The performance of chemical reactions has been enhanced immensely with surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based sensors. In this review, the principle and application of SPR sensors are introduced and summarized thoroughly. We introduce the mechanism of the SPR sensors and present a thorough summary about the optical design, including the substrate and excitation modes of the surface plasmons. Additionally, the applications based on SPR sensors are described by the Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy in plasmon-driven surface catalytic reactions and the measurement of refractive index sensing, especially.

The highly efficient collection of underwater oil droplets on an anisotropic porous cone surface via an electric field was demonstrated.

The controlled transport of liquid on a smart material surface has important applications in the fields of microreactors, mass and heat transfer, water collection, microfluidic devices and so on. Porous membranes with special wettability have attracted extensive attention due to their unique unidirectional transport behavior, that is, liquid can easily penetrate in one direction while reverse transport is prevented, which shows great potential in functional textiles, fog collection, oil/water separation, sensors, etc. However, many porous membranes are synthesized from multilayer structural materials with poor mechanical properties and are currently prone to delamination, which limits their stability. While a monolayered porous membrane, especially for gradient structure, is an efficient, stable and durable material owing to its good durability and difficult stratification. Therefore, it is of great significance to fabricate a monolayered porous membrane for controllable liquid manipulation. In this minireview, we briefly introduce the classification and fabrication of typical monolayered porous membranes. And the applications of monolayered porous membranes in unidirectional penetration, selective separation and intelligent response are further emphasized and discussed. Finally, the controllable preparation and potential applications of porous membranes are featured and their prospects discussed on the basis of their current development.

Hydrogen production via water electrolysis is deemed a prime candidate for large-scale commercial green hydrogen generation. However, during the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), bubble accumulation on the electrode surface substantially elevates the required voltage and diminishes electrolysis efficiency. In this work, we demonstrated a rice leaves-inspired anisotropic microstructured gas conduction electrode (Ni-conduction) that can rapidly detach bubbles from the anisotropic microstructure. The microstructured grooves on the electrode surface lower the interface energy and modify bubble detachment dynamics, enabling swift bubble release and directed bubble flow along the microstructured channels. As a result, the Ni-conduction achieves a reduction in HER/OER overpotential, reaching values of 92/123 mV at 10 mA cm⁻². This performance significantly surpasses the performance of a flat nickel electrode (Ni-smooth), necessitating an overpotential of 183/176 mV under identical conditions. Furthermore, the assembled Ni-conduction||Ni-conduction overall water-splitting device only needs a cell voltage of 1.53 V to reach 10 mA cm⁻². Our research emphasizes the significance of wettability design in electrode microstructure to enhance mass transfer and optimize water splitting efficiency, presenting novel strategies for the development of superior gas-evolution electrodes.