Transition metal phosphides (TMPs) have been recognized as promising electrocatalysts for water splitting due to their high electronic conductivity, tunable structure and composition, and multifunctional active sites. Combining TMPs with other materials such as metals and compounds to form heterostructures can significantly enhance electrocatalytic performance. This review summarizes recent advances in TMP-based heterostructures for electrocatalytic water splitting. The design of electrocatalyst structures and compositions, along with their corresponding electrochemical activities, is discussed. Emphasis is placed on interfacial engineering and the synergistic effects between heterocomponents to elucidate the relationship between interfacial characteristics and catalytic performance. Finally, current challenges and future research directions for TMP-based heterostructure electrocatalysts in water splitting are proposed.

Circularly polarized light (CPL) features electromagnetic vectors that rotate regularly in a plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation, transmitting optical chirality information that is imperceptible to human beings. CPL can be classified into the left-handed and right-handed circularly polarization light (L-/R-CPL), depending on whether the rotation direction is clockwise or anticlockwise, respectively. The ability to manipulate and characterize CPL is crucial for advancing various optical technologies, making the effective and direct detection of CPL extremely important. Breeding in the hotbed provided by the explosively increased chiral materials with CPL luminescence and strong circular dichroism (CD), CPL detectors are currently experiencing savage growth. Mainstream strategies can be divided into the leverage of photoactive materials with inherent chirality and the integration of chiral metamaterials with nonchiral photoactive materials. In this review, we not only highlight significant material innovations and detector architectures for CPL detection but also address the broader implications of these advancements. We discuss the challenges and future directions in this field, particularly focusing on how these developments could impact existing commodities, such as polarimetric imaging and security communications, and contribute to sustainability in technology through improved detection efficiency. Our goal is to inspire further promising developments in CPL photodetectors and encourage a broader application spectrum.

White-color organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) have aroused wide interests for future lighting because of low energy consumption in principle, while still suffer from the degradation by Joule heating and polaron-induced quenching under high luminance caused by high current in practical. To obtain high current efficiency, which means high luminance at low current density, tandem WOLEDs with multiple electroluminescence (EL) units connected in series with charge generation layers (CGLs) have been developed. Here we report the improved hybrid tandem WOLED with two EL units, EL1 and EL2, where EL1 and EL2 generate fluorescent blue and phosphorescent yellow emissions from a metal-free material BCzVBi and a Ir-complex (fbi)₂Ir(acac), respectively, with CGL composed of a HATCN/NPB bilayer. The white-light emitting device shows the maximum current efficiency and power efficiency of 60.2 cd/A and 29.6 lm/W, respectively, without out-coupling structure. A low driving voltage of 6.5 V at 1,000 cd/m² is realized, which is an important value because such a luminance is required for actually employed lighting device. The blue emission appears from 5.4 V, and the light color changes from yellowish to bluish white during 5.4 V to 13.4 V, which could be explained by the energy level structures of the device and proved by the J-V characteristics. Additionally, this tandem WOLED also shows photovoltaic effect. This work provides a design of room light source whose color temperature could be tuned through applied voltage when needed, and a display system for low-current operated amorphous Si-TFT due to its high current efficiency.

Transition metal phosphides (TMPs) have been recognized as promising electrocatalysts for water splitting due to their high electronic conductivity, tunable structure and composition, and multifunctional active sites. Combining TMPs with other materials such as metals and compounds to form heterostructures can significantly enhance electrocatalytic performance. This review summarizes recent advances in TMP-based heterostructures for electrocatalytic water splitting. The design of electrocatalyst structures and compositions, along with their corresponding electrochemical activities, is discussed. Emphasis is placed on interfacial engineering and the synergistic effects between heterocomponents to elucidate the relationship between interfacial characteristics and catalytic performance. Finally, current challenges and future research directions for TMP-based heterostructure electrocatalysts in water splitting are proposed.

Electrocatalytic oxidation of alcohols and aldehydes, known as alcohol oxidation reactions (AOR), provides a sustainable and efficient route for converting low-value feedstocks such as ethanol, glycerol, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural into high-value chemicals, including organic acids and aldehydes, in line with the chemical industry’s transition toward carbon neutrality. This review synthesizes recent advancements in electrocatalytic AOR, emphasizing advances in catalyst design and detailed reaction mechanisms. A broad spectrum of catalysts is explored, ranging from noble metal-based (e.g., Pt, Pd, Au) to cost-effective non-noble metal-based (e.g., Ni, Cu, Co) materials, with attention to advanced strategies such as heteroatom doping, vacancy engineering, and alloying for fine-tuning electronic structures and optimizing intermediate adsorption. The review also delves into mechanistic insights, elucidating rate-determining steps, adsorption geometries, and electron-transfer pathways that govern AOR performance, supported by density functional theory analyses. Special emphasis is placed on the interplay between catalyst electronic structure and reaction kinetics, offering fresh perspectives for improving yield, selectivity, and Faradaic efficiency. Finally, current challenges, including catalyst stability, product selectivity, and scalability, are critically evaluated, and future directions such as in situ characterization and the development of non-noble metal catalysts are proposed to advance AOR toward large-scale, sustainable chemical synthesis.

Circularly polarized light (CPL) features electromagnetic vectors that rotate regularly in a plane perpendicular to the direction of propagation, transmitting optical chirality information that is imperceptible to human beings. CPL can be classified into the left-handed and right-handed circularly polarization light (L-/R-CPL), depending on whether the rotation direction is clockwise or anticlockwise, respectively. The ability to manipulate and characterize CPL is crucial for advancing various optical technologies, making the effective and direct detection of CPL extremely important. Breeding in the hotbed provided by the explosively increased chiral materials with CPL luminescence and strong circular dichroism (CD), CPL detectors are currently experiencing savage growth. Mainstream strategies can be divided into the leverage of photoactive materials with inherent chirality and the integration of chiral metamaterials with nonchiral photoactive materials. In this review, we not only highlight significant material innovations and detector architectures for CPL detection but also address the broader implications of these advancements. We discuss the challenges and future directions in this field, particularly focusing on how these developments could impact existing commodities, such as polarimetric imaging and security communications, and contribute to sustainability in technology through improved detection efficiency. Our goal is to inspire further promising developments in CPL photodetectors and encourage a broader application spectrum.

High-performance and long-lifetime blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are crucial for meeting the demands of advanced display and lighting technologies. Despite high device efficiency has been achieved in blue OLEDs, development of high-performance and long-lifetime blue OLEDs still lag far behind their red/green counterparts due to the presence of long-lived high-energy triplet excitons and polarons. Given the critical role of charge and exciton management in both the emission and degradation processes of OLEDs, this review systematically summarizes strategies for suppressing charge leakage and exciton quenching, as well as for enhancing exciton utilization in blue fluorescent, phosphorescent, and thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) OLEDs. In this context, we further discuss the roles of conventional fluorescent hosts, triplet-triplet annihilation/hot exciton hosts, TADF assistant hosts, phosphorescent assistant hosts, and exciplex/electroplex hosts in regulating charge and exciton dynamics in blue OLEDs. Additionally, the modification of emitting layer materials is highlighted as a key strategy for managing charge and exciton processes in efficient and stable solution-processed blue OLEDs. Based on current insights into the efficiency and operational stability of blue OLEDs, this review proposes feasible charge and exciton management strategies to address the current challenges.