Lie Wang

In hydrogen production, the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) limits the energy conversion efficiency and also impacts stability in proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzers. Widely used Ir-based catalysts suffer from insufficient activity, while more active Ru-based catalysts tend to dissolve under OER conditions. This has been associated with the participation of lattice oxygen (lattice oxygen oxidation mechanism (LOM)), which may lead to the collapse of the crystal structure and accelerate the leaching of active Ru species, leading to low operating stability. Here we develop Sr–Ru–Ir ternary oxide electrocatalysts that achieve high OER activity and stability in acidic electrolyte. The catalysts achieve an overpotential of 190 mV at 10 mA cm–2 and the overpotential remains below 225 mV following 1,500 h of operation. X-ray absorption spectroscopy and 18O isotope-labeled online mass spectroscopy studies reveal that the participation of lattice oxygen during OER was suppressed by interactions in the Ru–O–Ir local structure, offering a picture of how stability was improved. The electronic structure of active Ru sites was modulated by Sr and Ir, optimizing the binding energetics of OER oxo-intermediates.

Modern electronic devices are moving toward miniaturization and integration with an emerging focus on wearable electronics. Due to their close contact with the human body, wearable electronics have new requirements including low weight, small size, and flexibility. Conventional 3D and 2D electronic devices fail to efficiently meet these requirements due to their rigidity and bulkiness. Hence, a new family of 1D fiber-shaped electronic devices including energy-harvesting devices, energy-storage devices, light-emitting devices, and sensing devices has risen to the challenge due to their small diameter, lightweight, flexibility, and weavability into soft textile electronics. The application challenges faced by fiber and textile electronics from single fiber-shaped devices to continuously scalable fabrication, to encapsulation and testing, and to application mode exploration, are discussed. The evolutionary trends of fiber and textile electronics are then summarized. Finally, future directions required to boost their commercialization are highlighted.

Abstract Wearable sensing technologies have received considerable interests due to the promising use for real‐time monitoring of health conditions. The sensing part is typically made into a thin film that guarantees high flexibility with different sensing materials as functional units at different locations. However, a thin‐film sensor easily breaks during use because it cannot adapt to the soft or irregular body surfaces, and, moreover, it is not breathable or comfortable for the wearable application. Herein, a new and general strategy of making electrochemical fabric from sensing fiber units is reported. These units efficiently detect a variety of physiological signals such as glucose, Na + , K + , Ca 2+ , and pH. The electrochemical fabric is highly flexible and maintains structural integrity and detection ability under repeated deformations, including bending and twisting. They demonstrate the capacity to monitor health conditions of human body in real time with high efficacy.

Abstract The electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR) provides more economic electrons than water oxidation for various renewable energy‐related systems owing to its lower thermodynamic barriers. However, it is limited by sluggish reaction kinetics, especially by CO 2 desorption steps, masking its energetic advantage compared with water oxidation. Now, a lattice‐oxygen‐involved UOR mechanism on Ni 4+ active sites is reported that has significantly faster reaction kinetics than the conventional UOR mechanisms. Combined DFT, 18 O isotope‐labeling mass spectrometry, and in situ IR spectroscopy show that lattice oxygen is directly involved in transforming *CO to CO 2 and accelerating the UOR rate. The resultant Ni 4+ catalyst on a glassy carbon electrode exhibits a high current density (264 mA cm −2 at 1.6 V versus RHE), outperforming the state‐of‐the‐art catalysts, and the turnover frequency of Ni 4+ active sites towards UOR is 5 times higher than that of Ni 3+ active sites.