Interfacial processes play a crucial role in the electrochemical performance, stability, and lifespan of solid-state sodium batteries (SSSBs). Based on the significant impact of SSSBs, understanding and controlling these interfacial phenomena have become a critical objective in advancing SSSBs technologies. This review article aims to gain insights into material design principles, interfacial failure types, and multiscale electrochemical behaviors to provide a comprehensive overview of the interface engineering for various SSSBs components, including cathode materials, cathode–solid electrolyte interface, solid-state electrolyte, solid electrolyte–anode interface, and anode materials. In addition, we explore recent advancements in in-situ and operational characterization techniques across multiple scales enabling the elucidation of dynamic interfacial behavior. By integrating the design of materials and interface with advanced characterization techniques, this review elucidates key relevant challenges and strategies, and hence offers perspectives on future pathways for constructing high-performance SSSBs.

Hydrogen halide gases are one of the most wide-spread pollutants of atmosphere, which are generated by various industrial sectors or natural processes, and may dramatically affect human health above certain thresholds of exposure. Hence, it is critically important to develop effective sensing methods for these gases. Herein, we review the recent progress as well as fundamental mechanisms, materials, and designs for the hydrogen halide gas sensors. We discuss in detail four major types of sensors: acoustic, chemical, optical, and the emerging nanophotonic sensors, categorizing them based on their operation principles. Acoustic sensors are discussed with a focus on microbalance-based and surface acoustic wave gas sensors. Chemical sensors are considered from the point of view of electrochemical and chemiresistive sensing mechanisms. Optical sensors are analyzed, covering fluorescence-based optical sensors, laser absorption-based techniques, photoacoustic spectroscopy, and nonlinear optical methods. Finally, emerging nanophotonic sensors are introduced, emphasizing plasmonic and all-dielectric nanophotonic approaches. We offer insights into the key operation mechanisms of different types of sensors for hydrogen halide gases and provide their direct comparison.

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is widely recognized as an effective strategy for mitigating carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions; however, its large-scale deployment is constrained by complex multistep processes and high operational costs. Traditional carbon capture and storage (CCS) offers permanent sequestration for hard-to-abate sectors but faces challenges, including high costs, limited storage capacity, and the absence of direct revenue streams. Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) addresses some of these barriers by converting CO₂ into value-added products, yet early CCU implementations treated capture and conversion as separate processes, increasing energy demand and operational complexity. As an emerging alternative, integrated carbon capture and utilization (ICCU) offers a promising solution by enabling the simultaneous capture and direct conversion of CO₂ into value-added chemicals, thereby eliminating the need for energy-intensive desorption and purification steps. This approach has recently garnered significant global attention for its potential to simplify process flows and enhance overall energy efficiency, especially in material design, process intensification, and techno-economic analysis. However, product-focused analyses remain limited. This review addresses this gap by categorizing the ICCU according to C₁ and C₂₊ products, linking catalytic strategies to industrial commodities, and identifying future research and deployment priorities to advance ICCU from laboratory innovation to commercial reality. Finally, future research directions are proposed, highlighting opportunities to improve catalytic performance, system integration, and techno-economic feasibility.

Hydrogen storage in metal hydrides holds great promise for advancing a low-carbon energy future. Yet, fine-tuning the thermodynamics of hydrogen absorption remains challenging with traditional microalloying approaches. Here, we report a strategy inspired by compositionally complex alloy design to introduce atomic disorder into the prototypical TiFe intermetallic system. By progressively substituting Fe with Co, Ni, Cu, and Mn in equal proportions, we synthesize a series of near-single-phase B2-structured compositionally complex intermetallics, that is, Ti₅₀(FeCo)₅₀, Ti₅₀(FeCoNi)₅₀, Ti₅₀(FeCoNiCu)₅₀, and Ti₅₀(FeCoNiCuMn)₅₀ (at.%). These materials exhibit hydrogen storage capacities (measured by pressure-composition isotherm, PCI) of 1.39, 1.42, 1.31, and 1.14 wt.% under 100 bar of H₂ at 50°C, respectively. Notably, Ti₅₀(FeCo)₅₀ demonstrates rapid hydrogen uptake kinetics, achieving 90% of its full capacity within 77 s under 50 bar of hydrogen pressure at 50°C. Hydrogen storage thermodynamic analyses reveal that increasing atomic disorder stabilizes the hydride phase, with thermodynamic stability following the order: Ti₅₀(FeCoNiCuMn)₅₀ > Ti₅₀(FeCoNi)₅₀ > Ti₅₀(FeCoNiCu)₅₀ > Ti₅₀(FeCo)₅₀. Our findings establish atomic disorder as a versatile thermodynamic tuning knob for intermetallic hydrides, offering a rational framework for the design of advanced hydrogen storage materials.

Hydrogen production through seawater electrolysis represents a promising route for sustainable energy conversion. Nevertheless, its practical implementation is impeded by severe chloride-induced corrosion and the competing chlorine evolution reaction (CER), both of which predominantly affect the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and consequently deteriorate the overall efficiency and long-term operational stability of the seawater electrolysis system for sustained hydrogen generation. To address these issues, this study introduces a Ni₃N selective anion-gating interlayer (SAGI) on a nickel foam substrate. This SAGI increases the electron density at the catalyst surface, effectively repelling Cl⁻ ions from the nickel foam skeleton while allowing OH⁻ ions to access the NiFeAl-LDH catalytic surface. As a result, the electrolyzer requires only 1.92 and 2.12 V to achieve current densities of 400 and 1000 mA cm⁻², respectively. Moreover, the electrode demonstrates excellent durability, showing only a 5.8% and 13.6% increase in cell voltage after 500 h of continuous operation at 400 mA cm⁻² in simulated and real alkaline seawater, respectively. This strategy is broadly applicable, extending the operational lifespan of various seawater electrolysis catalysts by 2–10 times, offering a promising approach to developing corrosion-resistant, high-performance electrocatalysts for direct seawater splitting.

Despite growing interest in room-temperature plastic semiconductors, understanding and predicting slip modes in semiconductors remains a fundamental challenge due to their complex, low-symmetry structures. Applying analytical frameworks of metal plasticity to semiconductors directly can lead to the ignorance of the quasi-coplanarity in semiconductors due to their complex structures. In this work, we introduce a geometric-descriptor guided strategy to identify potential operative slip systems in semiconductors. A coplanarity index (CI) is developed to quantitatively characterize the quasi-aligned nature of atomic planes. The applicability of the CI is demonstrated in high-performance plastic thermoelectric material Mg₃Sb₂. A quasi-aligned pyramidal plane \left\{0\overline{1}11\right\} with high CI value in hexagonal Mg₃Sb₂ is predicted to be the active slip plane for 〈c + a〉 dislocation slip, accommodating plastic deformation along the c-axis, which is a mechanism that has not been previously recognized in hexagonal semiconductors. The CI values of the \left\{0\overline{1}11\right\} planes also reflect the differences in the atom configurations among the isostructure AB₂X₂ Zintl phases, which indicates the good plasticity of Mg₃Sb₂ from the perspective of coplanarity. This geometry-energy integrated framework offers a quantitative methodology for understanding and designing ductile functional semiconductors.