The aggregation, distribution, spreading, elongation and shrinking, as well as other behaviors of liquids, along with mass transfer and thermal exchange, are ubiquitous in both natural creatures and human daily life. These phenomena greatly inspire the advancement of liquid manipulating interfaces in theoretical models, production processes, and performance optimization. After decades of development, regulating liquid movements through surface chemistry, micro/nano structures, and geometrical gradients is becoming increasingly prevalent but still faces challenges. This review discusses the design principles of liquid manipulating interfaces, bionic prototypes and its models behind, and introduces their specific role within these works. We summarize state-of-the-art works from different motion dimensions, as well as the most widely mentioned applications. We believe this can inspire the transfer of bioinspired structures into functional devices through continued innovative breakthroughs and multidisciplinary collaboration.

Immobilized photocatalyst devices for overall water splitting (OWS) have emerged as a promising strategy for practical hydrogen production. Compared with traditional powder suspension systems, they offer great advantages, including scalability, facile recovery/replacement of photocatalysts, and the elimination of extra dispersion operations. Over the past decade, significant progress has been achieved in this field, especially in material screening, device construction, and system integration for scalable applications. However, up until now, there have been no related reviews focusing on this topic. This review aims to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive and structured overview of the immobilized photocatalyst devices for efficient OWS. Firstly, the basics of OWS process, including one-step and two-step photoexcitation mechanisms, are elaborated. Subsequently, recent advances in immobilized photocatalyst devices for scalable OWS via these two different approaches are summarized, based on which various solid-state electron mediators are classified and exemplified. The essential structure-performance relationship is also analyzed and revealed. Finally, the future prospects and challenges in this field are proposed and discussed.

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.

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.

Incorporation of two dimensional (2D) materials into a polymer matrix is an efficient way to prepare high performance coatings. Here we report the in-situ mechanical exfoliation of graphite in a mixture of hydroxyethylacrylate terminated polybutadiene urethane (HTPU) prepolymer and reactive diluent. The mixture containing exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets (GN) is directly used to prepare UV cured composite resins (G/HTPU) with various GN concentrations. Various techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman, atomic force microscopy (AFM), have been used to characterize the GN, confirming that few-layered GN are obtained after the in-situ mechanical exfoliation. The incorporation of GN exerts little effect on the curing of the coatings with a gelation around 95%, but greatly enhances the elastic modulus. Tafel polarization curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and salt-spray testing were conducted to comparatively evaluate the G/HTPU coatings with different GN loadings. The results indicate that the incorporation of GN greatly improves the corrosion resistance of the HTPU UV coatings. The self-corrosion current density (I_corr) and the charge transfer resistance (R_c) of G/HTPU-2 (0.2% GN loading) are greatly reduced to 1.03 × 10^-8 A·cm^-2 and increased by two magnitudes, respectively, compared to those of the parent HTPU coating. Additionally, the G/HTPU-2 coating with thickness of 100 μm can protect galvanized sheet against 0.5 mol/l sulfuric acid for at least 24 h. The practical application in protection of electronics was illustrated by coating the G/HTPU-2 on a standard printed circuit board (PCB, IPC-B-24A). No corrosion was observed after it was immersed in an artificial sweat solution even under open-circuit voltage of 12 V for 72 h and then 24 V for 48 h.