furthermore, these findings offer valuable genetic resources for developing salt-tolerant maize varieties.