The utilization of metalloligands as building blocks for assembling heteronuclear metallocages or heterometallic coordination polymers has garnered increasing attention, yet its utilization for assembling Ag(I) alkynyl nanoclusters remains limited. In this study, we present the synthesis of two new Ag(I) alkynyl nanoclusters, namely, Mo₂Ag₈ and Mo₂Ag₁₂, employing a Mo^VIO₂R-anchored (R = O or OEt) thiacalix[4]arene (TC4A) as a metalloligand. Through detailed structural analyses, their distinct sandwich geometries were revealed. Mo₂Ag₈ features a square Ag₄(^tBuC≡C)₄ core enclosed between two {MoAg₂–TC4A} units, with two MoO₂(OEt) units suspended on each side. Mo₂Ag₁₂ features a hexagonal Ag₆(^tBuC≡C)₆ core sandwiched between two {MoAg₃–TC4A} units, with two MO₃ units acting as oxygen anion templates, directly interacting with Ag(I) ions. In addition, we demonstrated the electrocatalytic application of Ag–Mo bimetallic clusters for CO₂ reduction. The catalytic analysis results show that the binding mode of MO₃ units considerably influences the electrochemical CO₂ reduction activity and competitive hydrogen evolution reaction activity of the clusters. Notably, Mo₂Ag₁₂ achieved an impressive Faradaic efficiency of 60.85% for CO production at a voltage of −0.8 V (vs. RHE).

The development of thermodynamically controllable synthetic strategy to manipulate the morphology of ZIF-8 without capping agent is essential to help understanding their facet effect and the structure-activity relationship of single atom catalysts derived from ZIF-8. Here, we prepared ZIF-8 with different morphologies (cube, truncated rhombododecahedral and rhombododecahedral) and thus area ratio of exposed {100}, {110} facets by a thermodynamically controllable synthetic strategy. When the reaction proceeds under room temperature (30 °C), the assembling of ZIF-8 followed an area-reducing layered growth mode, while switched to an integral layered growth mode at lower temperature –40 °C. Moreover, this strategy also works to obtain ZIF-8 encapsulated with metal precursors (Fe(acac)₃, Cu(acac)₂ and Co(acac)₂). Single Fe atom anchored on nitrogen doped carbon catalysts (SA-Fe/CN) derived from Fe-ZIF-8 retain their original morphologies and the unsaturated surface-active sites on {100} facet, which further displays different catalytic performance towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This work not only reveals the different growth pattern of ZIF-8, but also points out a new direction for designing and synthesizing MOFs with different morphology rationally.

The systematic design of heterointerfaces has been a topic of considerable attention in electromagnetic absorption applications. For the first time, molybdenum blue/polyaniline/multiwalled carbon nanotubes ({Mo₇₂X₃₀}/PANI/MWCNTs, X = Fe, V) ternary coaxial cable-like fibers are systematically designed and synthesized via host–guest electrostatic and synergistic effect and employed as exceptional electromagnetic wave absorbers. The coaxial cable-like structure features an abundance of heterointerfaces between layers, which improves dipole polarization and interface polarization effect, and regulates conductive loss. In addition, the inclusion of polyoxometalates boosts magnetic losses dominated by eddy current losses and improves impedance matching. The optimal {Mo₇₂V₃₀}/PANI/MWCNTs exhibit higher electromagnetic wave absorption (−48.12 dB) at a thinner thickness (2.3 mm). At a thickness of 2.5 mm, {Mo₇₂Fe₃₀}/PANI/MWCNTs exhibit the maximum effective absorption bandwidth (6.16 GHz). In addition to expanding our understanding of the effect of heterointerfaces on electromagnetic absorption, this study demonstrates the potential utilization of polyoxometalate functional molecules in the electromagnetic wave absorption field.

Aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors are considered to be a promising candidate for large-scale energy storage devices owing to their high safety, long life, and low price. In this paper, a nitrogen doped hierarchical porous carbon is evaluated as the cathode for aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors. Benefiting from the synergistic merits of excellent structural features of N-HPC and tiny zinc dendrite of Zn anode in ZnSO₄ electrolyte, the zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitor exhibits excellent energy storage performance including high capacity of 136.8 mAh·g^-1 at 0.1·Ag^-1, high energy density of 191 Wh·kg^-1, large power density of 3, 633.4 W·kg^-1, and satisfactory cycling stability of up to 5, 000 cycles with a capacity retention of 90.9%. This work presents a new prospect of developing high-performance aqueous rechargeable zinc ion energy storage devices.