SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-026-4436-0
Microwave-absorbing materials (MAMs) deployed on naval vessels, aerospace vehicles, and critical electronic systems face coupled electromagnetic, marine salt-spray corrosion, and extreme-temperature loads that legacy single-function absorbers cannot withstand. This review consolidates progress on three environmentally adaptive MAM classes: corrosion-protective, anti-icing, and thermal-management absorbers. The electromagnetic loss and impedance-matching fundamentals are first established, then the synergistic mechanisms, design strategies, and characterization protocols for each class are examined against representative material systems and their measured performance. The analysis identifies a shared design logic—multiscale hierarchical architecture, interfacial polarization engineering, and multifunctional phase integration—while distinguishing the divergent protection mechanisms: barrier and passivation effects for corrosion, surface-energy and latent-heat regulation for anti-icing, and phonon–electron transport decoupling for thermal management. Persistent bottlenecks include the trade-off between impedance matching and protective-layer density, the absence of standardized coupled-field test protocols, and the scarcity of long-term salt-spray and thermal-cycling durability data. Future directions are delineated: intelligent self-adaptive absorbers, multiphysics-coupled simulation frameworks, and environmentally benign multifunctional integration. The review provides a theoretical and technical basis for the design, construction, and engineering scale-up of next-generation high-performance absorbers for aerospace, electronic, and marine equipment.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-026-4234-3
The pursuit of high-energy-density sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) necessitates the development of stable high-capacity anodes. While amorphous carbon is a promising anode candidate for SIBs, its practical application is hindered by limited capacity. Herein, we design a composite anode by chemically confining a high-content (~25 wt%) short-chain sulfur into hierarchical porous hard carbon microspheres (SHHC) derived from microbe yeast. The SHHC anode exhibits a high reversible capacity of ~807 mAh g−1 at 0.03 A g−1 (~3 times that of conventional amorphous carbon) along with superior rate capability, and extraordinary long-term cyclability (almost 100% capacity retention after 2000 cycles at 1.0 A g−1). The high-content sulfur species contribute to superb redox reactivity for high-capacity sodium storage via a surface-dominated storage mechanism. The carbon matrix features an enlarged interlayer distance, which facilitates Na-ion intercalation and deintercalation for high-rate capability. Furthermore, the hierarchical porous structure with built-in cavities facilitates the Na-ion transfer and effectively accommodates the electrode’s volume expansion, achieving fast electrode kinetics and outstanding cyclability. Such a combination of favored properties leads to state-of-the-art comprehensive battery performance for Na-ion storage. Our finding envisions a new perspective on building stable high-capacity anode materials for SIBs.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2025•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3484-6
The immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) of gliomas renders conventional therapies suboptimal, and aberrant energy metabolism orchestrates tumorigenesis and immune evasion. This work constructs a biodegradable nano-modulator (ZIF-90@MnO2@GPNA, ZMG) based on ZIF-90 decorated with MnO2 and loaded with the glutamine transport antagonist L-γ-glutamyl-p-nitroanilide (GPNA) for glioma therapy via multi-pathway inhibition of energy metabolism and TME reshaping. Hyaluronic acid (HA) and lactoferrin (Lf) are functionalized on the surface (ZMGH-Lf) to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and target gliomas. ZMGH-Lf biodegrades in response to TME stimulation, releasing Mn2+ that catalyzes H2O2 to ·OH, inducing mitochondrial dysfunction. It inhibits glycolysis by alleviating hypoxia and reducing NAD+ expression, while GPNA blocks compensatory glutamine uptake. This strategy achieves multi-pathway disruption of glioma metabolism, relieves immune resistance, and improves the immune TME. Findings demonstrate that ZMGH-Lf effectively inhibits gliomas through multi-way manipulation of energy metabolism and immunotherapy, providing a new strategy for glioma treatment.