Featured
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| Open AccessThree dimensional architected thermoelectric devices with high toughness and power conversion efficiency
The potential of thermoelectric devices is typically hindered by heat stagnation and poor mechanical strength, which degrade their performance. Here, the authors demonstrate larger temperature gradients and higher mechanical strength by developing 3D core-shell architected thermoelectric devices.
- Vaithinathan Karthikeyan
- , James Utama Surjadi
- & Vellaisamy A. L. Roy
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Article
| Open AccessLarge piezoelectric response in a Jahn-Teller distorted molecular metal halide
Here, the authors utilise a combination of quasi-spherical theory and Jahn-Teller distortion to enhance the piezoelectric response of molecular metal halides, and the resulting piezoelectric energy harvesters exhibit superior power densities to the best-reported molecular hybrid energy harvesters.
- Sasa Wang
- , Asif Abdullah Khan
- & Edward H. Sargent
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Article
| Open AccessHigh-performance vertical field-effect organic photovoltaics
The device efficiency of organic solar cells is usually limited by the inherent energy loss during carrier transport. Here, authors integrate bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic with vertical field effect transistor, leading to reduced energy loss below 0.2 eV as controlled by the gate voltage.
- Xiaomin Wu
- , Changsong Gao
- & Huipeng Chen
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Article
| Open AccessMetallic glass-based triboelectric nanogenerators
Surface wear is a major hindrance in the solid/solid interface of triboelectric nanogenerators, severely affecting output performance and stability. Here, authors show metallic glass as one triboelectric interface can enhance the triboelectrification efficiency and endow the device with humidity- and wear-resistance.
- Xin Xia
- , Ziqing Zhou
- & Yunlong Zi
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Article
| Open Access20%-efficient polycrystalline Cd(Se,Te) thin-film solar cells with compositional gradient near the front junction
Bandgap gradient is a promising approach to improve the open-circuit voltage in thin film solar cells. Here, authors incorporate a Cd(O,S,Se,Te) region to realize the bandgap gradient at front interface and demonstrate Cd(Se,Te) solar cells with reduced recombination and a champion efficiency of 20.03%.
- Deng-Bing Li
- , Sandip S. Bista
- & Yanfa Yan
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Article
| Open AccessA general interfacial-energetics-tuning strategy for enhanced artificial photosynthesis
While renewable H2O2 is promising industrially relevant regent, it remains a challenge to modulate materials’ photocatalytic and electronic properties for effect light-harvesting. Here, authors examine core-shell Ag/Pd co-catalysts on BiVO4 for photocatalytic H2O2 synthesis.
- Tian Liu
- , Zhenhua Pan
- & Chiheng Chu
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Article
| Open AccessFinger-palm synergistic soft gripper for dynamic capture via energy harvesting and dissipation
Soft materials are promising candidates for robotics with outstanding performance and functionality. Zhang et al. present an energy harvesting and dissipation mechanism and describe the development of a soft gripper designed for capturing objects with high kinetic energy.
- Yin Zhang
- , Wang Zhang
- & Wei Pu
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Article
| Open AccessReleasing chemical energy in spatially programmed ferroelectrics
Chemical energy ferroelectrics show limited control of the energy release rate. Here, the authors design spatially programmed energetic ferroelectrics with controlled energy release rates from machine learning-directed additive manufacturing and ice-templating assembly.
- Yong Hu
- , Jennifer L. Gottfried
- & Shenqiang Ren
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Article
| Open AccessTransfer learning enhanced water-enabled electricity generation in highly oriented graphene oxide nanochannels
Large-scale nanochannel integration and the multi-parameter coupling restrictive influence on electric generation are big challenges for effective energy harvesting from spontaneous water flow within artificial nanochannels. Here, authors apply transfer learning to overcome these and design optimized water-enabled generators.
- Ce Yang
- , Haiyan Wang
- & Liangti Qu
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Article
| Open AccessSimultaneous atmospheric water production and 24-hour power generation enabled by moisture-induced energy harvesting
Collecting water directly from air provides one sustainable solution to water scarcity. Li et al. combine sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting with a thermoelectric module for efficient harvesting water and electricity in arid environments and show that the two components operate synergistically.
- Tingxian Li
- , Minqiang Wu
- & Siqi Wang
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Article
| Open AccessControl of perovskite film crystallization and growth direction to target homogeneous monolithic structures
Organo-metal halide perovskites are promising semiconductor materials for active layers applied to opto-electronics, e.g. photovoltaic cells. Here authors show how the initial solution composition affects the formation of perovskite thin films, and propose a typology to distinguish the growth direction of perovskite crystals.
- Daming Zheng
- , Florian Raffin
- & Thierry Pauporté
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Article
| Open AccessThree-dimensional open architecture enabling salt-rejection solar evaporators with boosted water production efficiency
Conventional salt-rejection evaporators typically exhibit low evaporation rate due to large heat loss. Here, authors demonstrate a solar evaporator featuring vertically aligned mass transfer bridges that takes advantage of the conductive heat to enable optimized water transport and salt backflow.
- Kaijie Yang
- , Tingting Pan
- & Yu Han
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Article
| Open AccessSubcutaneous power supply by NIR-II light
The authors present a subcutaneous power supply which coverts NIR-II light to electricity via combination of photothermal conversion and thermoelectric conversion. They demonstrate that it can recharge an implanted wireless camera upon irradiation with NIR-II light through the skin.
- Shanzhi Lyu
- , Yonglin He
- & Yapei Wang
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Article
| Open AccessDense dislocations enable high-performance PbSe thermoelectric at low-medium temperatures
Thermoelectric material is capable of realizing direct conversion between heat and electricity. Here, the authors obtain high thermoelectric performance in PbSe at low-medium temperatures by importing dense dislocations.
- Liqing Xu
- , Yu Xiao
- & Li-Dong Zhao
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Article
| Open AccessStandardized measurement of dielectric materials’ intrinsic triboelectric charge density through the suppression of air breakdown
Determining the triboelectric charge and energy density of dielectric materials is generally limited by many factors, failing to reflect their intrinsic behaviour. Here, a standardized strategy is proposed employing contact-separation TENG and supressing air-breakdown to assess max triboelectric charge and energy densities leading to an updated triboelectric series.
- Di Liu
- , Linglin Zhou
- & Zhong Lin Wang
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Article
| Open AccessVersatile self-assembled electrospun micropyramid arrays for high-performance on-skin devices with minimal sensory interference
Designing efficient on-skin devices with minimal sensory interference remains challenging. Here, Zhang et al. develop versatile electrospun micropyramid array-based on-skin devices, achieving both imperceptibility and high performances in pressure sensing, radiative cooling, and bioenergy harvesting.
- Jia-Han Zhang
- , Zhengtong Li
- & Lijia Pan
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Article
| Open AccessBattery-free wireless imaging of underwater environments
The authors present an approach to underwater imaging, which does not require tethering or batteries. The low-power camera uses power from harvested acoustic energy and communicates colour images wirelessly via acoustic backscatter.
- Sayed Saad Afzal
- , Waleed Akbar
- & Fadel Adib
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Article
| Open AccessBond engineering of molecular ferroelectrics renders soft and high-performance piezoelectric energy harvesting materials
Improving piezoelectric strain and voltage constant generally compromises piezoelectric performance and mechanical softness. Here, the authors report a bond weakening strategy for organic-inorganic hybrid piezoelectrics and mitigated these issues.
- Yuzhong Hu
- , Kaushik Parida
- & Hong Jin Fan
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Article
| Open AccessLiquid-liquid triboelectric nanogenerator based on the immiscible interface of an aqueous two-phase system
While liquid-liquid interface offers better contact and charge transfer potential than solid-based counterparts, fluidity still poses challenges for their application. Here, authors show that charge transfer exists in aqueous two-phase systems and propose a nanogenerator design based on the immiscible aqueous-aqueous interface.
- Ye Lu
- , Longlong Jiang
- & Xiaoxiong Wang
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Article
| Open AccessAchieving efficient power generation by designing bioinspired and multi-layered interfacial evaporator
The energy harvesting from ubiquitous natural water evaporation offers a great green energy source. Here, the authors report a bioinspired and multi-layered interfacial evaporation-driven nanogeneration strategy for efficient light-to-heat and electricity generation with continuous power output.
- Zhuangzhi Sun
- , Chuanlong Han
- & Zuankai Wang
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Article
| Open AccessSelf-cycled photo-Fenton-like system based on an artificial leaf with a solar-to-H2O2 conversion efficiency of 1.46%
Continuous generation of reactive oxygen species is desirable in the advanced oxidation process. Here, the authors report a self-cycled photoFenton-like with a scalable artificial leaf for production of H2O2 from water with solar-to-H2O2 efficiency of 1.46%.
- Chaoran Dong
- , Yilong Yang
- & Kan Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessTemperature-dependent dual-mode thermal management device with net zero energy for year-round energy saving
Real-world practical utilization of zero-energy thermal management systems often requires adaptability to dynamic weather. Here, authors demonstrate a zero-energy, self-adapting, dual-mode radiative thermal management device, capable of switching between heating and cooling based on the ambient temperature.
- Quan Zhang
- , Yiwen Lv
- & Yongsheng Chen
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Article
| Open AccessMicrobial biofilms for electricity generation from water evaporation and power to wearables
Though water evaporation-driven electricity generation is an attractive sustainable energy production strategy, existing electronic devices suffer from poor performance or is costly. Here, the authors report sustainable biofilms for efficient, low-cost evaporation-based electricity production
- Xiaomeng Liu
- , Toshiyuki Ueki
- & Jun Yao
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Article
| Open AccessFabrication of triboelectric polymer films via repeated rheological forging for ultrahigh surface charge density
High charge density is the foundation to promote a wide range of applications of triboelectric nanogenerators. Here, authors propose a processing method based on the repeated rheological forging of triboelectric polymers achieving an enhanced triboelectricity and further study its mechanism.
- Zhaoqi Liu
- , Yunzhi Huang
- & Jin-Ping Qu
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Article
| Open AccessUltralow-voltage operation of light-emitting diodes
Light emission from 17 types of LEDs is observed at record-low voltages of 36–60% of the bandgaps, which cannot be explained by earlier theories. The electroluminescence-voltage curves reveal a unified mechanism for ultralow-voltage LED operation.
- Yaxiao Lian
- , Dongchen Lan
- & Dawei Di
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Article
| Open AccessHeat-fueled enzymatic cascade for selective oxyfunctionalization of hydrocarbons
Thermoelectric materials enable us to convert heat into electricity, but their application has been limited to high-temperature heat sources. Here, the authors show the direct conversion of low-grade waste heat into chemical energy via combining thermoelectric materials with biocatalysts below 100 °C.
- Jaeho Yoon
- , Hanhwi Jang
- & Chan Beum Park
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Article
| Open AccessSelf-sustained electricity generator driven by the compatible integration of ambient moisture adsorption and evaporation
Generating electricity from air opens a promising way for green energy harvesting. Here, authors present a prototype driven by the integration of moisture adsorption with evaporation to generate continuous electricity for a long duration.
- Jin Tan
- , Sunmiao Fang
- & Wanlin Guo
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Article
| Open AccessAnderson transition in stoichiometric Fe2VAl: high thermoelectric performance from impurity bands
The mathematical conditions for the best thermoelectric is well known but never realised in real materials. Here, the authors propose the Anderson transition in a narrow impurity band as a physical realisation of this seemingly unrealisable scenario.
- Fabian Garmroudi
- , Michael Parzer
- & Ernst Bauer
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Article
| Open AccessSustainable power generation for at least one month from ambient humidity using unique nanofluidic diode
Energy harvesting of humidity present in air can be used for the development of clean energy sources and self-sustained systems. The authors propose a nanofluid energy conversion system with integrated ionic diode-type hybrid membrane for energy generation in environmental moisture.
- Yong Zhang
- , Tingting Yang
- & Qi-Chang He
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Article
| Open AccessScalable super hygroscopic polymer films for sustainable moisture harvesting in arid environments
Extracting atmospheric water is a sustainable strategy to enable decentralized access to safely managed water but remains impractical due to its limited daily water output at low relative humidity. Here, the authors demonstrate a hygroscopic polymer composed of renewable biomass which allows high water uptake at low relative humidity
- Youhong Guo
- , Weixin Guan
- & Guihua Yu
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Article
| Open AccessUltrafast orbital tomography of a pentacene film using time-resolved momentum microscopy at a FEL
Ultrafast pulses are useful to investigate the electron dynamics in excited atoms, molecules and other complex systems. Here, the authors measure transient photoelectron momentum maps following the free-electron laser pulse-induced ionization of a bilayer pentacene thin film on Ag (110) by using time-resolved orbital tomography.
- Kiana Baumgärtner
- , Marvin Reuner
- & Markus Scholz
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Article
| Open AccessAsymmetric electron acceptor enables highly luminescent organic solar cells with certified efficiency over 18%
High-performance organic solar cells call for novel designs of acceptor molecules. Here, He et al. design and synthesize a non-fullerene acceptor with an asymmetric structure for diverse donor:acceptor interfacial conformations and report a certificated power conversion efficiency of 18.2%.
- Chengliang He
- , Zeng Chen
- & Hongzheng Chen
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Article
| Open AccessMoisture adsorption-desorption full cycle power generation
Reducing humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels will require the development of alternative, renewable energy technologies. Here, authors prepare a moisture adsorption-desorption power generator that asymmetrically adsorbs and desorbs moisture at high and low humidity to provide an electric output.
- Haiyan Wang
- , Tiancheng He
- & Liangti Qu
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Article
| Open AccessVertically optimized phase separation with improved exciton diffusion enables efficient organic solar cells with thick active layers
Exciton diffusion length and graded vertical phase separation of the active layer play a critical role in the realization of high-performance thick-film organic solar cells (OSCs). Here, authors demonstrated OSCs with an efficiency of 17.31%, with an active layer thickness of around 300 nm.
- Yunhao Cai
- , Qian Li
- & Yanming Sun
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Article
| Open AccessA method for quantitatively separating the piezoelectric component from the as-received “Piezoelectric” signal
Difficulties in separating tribo and piezoelectric hybrid signals can lead to an overestimated contribution of the latter. Here, authors propose a method to separate these hybrid signals in the time domain, precisely extracting piezoelectric charge transfer for performance evaluation.
- Chaojie Chen
- , Shilong Zhao
- & Zhong Lin Wang
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Article
| Open AccessEnhancing hydrovoltaic power generation through heat conduction effects
The authors demonstrate enhanced hydrovoltaic power generation using heat conduction effects to break through the slow heat replenishment limit common in evaporation-induced hydrovoltaic generators.
- Lianhui Li
- , Sijia Feng
- & Ting Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessFilling the gap between topological insulator nanomaterials and triboelectric nanogenerators
Triboelectric nanogenerators have shown promising potential towards self-powered wearable electronics and devices. Here, authors introduce topological insulators to enrich the current triboelectric family of materials and sensing technologies.
- Mengjiao Li
- , Hong-Wei Lu
- & Ying-Chih Lai
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Article
| Open AccessGeneral heterostructure strategy of photothermal materials for scalable solar-heating hydrogen production without the consumption of artificial energy
The 1 sun-heating temperatures of photothermal materials can be generally elevated from ~90 °C to ~300 °C by hybridizing with infrared insulating materials, capable of driving methanol reforming to 310 mmol g−1 h−1 over CuOx/ZnO/Al2O3 nanosheets.
- Yaguang Li
- , Xianhua Bai
- & Guangsheng Fu
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Article
| Open AccessHigh-specific-power flexible transition metal dichalcogenide solar cells
Ultrathin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) hold promise for next-generation lightweight photovoltaics. Here, the authors demonstrate the first flexible high power-per-weight TMD solar cells with notably improved power conversion efficiency.
- Koosha Nassiri Nazif
- , Alwin Daus
- & Krishna C. Saraswat
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Article
| Open AccessUnveiling charge dynamics of visible light absorbing oxysulfide for efficient overall water splitting
Deciphering charge dynamics is imperative to realize efficient oxysulfide photocatalysts. Herein, with experiments and modelling, the authors report the dominant mechanisms behind decay, estimate material parameters, and formulate design principles.
- Vikas Nandal
- , Ryota Shoji
- & Kazuhiko Seki
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Article
| Open AccessIncreasing donor-acceptor spacing for reduced voltage loss in organic solar cells
Complex morphology in donor/acceptor organic heterostructures hampers the understanding of device performance. Here, the origin of the high voltage loss in organic solar cells is ascribed to the too small spacing between the donor/acceptor molecules in the active layer, and the voltage loss can be reduced by increasing the donor/acceptor spacing.
- Jing Wang
- , Xudong Jiang
- & Zheng Tang
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Article
| Open AccessUncovering the out-of-plane nanomorphology of organic photovoltaic bulk heterojunction by GTSAXS
Morphology of organic thin film, including the in-plane and out-of-plane directions, plays a crucial role in determining the performance of organic solar cells, yet the characterisation is challenging for the out-of-plane direction. Here, the authors use GTSAXS to uncover the nanomorphology in this dimension, and show how it affects exciton dissociation and charge transfer.
- Xinxin Xia
- , Tsz-Ki Lau
- & Xinhui Lu
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Review Article
| Open AccessAdvancements in cathode catalyst and cathode layer design for proton exchange membrane fuel cells
The high platinum loadings at the cathodes of proton exchange membrane fuel cells significantly contribute to the cost of these clean energy conversion devices. Here, the authors critically review and discuss recent developments on low- and non-platinum-based cathode catalysts and catalyst layers.
- Yanyan Sun
- , Shlomi Polani
- & Fabio Dionigi
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Article
| Open AccessManipulation on active electronic states of metastable phase β-NiMoO4 for large current density hydrogen evolution
Non-noble transition metal oxides are common yet typically poor hydrogen evolution catalysts due to scarce active electronic states. This work provides a route for achieving hydrogen evolution at high current densities by stabilizing a metastable NiMoO4 phase with abundant active electronic states.
- Zengyao Wang
- , Jiyi Chen
- & Mingxin Ye
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Article
| Open AccessChemically driven energetic molecular ferroelectrics
An interest arises if energetic molecules and molecular ferroelectrics can be integrated together to obtain a chemically driven electricity conversion. Here, the authors explore energetic molecular ferroelectrics consisting of imidazolium cations and perchlorate anions with a high-power density.
- Yong Hu
- , Zhiyu Liu
- & Shenqiang Ren
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Article
| Open AccessAerodynamics-assisted, efficient and scalable kirigami fog collectors
Water shortage not only occurs in arid regions, but also in humid area with little precipitation, despite abundant fog. Authors develop robust and scalable 3D centimetric kirigami structures to control wind flow and regulate the trajectories of incoming fog, yielding high fog collection efficiency.
- Jing Li
- , Ranjiangshang Ran
- & Shu Yang
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Article
| Open AccessAchieving ultrahigh instantaneous power density of 10 MW/m2 by leveraging the opposite-charge-enhanced transistor-like triboelectric nanogenerator (OCT-TENG)
TENG suffers from two fundamental limitations: high output impedance and low charge transfer. Herein, these limitations are circumvented by leveraging the opposite-charge-enhancement effect and transistor-like device design, thereby achieving the instantaneous power density over 10 MW/m2 at the low frequency of ~ 1 Hz.
- Hao Wu
- , Steven Wang
- & Yunlong Zi
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Article
| Open AccessMoisture-induced autonomous surface potential oscillations for energy harvesting
Moisture-induced energy generation is a potential green energy power source. Here, the authors report a moisture-induced autonomous surface potential oscillation phenomenon and apply it to the demonstration of energy harvesters with long persistence time and good energy density
- Yu Long
- , Peisheng He
- & Liwei Lin
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Article
| Open AccessCompletely non-fused electron acceptor with 3D-interpenetrated crystalline structure enables efficient and stable organic solar cell
Non-fullerene acceptors based on non-fused conjugated structures have potential for realizing low-cost organic photovoltaic cells, owing to its synthetic simplicity. Here, the authors develop a non-fused molecule with a three-dimensional interpenetrating network and compact π-π stacking, which is highly suitable for PV applications.
- Lijiao Ma
- , Shaoqing Zhang
- & Jianhui Hou