Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ is considered as a safe and stable anode material for high-power lithium-ion batteries due to its “zero-strain” characteristic during the charge/discharge. However, the intrinsically low electronic conductivity leads to a deterioration in high-rate performance, impeding its intensive application. Herein, the Li₄Ti₅O₁₂/rutile TiO₂ (LTO/RT) heterostructured nanorods with tunable oxide phases have been in-situ fabricated by annealing the electrospun nanofiber precursor. By constructing such a heterostructured interface, the as-prepared sample delivers a high capacity of 160.3 mAh·g^–1 at 1 C after 200 cycles, 125.5 mAh·g^–1 at 10 C after 500 cycles and a superior capacity retention of 90.3% after 1,000 cycles at 30 C, outperforming the heterostructure-free counterparts of pure LTO, RT and the commercial LTO product. Density Functional Theory calculation suggests a possible synergistic effect of the LTO/RT interface that would improve the electronic conductivity and Li-ion diffusion.

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) offers a practical solution to current global greenhouse effect by converting excessive CO₂ into value-added chemicals or fuels. Noble metal-based nanomaterials have been considered as efficient catalysts for the CO₂RR owing to their high catalytic activity, long-term stability and superior selectivity to targeted products. On the other hand, they are usually loaded on different support materials in order to minimize their usage and maximize the utilization because of high price and limited reserve. The strong metal-support interaction (MSI) between the metal and substrate plays an important role in affecting the CO₂RR performance. In this review, we mainly focus on different types of support materials (e.g., oxides, carbons, ligands, alloys and metal carbides) interacting with noble metal as electrocatalysts for CO₂RR. Moreover, the positive effects about MSI for boosting the CO₂RR performance via regulating the adsorption strength, electronic structure, coordination environment and binding energy are presented. Lastly, emerging challenges and future opportunities on noble metal electrocatalysts with strong MSI are discussed.