In recent years, there has been significant interest in transition-metal sulfides (TMSs) due to their economic affordability and excellent catalytic activity. Nevertheless, it is difficult for TMSs to achieve satisfactory performance due to problems such as low conductivity, limited catalytic activity, and inadequate stability. Therefore, a catalyst with a heterostructure constituted of a nickel–iron-layered double hydroxide, nickel sulfide, molybdenum disulfide, and cerium dioxide was designed. At the current density of 10 mA cm⁻² in an alkaline solution, the catalyst exhibits a HER overpotential of 116 mV. In addition, an overpotential of 235 mV@150 mA cm⁻² was displayed for OER. The catalyst showed a good retention rate (94.7% for HER, 98.6% for OER) after 160 h stability tests. The excellent electrochemical performance is attributed to the following points: 1. The self-supporting three-dimensional hierarchical structure provides abundant sites, fast ion diffusion channels, and electron transfer paths, and ensures structural stability. 2. The strong interfacial electron interaction between Ni₃S₂/MoS₂ heterojunction and NiFe-LDH improves the OER reaction kinetics. 3. The Ce³⁺ and oxygen vacancies in CeO₂ promote the dissociation of H₂O and promote the HER reaction kinetics. This approach paves the way for developing highly efficient electrocatalysts for various electrochemical applications.

High energy consumption and complex processes constrain the industrial production of high-performance SiC/SiO₂ fibers. A direct synthesis route for SiC/SiO₂ fibers at low temperatures (700–1100 °C) is developed in this work using pure-material microwave heating without external heating assistance. The phase composition, microstructure, and microwave-assisted synthesis process of the fibers were systematically investigated. A two-stage growth mechanism is proposed based on real-time microwave coupling analysis, consisting of kinetically controlled SiC fiber growth followed by thermodynamically driven SiO₂ bead formation. The SiC/SiO₂ fibers synthesized at 1000 °C exhibit outstanding electromagnetic wave absorption performance, achieving a minimum reflection loss (RL_min) of −42.49 dB at an ultrathin thickness of 2.9 mm, demonstrating great potential for lightweight, high-efficiency microwave absorbers.

To address the inherent brittleness and insufficient wear resistance of conventional transition metal monoboride ceramics, as well as the application limitations caused by large interfacial mismatches triggered by adding heterogeneous secondary phases, we prepared (TiVCrMoW)B homology and isostructural high-entropy monoboride ceramics containing compositionally enriched isostructural microregions using spark plasma sintering. This ceramic inherits the orthorhombic Cmcm-type monoboride crystal structure. XRD analysis indicates a single phase within its detection limit, while EDS characterization reveals significant elemental segregation, forming in situ compositionally enriched isostructural microregions that are Ti-, Mo-, and W-rich. The interfaces between these regions are well bonded, and the relative density reaches 94.13%. Relying on this intrinsic microstructural architecture, the material is observed to concurrently improve hardness and toughness under the present testing conditions, achieving a Vickers hardness of 39.95 ± 4.32 GPa under a 0.5 N load and a fracture toughness of 3.39 ± 0.36 MPa·m^1/2. Under 10 N reciprocating dry friction conditions, it exhibits stable friction behavior, with a steady-state coefficient of friction maintained at 0.52 and a volume wear rate as low as (1.11 ± 0.4) ×10⁻⁶ mm³/(N·m). The wear mechanisms are primarily early-stage abrasive wear, microcrack propagation, and localized layered spalling, with no adhesive wear or brittle fracture observed. The low wear rate arises from the combined effects of lattice distortion induced by high entropy, isostructural compositional-microregion toughening caused by elemental segregation, and fine-grain-induced retardation of microcrack propagation. This work confirms that a homology isostructural compositional-microregion structure architecture can contribute to the concurrent enhancement of hardness, toughness, and wear resistance of high-entropy monoboride ceramics, and provides a promising design strategy for wear-resistant ceramics without external secondary phases based on the high-entropy strategy.