Neurodegeneration-associated proteins (NAPs) have been detected in the resected hippocampal tissue of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Given the lack of direct ex vivo correlation data in humans, our aim was to investigate the relationship between NAPs and hyperexcitability using human epileptic hippocampal slices. Spontaneous and 4-aminopyridine (4AP)-induced electrical activity was recorded in human hippocampal slices of 26 consecutive patients (16 females) with drug-resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE/HS) using the multielectrode array technique. Parallel immunohistochemical NAPs staining was performed. Ex vivo electrical activity was successfully recorded in 73% of the samples (female/male: 12/7 samples, 58/29 slices). The median spike frequency, number of active electrodes, and global synchrony index were, respectively, 0.066/0.093 Hz, 4/11, and 0.337/0.694 in female samples, and 0.040/0.059 Hz, 3/6, and 0.344/0.673 in male samples during spontaneous/4AP-induced activity. Regarding NAPs, only deposits of hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau) were detected. While no correlation between the spike frequency and p-tau was apparent during spontaneous firing, a positive correlation between these variables was observed during 4AP-induced activity (P = 0.0220) and concerning reactivity to the 4AP effect (P = 0.0084), the latter being different in female and male samples (P = 0.0451). No other sex differences were detected. We conclude that a positive correlation exists between p-tau and neuronal network hyperexcitability in human MTLE/HS hippocampal slices. This new finding suggests a role for the p-tau burden in the pathogenesis of drug-resistant MTLE/HS and highlights its potential to become a candidate for novel therapeutic strategies in this devastating disease.

Electrochemical doping enables dynamic control of organic semiconductors and underpins technologies such as electrochemical transistors, energy-storage, bioelectronic, and light-emitting devices. It is typically governed by the active-material composition or the applied voltage. Here, we show that Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs) incorporated at an electrode interface provide an additional control parameter. Using light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) as a model system, we demonstrate that Au-NPs at the anodic interface reshape the electrochemically formed p-n junction, which defines the emission zone. Non-capped Au-NPs shift the emission zone away from the anode, whereas citrate-capped Au-NPs shift it toward the anode. By selecting the appropriate Au-NP type, we reposition the emission zone closer to a region of constructive optical interference, leading to a strong increase in LEC emission efficiency. These results establish interfacial Au-NPs as a strategy to modulate the spatial profile of electrochemical doping and tune the performance of organic electronic devices.

The development of Pt-free electrocatalysts is critical for reducing the cost of hydrogen production through the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Although extensive efforts have focused on improving the intrinsic activity of earth-abundant catalysts, the role of the catalyst-support interface remains comparatively underexplored. Carbon cloth (CC) has emerged as an attractive electrode platform owing to its electrical conductivity, hierarchical porosity, mechanical flexibility, chemical stability, and ability to facilitate efficient charge and mass transport. Although CC is generally not the primary HER active phase, it can strongly influence electrode-level performance by regulating interfacial electron transfer, catalyst anchoring, active-site accessibility, wettability, hydrogen bubble release, and long-term durability. This review critically analyzes the interfacial synergy between CC and Pt-free transition-metal-based catalysts, including Co-, Ni-, Fe-, Cu-, Mo-, and W-based systems, with and without heteroatom or anion modification involving N, P, and S species. The HER activity and stability of these systems are evaluated under acidic, alkaline, neutral, and pH-universal conditions. A particular emphasis is placed on how catalyst-support interactions, synthesis strategies, surface chemistry, structural features, and mass-transport behavior collectively determine electrochemical performance. Finally, current challenges and future opportunities are discussed, including mechanistic understanding, operando characterization, high-current-density operation, long-term durability, scalable fabrication, and practical electrolyzer integration.

Abiotic redox-active materials are increasingly used to interface with electroactive microorganisms, yet their influence on cellular regulation remains poorly understood. Here, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 was coupled with the electron-transporting conjugated polymer poly(benzodifurandione) (PBFDO) to examine how material interfaces reshape inward extracellular electron transfer (EET). PBFDO-coated carbon electrodes enhanced electron uptake and fumarate reduction, producing over two orders of magnitude higher current density and up to a twelvefold increase in succinate production than polymer-free controls. Integrated electrochemical, transcriptomic, metabolomic, and protein analyses reveal coordinated physiological remodeling associated with the polymer-supported interface rather than passive conductivity alone. PBFDO exposure is associated with transcriptional enrichment of genes linked to the Mtr-CymA electron-transfer conduit, energy metabolism, and biofilm formation. Metabolomics revealed altered intracellular redox and metabolite profiles consistent with enhanced fumarate respiration, alongside elevated NADH/NAD+ and ATP/ADP ratios indicative of altered cellular redox and energetic states. Beyond transcriptional regulation, polymer-responsive small RNAs (sRNAs) revealed a post-transcriptional regulatory layer linked to the biohybrid interface. Delivery of individual sRNAs into control cells partially recapitulated the polymer-induced phenotype, increasing current output up to threefold while altering intracellular redox balance. These findings establish sRNA-mediated regulation as a previously unrecognized mechanism linking biohybrid interfaces to enhanced microbial electrosynthesis.

The sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) impede efficient water electrolysis, motivating the development of robust, non-precious-metal electrocatalysts. Here, we construct a self-supported bimetallic metal-organic framework precatalyst (PAx-NiCo-BDC) through a two-step strategy using phytic acid (PA) for mild etching and multidentate coordination. This treatment introduces oxygen-vacancy-related coordination defects and regulates the precursor morphology. The optimized PA3-NiCo-BDC requires only 212 mV to reach 10 mA cm[-] [2], exhibits a Tafel slope of 20.2 mV dec[-] [1], and shows excellent durability, outperforming commercial RuO2. An anion-exchange-membrane water electrolyzer employing PA3-NiCo-BDC delivers 1 A cm[-] [2] at 1.72 V and operates stably for 300 h. In situ Raman spectroscopy reveals that PA-induced defects enable the lower-potential formation of Ni[3+]-O-containing NiOOH-like surface species. Differential electrochemical mass spectrometry identifies the adsorbate evolution mechanism as the dominant OER pathway. Density functional theory calculations further show that defect-induced d-band-center modulation optimizes the adsorption and desorption of OER intermediates at Ni sites and lowers the OER energy barrier. This green coordination-engineering strategy provides a versatile route to efficient and durable MOF-based electrodes for practical water electrolysis.

Aqueous zinc-sulfur batteries combine sulfur's high theoretical specific capacity with the safety, resource abundance and manufacturing compatibility of aqueous zinc chemistry. However, their progression from high-capacity concepts to practical devices is hindered by the poor electronic conductivity of sulfur and zinc sulfide, sluggish solid-state conversion kinetics, large volume changes, water-induced parasitic reactions, redox-mediator failure and unstable zinc deposition. Because these processes interact across cell components, optimizing the cathode, electrolyte, separator, or anode in isolation often fails to achieve the ultimate goal of improving device performance. This Review presents a reaction-to-device framework for understanding recent advances in aqueous zinc-sulfur batteries. Cathode hosts and catalysts are evaluated according to their ability to integrate electronic conduction, species confinement, catalytic conversion and mechanical buffering; redox mediators and electrolyte formulations according to their control over conversion pathways, solvation structures, water activity and interfacial chemistry; and selective membranes and zinc-protective interfaces according to their regulation of ion transport and electrode compatibility. Flexible, stretchable, planar and pouch-cell configurations are further examined as tests of system-level integration. This reaction-to-device perspective establishes design and benchmarking principles for advancing zinc-sulfur batteries toward safe, economical and scalable energy-storage technologies.

Sodium metal batteries are limited by uncontrolled Na nucleation and nonuniform deposition, which originate from insufficient interfacial sodiophilicity and heterogeneous ion/electric-field transport. Herein, we design a flexible lotus-root-like hierarchical porous carbon nanofiber framework embedded with ultrafine vanadium nitride (VN) nanoparticles (VN@HPCNF) is developed to synchronously coordinate these two processes through synergistic electronic-structure and structural engineering. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the electronic structure of VN creates intrinsically sodiophilic sites, where electron-rich N atoms initiate Na adsorption and V centers stabilize Na through Na-3s/V-3d orbital hybridization, thereby lowering the nucleation barrier. Meanwhile, COMSOL simulations reveal that the interconnected porous architecture simultaneously homogenizes the electric-field distribution and Na[+] flux, alleviates localized current-density accumulation, and guides confined and homogeneous Na deposition. The synergistic regulation of atomic-scale electronic interactions and structural-scale ion/electric-field transport enables dendrite-free Na growth. Consequently, VN@HPCNF exhibits stable cycling over 1000 h at 2 mA cm[-2], a low plating/stripping overpotential of ≈16 mV, and a high Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 99.86% at 4 mA cm[-2]. This work identifies electronic-structure-induced sodiophilicity as a decisive descriptor for regulating Na deposition, providing a mechanistic design principle for stable alkali-metal anodes.

Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is introduced as a multifunctional conductive binder and redox mediator to fundamentally improve the performance and volumetric energy density of carbon-free LiFePO4 (LFP) cathodes. Unlike conventional Super P (SP):PVDF systems, P3HT can be electrochemically doped within the LFP operating potential range, forming an internal percolating conductive network that precedes and facilitates the LFP redox reaction. Strong π-π interactions and P3HT-Fe coordination enable P3HT to uniformly coat LFP particles, yielding intimate interfacial contact, enhanced adhesion, and an ultrathin, stable cathode-electrolyte interphase. As a result, P3HT-based LFP cathodes exhibit significantly improved packing density (2.70 g cm[-3]), delivering volumetric energy densities up to 1402 Wh L[-] [1], far surpassing SP:PVDF-based counterparts (1.43 g cm[-3]; 738 Wh L[-1]). The P3HT-based LFP cathodes achieve long-term cycling stability and high-rate capability comparable to or better than SP:PVDF-based LFP electrodes. Density functional theory further reveals strong P3HT-LFP adsorption (-80 to -170 kJ mol[-] [1]), substantial charge transfer, and narrowed bandgap at the P3HT-LFP interface, confirming enhanced electronic coupling. This work shows that P3HT as a highly efficient binder can integrate conductivity, redox mediation, and interfacial stabilization, offering a compelling strategy for constructing next-generation high-density, long-life LFP cathodes.

The use of ester-derived electrophiles in transition-metal-free electroreductive C(sp[3])─C(sp[3]) bond formation remains largely unexplored. Herein, we report a sacrificial-anode-enabled electroreductive cross-coupling of simple unsaturated carboxylates with unactivated alkyl halides. Aryl, alkenyl, and alkynyl carboxylates are readily incorporated, affording methylene-bridged alkylarenes together with allylic and propargylic C(sp[3])-rich frameworks under mild conditions. Mechanistic studies support independent single-electron reduction of both electrophilic partners, followed by radical-radical coupling, alkoxide elimination, and cathodic deoxygenation via a Clemmensen-like reduction pathway. This work establishes unsaturated carboxylates as a new class of alkylating reagents for electroreductive C(sp[3])─C(sp[3]) bond formation.

Metal electrodeposition is usually interfered by stochastic ion arrival, local field amplification, and uncontrolled crystal growth, rendering it difficult to translate molecular-level interfacial design into prescribed mesoscale architectures. Here, we report that surface-emanated micellar brush with a forest-like soft architecture can finely modulate the orientation and microstructure of metal electrodeposition. The poly(l-lactic acid)-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) micellar brush provides a hierarchically open nanoarray platform for continuous accumulation of metal ions through dynamical coordination with the pyridyl-rich corona and sustained deposition of reduced metal at the inter-micellar voids. Unlike conventional homopolymer coatings that mainly lead to flat deposition of Zn, such micellar-brush layer promotes vertically aligned zinc blades through coupled ion funneling and oriented nanoconfinement. The resulting zinc anode reveals a low nucleation overpotential of ∼21 mV, a high Zn[2+] transference number of 0.79, a rapid rate of ∼24.2 µm h[-1] at 10 mA cm[-2], and a polarization of only 18 mV upon reversible plating/stripping over 3000 h. The full cells integrated by vertically microstructured Zn anode with V2O5 cathode retain 89.6% capacity after 1000 cycles at 1 A g[-1]. This work establishes a general route to tailored metal microstructures through softly confined electrodeposition across a spatially directing and chemically associating polymer self-assembly interfaces.

Root exudates (RE) represent an important but often overlooked fraction of photosynthetically fixed carbon released into hydroponic nutrient solutions, creating a need for monitoring. Here, we developed adaptive microbial fuel cell (MFC)-based biosensors for translating the total COD of RE-organic acid mixtures into electrical signals. Anode biofilms were selectively acclimated with RE-associated organic acids, including malate, citrate, and pyruvate, with acetate as a control. After screening with real lettuce RE, citrate- and malate-acclimated MFCs were operated with RE-containing substrates for 88 days to assess sensing stability. Malate-acclimated MFCs showed consistent concentration-dependent responses, with a mean in-sample absolute relative error of 7.2%. Predictive performance was subsequently evaluated over 15 days using three parallel ma-MFCs and a previously established calibration curve. The mean absolute relative error across 45 repeated observations was 10.63% (SD, 7.66%). Multi-omics analysis showed that citrate- and malate-acclimated biofilms shared a fermentative-electrogenic route for RE sensing, but differed in auxiliary metabolic functions. Omics analyses suggested differences between citrate- and malate-acclimated biofilms in nitrogen-related metabolic potential and possible sulfur- and denitrification-associated pathways. These findings provide a basis for further investigation of the sensing mechanism. Overall, acclimated MFC biosensors offer a low-cost approach to estimating total COD of RE-organic acid mixtures during hydroponics cultivation through sequential batch measurements and support further development toward in situ, real-time, continuous monitoring.

Many environmentally relevant microorganisms remain uncultured or insufficiently characterized, limiting the discovery of strains with functional potential for bioelectrochemical applications. Although sodium acetate, glucose, and other carbon sources are commonly used for microbial enrichment, the use of sodium lactate as a defined single carbon source provides a selective strategy for enriching lactate-utilizing microorganisms with potential bioelectrochemical relevance. Therefore, this study developed a sodium lactate-based enrichment strategy for isolating microbial strains from environmental samples and evaluating their bioelectricity-generation potential in bioelectrochemical systems. Bacterial isolates were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The sediment-inoculated bioelectrochemical system achieved a peak current density of 14.77 μA cm[-2], and 20 bacterial strains were isolated, whereas the organic fertilizer-inoculated BES produced 7.91 μA cm[-2] and yielded seven isolates. Additionally, 5, 2, and 1 strains were isolated from soil, sediment, and wastewater, respectively. Among the tested strains, Aeromonas eucrenophila AS-26 and Paracidovorax citrulli AS-12 exhibited the highest current densities of 2.18 and 2.10 μA cm[-2], respectively, with corresponding anode biofilm protein contents of 227.59 and 162.41 mg. These findings demonstrate that the sodium lactate-based enrichment method provides an effective approach for recovering environmental microorganisms with potential applications in bioelectrochemical systems.

Conventional approaches for calculating aberrations in multi‑electron‑beam systems (MEBS) are typically with reference to the global principal optical axis. For sub-beams located far off-axis, a large number of higher-order aberration terms arise, making conventional methods increasingly inadequate. Here, we propose an approach in which aberration coefficients are calculated with reference to the central reference ray of each sub-beam, rather than the principal optical axis, using the differential algebraic (DA) method implemented in MEBS. First, the multi-source unit consisting of a Schottky emitter and two pre-lens electrodes is characterized by calculating its transfer coefficients via the DA method. The virtual source position for each sub-beam is then determined. Second, for off-axis aperture lenses, the local multipole field components are extracted from three-dimensional finite element field solutions via azimuthal Fourier analysis. These components are then expressed analytically in the global coordinate system. For the other electromagnetic lenses (e.g., the objective lens), the global field components are used directly. Third, starting from each virtual source position, the central electron trajectory of each sub-beam is traced through the entire electromagnetic field distribution using the DA method. Finally, the aberration coefficients up to third-order with reference to each sub‑beam's actual optical axis are obtained. The proposed method is applied to a single-source single-column MEBS. The results show that, with our approach, the spot size is dominated by the first-order geometric aberrations for all sub-beams, regardless of their off-axis distance from the global principal optical axis.

Aqueous zinc-iodine (Zn-I2) batteries show great promise for large-scale energy storage, yet realizing four-electron transfer for high energy density requires cooperation between zinc interface regulation and high valence iodine anchoring. Herein, the dual-electrode interface microenvironment is customized via a series of bromide quaternary ammonium salts with varied alkyl chain length. The moderately-sized tetraethylammonium bromide (TEAB) constructs a well-ordered electric double layer that suppresses water penetration and hydrogen evolution while promoting uniform Zn[2+] deposition. Simultaneously, TEAB stabilizes I[+] through a synergistic coordination-hydrophobic anchoring mechanism, preventing iodine hydrolysis and shuttling. This synergistic customization of the anode-cathode dual-interface microenvironment successfully activates the reversible four-electron I[-]/I[+] redox chemistry. With this design, the symmetric Zn cell operates stably for over 50 days at 5 mA cm[-2] and 5 mAh cm[-2] as well as shows wide-temperature adaptability from -20°C to 50°C, the full cell retains 84.5% capacity after 8000 cycles at 1 A g[-1], and an Ah-scale pouch cell delivers stable 428 cycles with a high-capacity retention of 98.74% even under a heavy iodine loading of 20 mg cm[-2]. This work establishes a molecular-level design paradigm for simultaneous anode and cathode interface engineering, advancing practical high-energy aqueous zinc-iodine batteries.

The electrochemical upgrading of furfural (FF), a biomass-derived platform molecule, using renewable electricity offers a promising route toward green and sustainable chemical synthesis. However, achieving high selectivity toward hydrogenated products, such as furfuryl alcohol (FA), remains challenging as hydrogenation competes with C─C coupling reactions that generate undesired dimers. In this study, we show that trace sulfide species introduced into the electrolyte dynamically generate Ag─S sites on Ag surfaces during electrolysis, thereby steering the FF reduction reaction toward FA formation. Using Ag disk electrodes, the introduction of 0.5 mM sulfide ions (S[2-]) into the electrolyte increases the Faradaic efficiency (FE) for FA formation from 59% to 88% and enhances its partial current density (jFA) from 5.4 to 12.5 mA cm[-2]. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, in situ Raman spectroscopy, and density functional theory simulations collectively reveal that the low-coverage sulfide species on Ag regulate FF adsorption and facilitate proton transfer to the carbonyl oxygen, steering FA formation, while suppressing hydrofuroin (HF) formation by disrupting the Ag ensembles required for C─C coupling. Overall, our findings establish the deliberate introduction of trace sulfide into the electrolyte as a simple and potentially broadly applicable strategy to steer selectivity in the electrochemical hydrogenation of biomass-derived furanic aldehydes.