A sustainable and recyclable ionic liquid catalytic system is developed to be efficient in N-methylation or N-formylation of amines with CO2 under mild conditions.

This critical review introduces the preparation methods, structural and performance control, protection, and functionalization of magnetic nanoparticles as easily recyclable and efficient heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel synthesis.

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Electronic skins (e‐skins) have gained tremendous attention in health monitoring and disease diagnosis. However, the accumulated sweat at the skin/e‐skin interface would compromise the comfort, reliability, and fidelity for long‐term monitoring. Here, inspired by the active liquid transport phenomenon in nature, a biomimetic gold/thermoplastic polyurethane/cellulose membrane (Au/TPU/CM) based e‐skin is reported that can “pump” perspiration from the interface immediately through the combination of gradient porosity and surface energy gradient. The resulting electrode possesses good conductivity (2.68 Ω sq–1), excellent flexibility (the resistance only fluctuated 1.1% and 0.4% after 10 000 bending cycles and 2500 tensile cycles, respectively), and outstanding water vapor transmission and water evaporation rate (2.2 and 7.1 times as much as that of cotton fabric, respectively). The ultrafast perspiration‐wicking capability not only improves the wearing comfort but also minimizes the measurement error of skin hydration and temperature due to perspiration, eliminates the risk of short circuit in sensor array, and reduces the noise level, significantly enhancing the accuracy and reliability of multimodal sensing in e‐skins. The design strategy may encourage more material and structure development in e‐skins with improved sweat tolerance.

Inorganic cesium lead iodide perovskite CsPbI3 is attracting great attention as a light absorber for single or multi‐junction photovoltaics due to its outstanding thermal stability and proper band gap. However, the device performance of CsPbI3‐based perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is limited by the unsatisfactory crystal quality and thus severe non‐radiative recombination. Here, vacuum‐assisted thermal annealing (VATA) is demonstrated as an effective approach for controlling the morphology and crystallinity of the CsPbI3 perovskite films formed from the precursors of PbI2, CsI, and dimethylammonium iodide (DMAI). By this method, a large‐area and high‐quality CsPbI3 film is obtained, exhibiting a much reduced trap‐state density with prolonged charge lifetime. Consequently, the solar cell efficiency is raised from 17.26 to 20.06 %, along with enhanced stability. The VATA would be an effective approach for fabricating high‐performance thin‐film CsPbI3 perovskite optoelectronics.

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Sluggish kinetics and thermodynamic unfavorability restrict electrocatalysis for energy storage and conversion reactions such as oxygen reduction/evolution and hydrogen evolution reactions. Herein, we report the synthesis and electrochemical performance of novel core-shell nanoparticles@porous carbon microspheres. A unique core-shell architecture of dual-phase FeCo-based nanoparticles@heteroatom-doped carbon microspheres (FeCo@C MS) has been prepared via a two-step carbonization process from a reactive multifunctional core-double shell template. With the advantages of heterogeneous composition and architectural structure, the obtained FeCo@C MS exhibits excellent performances for the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which are comparable to those of commercial Pt/C catalyst. As an excellent cathode catalyst of the Zn-air battery (ZAB), FeCo@C MS exhibits high discharge voltage of 1.27 V, high specific capacity of 503 mA h gZn-1, an energy density of 639 W h kgZn-1, and better cycling durability than the battery having a mixture of 20 wt% Pt/C and RuO2. This approach provides a new way to design structures with controlled morphology and excellent multifunctional electrocatalytic activity.

Catalytic upgrade of biopolymers exclusively to the biofuel 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) via the furanic mixture is enabled by a cascade (de)chlorination process.