Prof. Mengmin Wang | Publications & Academic Profile | SinoGreenTech

Research Publications & English Decoded Briefs

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SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3625-3

Strain Modulation of ZrO2 Ferroelectric Thin Films for Achieving Superior Polarization

Zirconia (ZrO2)-based fluorite ferroelectric materials are promising for nonvolatile memory and logic devices due to their CMOS compatibility and cost advantages over hafnium oxide (HfO2). However, the metastable nature of the ferroelectric orthorhombic phase (o-phase) hinders practical application. Here, we report the strain-mediated stabilization of the ferroelectric o-phase in ZrO2 thin films grown on niobium-doped strontium titanate (NSTO) substrates with different crystallographic orientations via chemical solution deposition. Systematic structural and ferroelectric characterization, combined with simulation, reveals that substrate orientation controls in-plane tensile strain, selectively promoting epitaxial growth of the o-phase. The ZrO2 film on NSTO(110) exhibits the highest o-phase content, achieving a remanent polarization (2Pr) of 92.64 μC/cm², which remains as high as 88.54 μC/cm² after resistive-capacitive (RC) delay calibration. The device shows endurance of approximately 10^7 cycles with favorable fatigue characteristics. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) further indicates distortion of Zr-O tetrahedra, providing microscopic insight into the ferroelectricity. This work presents a novel strategy for property tuning of ZrO2 films and supports their application in storage and logic devices.

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Environmental Chemistry•2026•DOI: 10.7524/j.issn.0254-6108.2025031901

Research Progress on Adsorption of Radioactive Iodine from Water by Covalent Organic Frameworks

The rapid expansion of the nuclear power industry has increased the demand for effective nuclear wastewater treatment, making the efficient removal of radioactive iodine isotopes (e.g., 131I, 129I) from aqueous environments a critical challenge. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), a class of crystalline porous materials characterized by high specific surface area, tunable pore structures, and exceptional stability, exhibit significant potential for capturing radioactive iodine from water. This review systematically examines the adsorption mechanisms of iodine by COF materials, including electrostatic interactions, charge transfer, hydrogen bonding, and secondary mechanisms such as metal coordination, ion exchange, and van der Waals forces. The effects of COF pore structures on iodine removal efficacy are discussed with a focus on pore size and functional group modifications. Key research trends and prevailing challenges in the application of COFs for aqueous iodine capture are analyzed, including the need for selective adsorption in complex wastewater matrices and the scalability of COF synthesis. The review concludes with a perspective on future research directions, emphasizing the design of novel COFs with tailored pore chemistry and the development of cost-effective, regenerable adsorbents for practical deployment in nuclear wastewater treatment.

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SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3892-2

Atomically dispersed Pt species anchored on Al3+-doped SrTiO3 for photocatalytic overall water splitting

Single-atom co-catalysts on semiconductor substrates offer a cost-efficient route to enhance photocatalytic performance with minimal precious metal loading. However, precise tuning of local coordination environments and construction of efficient single-atom co-catalysts remain challenging for overall water splitting. Here, we employ an icing-assisted photochemical reduction strategy to anchor atomically dispersed Pt species as hydrogen evolution co-catalysts on Al3+-doped SrTiO3 (Pt SA-STO). The optimized Pt SA-STO exhibits remarkable activity, with hydrogen and oxygen evolution rates of 13.62 and 6.71 mmol h−1 g−1, respectively, and a turnover frequency (TOF) of 2114.5 h−1. We pioneer the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to quantitatively track the temporal evolution of Pt4+ to Pt2+ under continuous irradiation during the icing-assisted photoreduction. Advanced characterizations and theoretical calculations confirm that single-atom Pt co-catalysts facilitate directional transfer and extraction of photogenerated charge carriers, effectively suppressing surface recombination. This work provides insights into designing novel single-atom co-catalysts by deepening understanding of electronic configurations and active sites in photocatalytic overall water splitting.

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