High-entropy alloy nanoparticles (HEA-NPs) show great potential as functional materials. However, thus far, the realized high-entropy alloys have been restricted to palettes of similar elements, which greatly hinders the material design, property optimization and mechanistic exploration for different applications. Herein, we discovered that liquid metal endowing negative mixing enthalpy with other elements could provide a stable thermodynamic condition and act as a desirable dynamic mixing reservoir, thus realizing the synthesis of HEA-NPs with a diverse range of metal elements in mild reaction conditions. The involved elements have a wide range of atomic radii and melting points. We also realized the precisely fabricated structures of nanoparticles via mixing enthalpy tuning.

Developing a precise and reproducible bandgap-tuning method that enables tailored design of materials is of crucial importance for optoelectronic devices. Toward this end, we report a sphere diameter engineering (SDE) technique to manipulate the bandgap of two-dimensional materials. This SDE technique showing good precision, uniformity, and reproducibility with high efficiency may further accelerate the potential applications of 2D materials.

Here, we achieve a nearly perfect blackbody absorption and a high PCE in the second near infrared (NIR-II) window (73.7% at 1064 nm) via a Pt nanoparticle shell (PtNP-shell). By precisely manipulating the photothermal effect, we successfully achieve rapid and precise multimodal neuromodulation encompassing neural activation (41.0–42.9 ^oC) and inhibition (45.0–46.9 ^oC) in a male canine model. The NIR-II photothermal modulation additionally achieves multimodal reversible autonomic modulation and confers protection against acute ventricular arrhythmias associated with myocardial ischemia and reperfusion injury in interventional therapy.

The liquid metal nanoreactor strategy was proposed for realizing high-entropy alloy arrays. The coalescence nature endowed by the tendency to decrease surface energy constructed the basis of the nanoreactor to provide a confined reaction environment for the nucleation and growth of multiple elements, thus forming a single particle within each patterned feature.

In this review, a comprehensive overview of the controllable synthesis of HEAs is provided, ranging from composition design to morphology control, structure construction, and surface/interface engineering. The fundamental parameters and advanced characterization related to HEAs are introduced. We also propose several critical directions for future development. This review can provide insight and an in-depth understanding of HEAs, accelerating the synthesis of the desired HEAs.

The self-lattice-framework with mixing assistor guided strategy was proposed for synthesizing ultrathin high-entropy oxides with the desired phase structures. Natural bonding preference constructed the basis of the lattice framework, and the Ga assistor promoted multiple elements into the lattice site to form the high-entropy state. The glucose and glycine were utilized to generate the carbon template for guiding the morphology. This work lays the foundation for applications of high-entropy oxides and inspires a similar methodology to explore high-entropy compounds.

This special issue of Advanced Materials features 31 high-quality papers to commemorate Wuhan University’s 130th anniversary. These reviews and research articles contributed by the faculty of Wuhan University cover a broad scope of materials science. This issue not only signifies the rapid growth of research in materials at Wuhan University but also exemplifies the institution’s ongoing interdisciplinary pursuits.

We report a strategy to achieve 100% activation of atoms on the basal plane of 2D layered materials by constructing an interlayer bi-atomic bridge. New gap states at the Fermi level are introduced and interlayer conductivity is enhanced in this catalyst. Exposed basal plane atoms are optimized to a state favorable for adsorbing catalytic intermediates.

We presented a new concept to alter the lithiophobic nature of solid electrolytes through the creation of an ultra-wettable interface utilizing liquid metal. It can accomplish sufficient and intimate interface contact between solid electrolyte and Li metal without void formation at the atomic scale, thus promoting the diffusion of Li+ at the interface. The solid-state batteries exhibit superior cycling stability and rate performance without dendrite growth.

The vdW LaOCl single-crystal dielectric was synthesized by precisely controlling the growth kinetics. Due to the considerable dielectric properties of LaOCl and its dangling-bond-free and atomically smooth surface, the MoS₂ FET with vdW LaOCl dielectric exhibits ultralow hysteresis. These results greatly verified vdW LaOCl single crystal possesses the tremendous potential to act as an ideal gate dielectric for 2D FETs.

We report a material system that differentiates from layered and non-layered materials, termed quasi-layered domino-structured (QLDS) materials, effectively bridging the gap between these two typical categories. Considering the skewed structure, the force orthogonal to the 2D QLDS-GaTe growth plane constitutes a synergistic blend of vdW forces and covalent bonds, with neither of them being perpendicular to the 2D growth plane. This unique amalgamation results in a force that surpasses that in layered materials, yet is weaker than that in non-layered materials.

Atomic manufacturing is a guideline for researchers to precisely synthesize materials, customize their properties and apply them into advanced applications in demand. Atomic manufacturing has the ability to visualize substances at the atomic level, while manipulating them atom by atom, inducing and promoting chemical reactions, and ultimately obtaining products with specific atomic structures.

Intractable oral biofilms are the chief culprits of both dental infections and systemic inflammation, posing a great threat to human health. In this review, core strategies of recently developed biomaterials in eradicating oral biofilm are present. Furthermore, design rationales of biomaterials with advanced antibiofilm capacity, as well as versatile antibiofilm biomaterials with other functions are comprehensively summarized.

We present a universal synthesis of monolayer HELH frame in a mild environment, regardless of the solubility product limit. Mild reaction conditions allow us to precisely control the fine structure and elemental composition of the final product. The high-entropy engineering and fine nanostructure control open opportunities to solve the problems of low intrinsic activity, very few active sites, instability, low conductance during OER for LDH catalysts.

Curvature engineering offers a new tuning freedom beyond the thoroughly studied layer number, grain boundaries, stack, etc. The precise control of the curvature geometry in 2D materials can redefine this material family. Special attention will be given to this emerging field and highlight the possible future directions. With the step-by-step achievement in understanding the curvature engineering effect in 2D materials and establishing reliable delicate curvature controlling strategies, a brand-new era of 2D materials research should be developed.

We develop a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method to construct the 2D room-temperature magnetic MnGa₄-H crystal with a thickness down to 2.2 nm. Hydrogen insertion inside the MnGa₄ lattice can modulate the atomic distance and charge state, thereby ferrimagnetism can be achieved without destroying the structural configuration. 2D MnGa₄-H crystal is high-quality and air-stable, demonstrating robust and stable room-temperature magnetism with a high Curie temperature above 620 K.

For the first time, we demonstrate a chemical potential-modulated strategy to realize the precise synthesis of various ultrahigh-phase-purity (approximately 100%) ultrathin TMB single crystals, and the precision in the phase formation energy can reach as low as 0.01 eV per atom. The ultrathin MoB₂ single crystals exhibit an ultrahigh Young’s modulus of 517 GPa compared to other 2D materials.

In this review, we present a systematic and comprehensive overview of the structure modulation of TMDs, including point, linear and out-of plane structures, following and updating the conventional classification for silicon and related bulk semiconductors. Finally, we demonstrate challenges and prospects in the structure modulation of TMDs and forecast potential directions about what and how breakthroughs can be achieved.

This review provides a comprehensive overview of the recent advances in the facet engineering of 2D materials, ranging from a basic understanding of facets and the corresponding approaches and the significance of facet engineering. We also propose current challenges and forecast future development directions including the establishment of a facet database, the fabrication of new 2D materials, the design of specific substrates, and the introduction of theoretical calculations and in situ characterization techniques.

It is crucial to understand and conclude the process of 2D material design and synthesis from chemical insights to further research the intrinsic quantum physics and better explore potential properties and applications of 2D quantum materials. In this review, we first summarize the recent advance of 2D quantum phenomena, then give the universal design paradigm from two aspects: element-dependence and phase-dependence, at last we propose different synthesis resolutions. We also summarize the challenges in this area and put forward feasible solution.

Liquid metals (LMs) with good biosafety, deformability, functionalizability and stimulus responsiveness have great potential in biomedicine. In this review, the advantages of LMs are presented. Recent advances in the design and application of LM-based biomaterials are comprehensively summarized to provide deep insights into structure-property relationships and guide their on-demand design and performance optimization for therapeutics, bioimaging, biosensors, and tissue repair.

We report a design strategy, namely “dual self-built gating” to boost hydrogen evolution reaction. Taking ReS₂ and WS₂ as an example, the dual self-built gating induces electrons from WS₂ to ReS₂ directionally. The tailored electronic structure can balance the adsorption of intermediates and desorption of hydrogen synergistically, thus greatly promoting the intrinsic activity of active sites.

The universal growth of ultrathin perovskite single crystals is realized by designing an oriented solvent microenvironment induced by the interfacial electric field originated from the charge separation between solid and liquid phases. Such a strategy can fabricate a wide range of high-quality ultrathin perovskites single crystals, from layered to non-layered, organic to inorganic, and toxic to low-toxic lead-free perovskite. Notably, the realization of high quality and diversity of ultrathin perovskites will facilitate both fundamental studies and optoelectronic applications.

We present an Au-assisted chemical vapor deposition approach to selectively form S_W and S2_W antisite defects, whereby one or two sulfur atoms substitute for a tungsten atom in WS₂ monolayers. Guided by first-principles calculations, they describe a new method that can maintain tungsten-poor growth conditions relative to sulfur via the low solubility of W atoms in a gold/W alloy, thereby significantly reducing the formation energy of the antisite defects during the growth of WS₂.

We demonstrated that single crystallinity can be totally maintained even through dramatic structural changes, which only requires several seconds. Ultrathin 2D single crystals can be obtained by our strategy, which is difficult for traditional methods. This discovery illustrates the possibility of transforming from 3D frameworks to 2D inorganic single crystals, vastly expanding the research scope of the SCSC transformation.