Highlights The crystal facets featured with facet-dependent physical and chemical properties can exhibit varied electrocatalytic activity toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) attributed to their anisotropy. The highly active exposed crystal facets enable increased mass activity of active sites, lower reaction energy barriers, and enhanced catalytic reaction rates for HER and OER. The formation mechanism and control strategy of the crystal facet, significant contributions as well as challenges and perspectives of facet-engineered catalysts for HER and OER are provided.

Electrospinning is an effective and versatile method to prepare continuous polymer nanofibers and nonwovens that exhibit excellent properties such as high molecular orientation, high porosity and large specific surface area. Benefitting from these outstanding and intriguing features, electrospun nanofibers have been employed as a promising candidate for the fabrication of food packaging materials. Actually, the electrospun nanofibers used in food packaging must possess biocompatibility and low toxicity. In addition, in order to maintain the quality of food and extend its shelf life, food packaging materials also need to have certain functionality. Herein, in this timely review, functional materials produced from electrospinning toward food packaging are highlighted. At first, various strategies for the preparation of polymer electrospun fiber are introduced, then the characteristics of different packaging films and their successful applications in food packaging are summarized, including degradable materials, superhydrophobic materials, edible materials, antibacterial materials and high barrier materials. Finally, the future perspective and key challenges of polymer electrospun nanofibers for food packaging are also discussed. Hopefully, this review would provide a fundamental insight into the development of electrospun functional materials with high performance for food packaging.

Solid-state lithium metal batteries (SSLMBs) offer enhanced safety and higher energy density compared to liquid electrolyte batteries, but the insufficient ionic conductivity of solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) and their poor electrode/electrolyte interface restrict their performance. In this case, metal–organic framework (MOF)/polymer composite electrolytes with high ionic conductivity and compatible interfaces offer promising solutions. Herein, approaches to enhance the ionic transport of MOF/polymer composite electrolytes and strategies to stabilize their interfaces with electrodes are systematically summarized. Firstly, the components, functions, and ion transport mechanisms of MOF/polymer composite electrolytes are reviewed. Subsequently, the strategies for boosting ion transport, including engineering unsaturated metal sites and ligands for MOFs, integrating ionic liquids (ILs) with MOFs, and in situ growth of MOFs on polymer matrices, are discussed. In addition, various interfacial engineering strategies for electrode/electrolyte interface are highlighted. Moreover, manufacturing technologies for the large-scale industrial application of SSLMBs with MOF/polymer composite electrolytes are discussed. Finally, key challenges and future directions are highlighted for further study. This review provides a comprehensive guide for the rational design of MOF/polymer composite electrolytes for advanced SSLMBs.

Developing effective electrodes with commercial-level active mass-loading (> 10 mg cm⁻²) is vital for the practical application of supercapacitors. However, high active mass-loading usually requires thick active mass layer, which severely hinders the ion/electron transport and results in poor capacitive performance. Herein, a self-standing biochar electrode with active mass-loading of ca. 40 mg cm⁻² and thickness of 800 µm has been developed from basswood. The basswood was treated with formamide to incorporate N/O in the carbon structure, followed by mild KOH activation to ameliorate the pore size and introduce more O species in the carbon matrix. The as-prepared carbon monoliths possess well conductive carbon skeleton, abundant N/O dopant and 3D porous structure, which are favorable for the ion/electron transport and promoting capacitance performance. The self-standing carbon electrode not only exhibits the maximum areal/mass/volumetric specific capacitance of 5037.5 mF cm⁻²/172.5 F g⁻¹/63.0 F cm⁻³ at 2 mA cm⁻² (0.05 A g⁻¹), but also displays excellent rate performance with 76% capacitance retention at 500 mA cm⁻² (12.5 A g⁻¹) in a symmetric supercapacitor, surpassing the state-of-art biomass-based thick carbon electrode. The assembled model can power typical electron devices including a fan, a digital watch and a logo made up of 34 light-emitting diodes for a proper period, revealing its practical application potential. This study not only puts forward a commercial-level high active mass-loading electrode from biomass for supercapacitor, but also bridges the gap between the experimental research and practical application. Graphical abstract

A green, versatile, and universal H₂O₂ activation method is proposed to improve the capacitive properties of high-mass loading wood-based supercapacitors.