The enhancement of energy density in lithium-ion batteries often comes with a decrease in cycle life. Sulfur-based lithium-ion batteries possess theoretical advantages of low cost and high specific energy, but currently, their energy density is limited and cycle life is short. Now, Huang's team has achieved simultaneous improvement in energy density and cycle life of sulfur-based batteries through ultra-low N/P ratio design and anion-mediated electrolyte engineering in the journal of Science Bulletin, unlocking the potential of sulfur-based lithium-ion batteries.

Scientists design an advanced digital twin technology that can significantly boost the performance, efficiency, and reliability of renewable energy storage systems. This innovative digital framework has the potential to alert operators of issues such as leaks, mechanical friction, or generator overloads in its physical doppelganger. The technology offers a sustainable solution for storing surplus renewable energy through compressed air systems and later releasing it to generate power on demand.

Single-crystal materials, characterized by structural uniformity and exceptional intrinsic properties, are crucial for high-performance device applications. A research team has now developed a universal method to produce large-scale single-crystal metal foils by establishing a fundamental correlation among strain, stored energy, texture, and single-crystal formation. The study reveals that sufficient deformation-stored energy is essential for generating a uniform cubic recrystallization texture, which reliably guides foils toward single-crystal conversion. This approach is compatible with cast, rolled, and electrodeposited precursors, and enables the scalable fabrication of single-crystal copper and nickel foils with both low- and high-index surfaces. These findings present a new paradigm for single-crystal metal manufacturing and lay a critical materials foundation for future industrial applications.

As the global population grows, producing enough food for everyone has become one of the biggest challenges in agriculture. Wheat, one of the world’s most important crops, must yield more grain from each plant to help meet this demand. A key factor in determining yield is the inflorescence architecture, the way that the plant’s flower head (or spike) is strucrured. This architecture controls how many grains each spike can produce and finally influence the yield of crops. Over the history of wheat breeding, changes in spike shape and structure have played a major role in yield improvements. In a recent study, researchers at Shandong Agricultural University explored a new way to boost wheat yield by re-engineering spike architecture. Through detailed multi-dimentional comparisons of inflorescence development among different cereal crops, the researchers identified promising directions for redesigning wheat spikes to produce more grains, which opens up an exciting path roward breaking burrent yield limits and helping secure global food supplies for the future.

The increasing accumulation of discarded plastics has already caused serious environmental pollution. Simple landfills and incineration will inevitably lead to the loss of the abundant carbon resources contained in plastic waste. In contrast, photoconversion technology provides a green and sustainable solution to the global plastic waste crisis by converting plastics into hydrogen fuel and valuable chemicals. This review briefly introduces the advantages of photoconversion technology and highlights recent research progress, with a focus on photocatalyst design as well as the thermodynamics and kinetics of the reaction process. It discusses in detail the degradation of typical common plastic types into hydrogen and fine chemicals via photoconversion. Additionally, it outlines future research directions, including the application of artificial intelligence in catalyst design. Although photocatalytic technology remains at the laboratory stage, with challenges in catalyst performance and industrial scalability, the potential for renewable energy generation and plastic valorization is promising.