Rare-earth-containing halide and oxide perovskite nanomaterials are systematically reviewed for the first time, providing interdisciplinary challenges and opportunities to researchers.

Nanomaterials have been applied as antibacterial agents by virtue of their unique functioning mechanism different from that of conventional antibiotics. Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO 2 NPs) are important antibacterial agents due to their relatively low toxicity to normal cells and their distinct antibacterial mechanism based on the reversible conversion between two valence states of Ce(III)/ Ce(IV). Some studies have been conducted to explore their antibacterial activities; however, systematic research reviews on the related mechanisms and influencing factors are still quite rare. In this review, we discuss the plausible mechanisms of the antibacterial activity of CeO 2 NPs, analyze different influencing factors, and summarize various research reports on antibacterial effects on E. coli and S. aureus. We also propose the potential applications and prospects, and hope to provide an in-depth understanding on the antibacterial mechanism and a better guidance to the design and applications of this promising antibacterial material in the future.

Owing to the unique electronic properties, rare‐earth modulations in noble‐metal electrocatalysts emerge as a critical strategy for a broad range of renewable energy solutions such as water‐splitting and metal–air batteries. Beyond the typical doping strategy that suffers from synthesis difficulties and concentration limitations, the innovative introduction of rare‐earth is highly desired. Herein, a novel synthesis strategy is presented by introducing CeO2 support for the nickel–iron–chromium hydroxide (NFC) to boost the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance, which achieves an ultralow overpotential at 10 mA cm−2 of 230.8 mV, the Tafel slope of 32.7 mV dec−1, as well as the excellent durability in alkaline solution. Density functional theory calculations prove the established d–f electronic ladders, by the interaction between NFC and CeO2, evidently boosts the high‐speed electron transfer. Meanwhile, the stable valence state in CeO2 preserves the high electronic reactivity for OER. This work demonstrates a promising approach in fabricating a nonprecious OER electrocatalyst with the facilitation of rare‐earth oxides to reach both excellent activity and high stability.

Oxygen vacancies are usually considered to be beneficial in catalytic conversion of polysulfides in lithium–sulfur batteries. Now it is demonstrated that the conversion of polysulfides was hindered by oxygen vacancies on ultrathin niobic acid. The inferior performance induced by the oxygen vacancy was mainly attributed to the decreased electric conductivity as well as the weakened adsorption of polysulfides on the catalyst surface. This work shows that the care should be taken when designing a new catalyst for the lithium–sulfur battery using a defect‐engineering strategy.