Volume 6, Issue 1 (2026) – 10 articles
Cover Picture: To address global energy and environmental challenges, photocatalytic hydrogen production has emerged as a clean and promising technology that utilizes solar energy to generate green hydrogen, producing only water as a byproduct. This review highlights recent advances in strategies for significantly enhancing photocatalytic hydrogen evolution to promote its industrialization. Key approaches include morphology optimization for improved light absorption and charge transport, metal hybridization or incorporation to enhance catalytic activity and selectivity, and interface engineering to facilitate charge separation and reaction kinetics. Additionally, the emerging photocatalysts, such as two-dimensional transition metal carbides, metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, and high-entropy materials provide superior alternatives. Furthermore, this review discusses multifunctional enhancements for practical applications and showcases cutting-edge large-scale demonstrations, including 100 m2 panel arrays and compound parabolic concentrator reactors, which achieve a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 9% and 300 h stability in seawater splitting. These advances underscore the techno-economic potential of photocatalytic hydrogen production and bridge fundamental research with industrial implementation. Finally, the current challenges and future research trends are pointed out for designing high-performance photocatalysts and offering insight into the feasible strategies to develop the industrial application of photocatalytic hydrogen production.
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Back Cover Picture: Aqueous Zn-ion batteries (AZIBs) have emerged as promising energy storage systems due to their high safety, low cost, and environmental friendliness. However, the practical application of zinc metal anodes is hindered by challenges such as Zn dendrite growth and side reactions, which degrade the cycle performance and energy efficiency of AZIBs. To address these issues, a facile and functional coating composed of zinc alginate gel (Alg-Zn) and 2H-molybdenum disulfide (2H-MoS2) was used to modify the Zn anode (MAZ@Zn). Combined experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that, in addition to the Zn2+ guiding effect of ion conductive Alg-Zn, the 2H-MoS2 functions as an ion sieve. This facilitates the fast Zn2+ migration and even distribution because of the lower ion migration energy along the MoS2 surface, ensuring fast Zn2+ diffusion in the MAZ@Zn coating and uniform Zn deposition. Moreover, the barrier effect of MoS2 against H2O helps suppress side reactions such as hydrogen evolution, thereby further enhancing the interfacial stability of the Zn anode. As a result, the MAZ@Zn symmetric cells exhibit excellent cyclic stability, achieving a lifespan of 880 h at 1 mA cm-2 and 1 mAh cm-2, with low voltage polarization and low charge transfer energy. In contrast, the bare Zn anode only sustains 150 h of cycling under identical conditions. In Zn//sodium vanadate full batteries, the MAZ@Zn anode demonstrates outstanding performance, retaining 88.4% of its capacity after 1,000 cycles at 4 A g-1. This work offers a simple and effective strategy for developing high-performance Zn anodes for long-life AZIBs.
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