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Metallic glasses that mainly make up of metallic elements are new family member of glassy materials. This new kind of glass combines the characters of liquids and solids, glasses and metals, making it fascinating to both scientists and industrialists. With the discovery of more and more sy...
Metallic glasses that mainly make up of metallic elements are new family member of glassy materials. This new kind of glass combines the characters of liquids and solids, glasses and metals, making it fascinating to both scientists and industrialists. With the discovery of more and more systems, metallic glass is becoming one of the most active research field in metallic materials, and some concepts and technology derived from metallic glasses also facilitate the development of other materials from quasi-crystals to high entropy alloys. Metallic glasses have now been successfully used in aerospace, robotics, medicine and consumer electronics etc., and the real applications of metallic glasses are still growing. On the other hand, the diverse properties and the unique structural of the metallic glasses render them ideal models to study major open issues including structural model of disordered materials, glass transition, collective motion and energy landscape etc. However, the understanding the emerging properties and phenomena of metallic glasses still poses enormous challenges, which have stimulated a wealth of new experimental approaches, the synthesis of new systems with tailored properties, novel experimental techniques and theoretical and numerical methods. In this Roadmap, we try to provide a broad overview of recent and possible future activities in the metallic glass field, and present a roadmap to future development and applications of metallic glasses by gathering contributions with different backgrounds, illustrating the major challenges and discussing the latest technology and strategy to tackle these challenges with experts covering various developments and challenges in general concepts, synthesis and characterisation, and simulation and theoretical methods.
Developing nanoporous high-entropy metallic glass (HEMG) with a high specific surface area presents a promising approach to develop a cost-effective and efficient catalyst, which utilize the synergistic effect of its multi-component composition and the adjustable atomic environment of its ...
Developing nanoporous high-entropy metallic glass (HEMG) with a high specific surface area presents a promising approach to develop a cost-effective and efficient catalyst, which utilize the synergistic effect of its multi-component composition and the adjustable atomic environment of its disordered structure. However, the glassy structure invariably gets erased due to the inevitable crystallization during the nanoporous construction procedure through dealloying. Here, an innovative HEMG with an endogenetic nano-scale phase-separated structure is specially designed to maintain a fully glassy state throughout the nanoporous construction procedure. Consequently, an amorphous/crystalline heterostructure (ACH)—nanocrystal flakes embedded in amorphous ligaments—is intentionally constructed, which exhibits significant lattice distortion at amorphous/crystalline interfaces, resulting in high density of active sites. The ACH facilitates intermediate adsorption by promoting directional charge transfer between amorphous and crystalline phases and improves product desorption through downshifting the d-band center. This results in remarkable electrolysis performance, requiring only a 1.53 V potential to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm-2 for overall water-splitting in an alkaline electrolyte, surpassing that of commercial Pt/C || IrO2 catalysts of 1.62 V. This research pioneers strategies to refine the composition, atomic structure, and electron characteristics of HEMG, unlocking new functional applications.
The electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is a promising strategy for addressing both environmental remediation and energy conversion challenges. Recently, heterojunction catalysts have gained significant attention due to their enhanced catalytic activity and stability. This revie...
The electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is a promising strategy for addressing both environmental remediation and energy conversion challenges. Recently, heterojunction catalysts have gained significant attention due to their enhanced catalytic activity and stability. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of recent advancements in heterojunction catalysts for UOR. We begin by outlining the fundamental principles of UOR and key catalyst evaluation parameters. Next, we discuss the unique features of heterojunction catalysts, highlighting their structural and electronic advantages. The applications of various heterojunction architectures—including those based on transition metals, alloys, metal (hydro)oxides, chalcogenides, pnictides, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)—are then examined in detail. A particular focus is placed on structure–performance relationships and rational design strategies to optimize catalytic efficiency. This review offers valuable insights into the development of next-generation heterojunction catalysts for efficient and sustainable UOR applications.
During the downconversion process, a high-energy photon undergoes conversion into several low-energy photons, leading to enhanced luminous efficiency in both photoluminescent and electroluminescent devices. This phenomenon has been applied in various fields, including solar cells, plasma d...
During the downconversion process, a high-energy photon undergoes conversion into several low-energy photons, leading to enhanced luminous efficiency in both photoluminescent and electroluminescent devices. This phenomenon has been applied in various fields, including solar cells, plasma display panels, and green lighting technologies such as mercury-free fluorescent lamps. However, the concept of downconversion (quantum cutting) has not been fully explored in the context of mechanoluminescent materials. In this study, we successfully synthesized a heterojunction of CaF2/CaZnOS exhibiting efficient downconversion mechanoluminescence (ML) properties. By controlling the CaF2 to CaZnOS ratio and incorporating Tb3+ doping, we obtained a highly effective heterojunction structure that significantly enhanced ML. Moreover, we extended this material to several commonly utilized downconversion ion-doping combinations, achieving enhanced ML for Tb3+, Pr3+, and Yb3+ single ions. For the first time, we demonstrate the downconversion (quantum cutting) ML of Tb3+–Yb3+ and Pr3+–Yb3+ pairs within heterojunction microstructures. This study presents the design and synthesis of a novel heterojunction material capable of realizing downconversion ML, which holds promise for future applications in diverse fields.
Multiple strategies and technological pathways exist in developing new advanced high strength steels (AHSSs). For plain carbon steels, carbon partitioning has been utilized to generate a mixture of ferrite/martensite and retained austenite, whereas higher carbon content will stabilize aust...
Multiple strategies and technological pathways exist in developing new advanced high strength steels (AHSSs). For plain carbon steels, carbon partitioning has been utilized to generate a mixture of ferrite/martensite and retained austenite, whereas higher carbon content will stabilize austenite phase. The austenite can be metastable, which can trigger phase transition under stress, so called phase-transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP). For highly alloyed steels with Ni, Al, Ti or other elements, precipitates of the body-centered cubic (BCC), hexagonal close-packed (HCP), L21, L12 types can form during aging/partitioning. L12 phase shows exceptional deformation capability because itself can sustain significant plastic deformation. Motivated by these two design strategies, this work started from a Fe-Ni alloy by added with appropriate amounts of Al, Ti, and C to obtain a series of Fe-Ni-Al-Ti-C steels by melting, cold rolling and a simple heat treatment (recrystallization and aging/partitioning) history. Microstructural observation and mechanical property testing reveal that the Fe-Ni-Al-Ti-C steels successfully achieves: (1) nanosized and densely populated L12 precipitates in both ferrite and austenite phases, (2) enhanced stability of austenitic phase with TRIP capability, (3) ultrafine-grained microstructure due to precipitate-retarded ferrite grain growth, and (4) extra dislocation storage of precipitate-cutting dislocation loops. The synergy of all these factors results into tensile strengths of 1.2-1.8 GPa and uniform ductility of 10-30%, which is comparable to twining-induced plasticity steels.
