SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-026-4246-5
Developing organic solar cells (OSCs) processable from green solvents without additives or post-treatments is essential for sustainable manufacturing, yet high power conversion efficiency (PCE) remains difficult due to limited morphology control. Herein, we develop a new electron-deficient building block, dithiazolo[4',5':3,4;5'',4'':5,6]benzo[1,2-d][1,2,3]triazole (DTzBT), which fuses benzo[d][1,2,3]triazole (BTA) with thiazole to leverage S/N-mediated non-covalent interactions, enhance planarity and lower the HOMO. To isolate side-chain effects, two DTzBT-based donors, namely PTzMe-F (N-methyl) and PTzEH-F (N-2-ethylhexyl), have been designed and synthesized. PTzMe-F exhibits poor solubility and miscibility with L8-BO, yielding 2.64% PCE (chloroform). PTzEH-F exhibits excellent processability and favorable morphology, delivering 17.61% PCE (chloroform) and 19.17% as-cast from toluene without any additive or post-treatments. In addition, the ternary LbL device based on PTzEH-F/L8-BO:PC71BM achieved an impressive efficiency of 20.27%. Comprehensive characterization indicates that 2-ethylhexyl side chains afford optimal solubility while preserving strong intermolecular interactions and favorable phase separation. DTzBT mitigates BTA’s HOMO-raising tendency via electron-withdrawing thiazole fusion, reconciling aggregation tunability with energy-level control. These results show that precise backbone and side-chain co-design enables green-solvent, additive-free processing for high-performance OSCs, advancing sustainable photovoltaic manufacturing.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3856-0
Replacing the kinetically sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with biomass oxidation at photoanodes offers a cost-effective and energy-efficient route for simultaneous hydrogen production and value-added chemical synthesis in a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell. Here, titanium-doped hematite nanorods (Hem) decorated with CoNi bimetallic zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF) were prepared via room-temperature deposition and employed as photoanodes for 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) oxidation. Using 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) as a redox mediator in alkaline electrolyte, the CoNi-ZIF/Hem photoanode achieved a photocurrent density of 1.09 mA cm−2 at a low bias of 1.1 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Experimental results and theoretical calculations reveal that CoNi-ZIF accelerates charge transfer and separation, and enhances TEMPO adsorption on the surface, benefiting PEC TEMPO-mediated HMF oxidation to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA). In a flow-cell reactor under 1 sun illumination, the photoanode achieved ~99% HMF conversion and ~98% FDCA yield within 2 hours. The photoanode also exhibited excellent performance for TEMPO-mediated oxidation of various aldehyde-containing biomass-derived compounds. This work demonstrates a rational design of hematite-based photoanodes for efficient biomass valorization coupled with hydrogen production.
Environmental Chemistry•2026•DOI: 10.7524/j.issn.0254-6108.2025022501
The pretreatment of trace emerging contaminants in environmental matrices is challenging due to diverse methods and uncertain applicability. This study compared solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) for extracting endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), particularly phthalate esters (PAEs), using laboratory-spiked blank samples. LLE achieved satisfactory recoveries for PAEs at spike levels below 4 μg·L−1, enabling detection of five PAEs including diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), with improved efficiency via repeated extraction. SPE offered lower detection and quantification limits, higher accuracy and sensitivity, and achieved high recoveries for 12 EDCs and 10 antibiotics at spike levels ≥0.2 μg·L−1, with detection limits as low as 0.1–6.4 ng·L−1. The developed SPE coupled with liquid chromatography-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (LC-Orbitrap MS) method was applied to industrial wastewater samples. Across five industrial sectors (coatings, rubber, pharmaceuticals, inks, and materials technology), five antibiotics and ten EDCs were detected, with total concentrations ranging from 0.03–0.56 μg·L−1 and 0.07–1.91 μg·L−1, respectively. Sector-specific profiles emerged: rubber industry effluent was dominated by dibutyl phthalate (DBP) at 1.07 μg·L−1, while pharmaceutical effluent featured sulfamonomethoxine (SMM) at 0.34 μg·L−1. This systematic evaluation demonstrates that SPE-LC-Orbitrap MS is robust for complex matrices, providing a technical foundation for accurate quantification of emerging contaminants in industrial wastewater.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-4007-x
Hydrogels, with their hydrophilicity, flexibility, and environmental friendliness, are highly desirable for moisture-electric generators (MEGs) that harness ubiquitous moisture to generate electrical energy. As the active material layer in MEGs, hydrogels play a crucial role in absorbing atmospheric moisture and converting chemical potential energy into electricity. However, the relatively low output current of the device and the instability of hydrogels pose challenges to the development of high-performance hydrogel-based MEGs. Herein, we introduce a straightforward, feasible, cost-effective, and versatile two-step solvent displacement strategy to overcome the barrier associated with the development of MEGs. Through tunable solvent interactions of glycerol and water, the moisture absorption capability and stability of the hydrogel can be improved, while promoting favorable ion migration. Such an effective processing route not only significantly boosts the output performances but also greatly improves the long-term durability of hydrogel-based MEGs. Notably, the current output and power density of the treated MEGs can increase by up to two orders of magnitude. The mechanisms behind the intriguing observation are investigated by various characterizations and theoretical calculations. This universal strategy holds promise to be extended to various hydrogel-based MEGs. Moreover, the MEGs can be used for energy harvesting, self-powered respiratory monitoring, and non-contact humidity detection. This work offers new opportunities for advancing green energy and self-powered technologies.