Efficient photocatalytic CO₂ reduction to valuable fuels is an ideal strategy for addressing the energy and environmental crisis. Herein, we developed the Zn-incorporated hollow nanocages, assembled by NiCo-layered double hydroxide ultrathin nanosheets (NiCoZn_x-LDH), as highly efficient photocatalysts. Spectroscopic characterization and theoretical calculations demonstrate that Zn doping leads to an upshift of the d-band center of Ni-Co dual sites, increasing unoccupied antibonding orbitals and enhancing the binding strength of adsorbates. Therefore, NiCoZn_0.10-LDH with the upgrade of d-band shows a lower ·CO₂^– formation energy, resulting in a more effective stabilization of the rate-limiting ·CO₂^– intermediate. This boosts the overall CO₂ photoreduction performance over NiCoZn_0.10-LDH, resulting in a high CO yield of 158.1 μmol·g^–1·h^–1 with 92.1% selectivity. Our findings enrich the fundamental understanding of the CO₂ activation mechanism and provide additional insights into the d-band center theory to enhance the photocatalytic activity for overall CO₂ reduction.

Advanced multifunctional composite phase change materials (PCMs) for integrating energy storage, photothermal conversion and microwave absorption can promote the development of next-generation miniaturized electronic devices. Here, we report paraffin wax (PW)-based multifunctional composite PCMs with a hierarchical network structure assembled by two‐dimensional (2D) nickel-based metal-organic frameworks (Ni-MOFs) decorated carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The PW/CNTs@Ni-MOF composite PCMs yield an excellent photothermal energy conversion efficiency of 93.2%, as well as a good phase change enthalpy of 126.5 J/g and prominent thermal stability. Preferably, the composite PCMs also present great microwave absorption with –25.32 dB minimum reflection loss (RL_min) at 9.85 GHz. The remarkable features of the composite PCMs lie in their hierarchical network architecture and the synergistic enhancement of CNTs and MOFs, giving rise to the increased surface area, accelerated photon capture and transmission, and enhanced dielectric loss caused by polarization effects and multiple reflections, thus further boosting the latent energy storage capacity, photothermal kinetics, and microwave reflection loss. This work provides a facile and scalable approach to regulating the multifunction of composite PCMs.