This study presents a one-step solvothermal approach for the preparation of Electric Arc Furnace steel slag nanocomposite (EAF-SSNC) aimed at converting CO2 into hydrogen and methanol. The EAF-SSNC was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The SEM analysis revealed a spherical and heterogeneous structure with macropores, while EDX results indicated a composition of 26.3 wt% O, 32.4 wt% Fe, 11.94 wt% Si, 0.27 wt% Ti, 3.26 wt% Al, 2.93 wt% Mg, 20.43 wt% Ca, and 2.47 wt% Mn. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the presence of multiple crystalline phases, including Andradite, Hematite, and Calcite. The photocatalytic performance of the EAF-SSNC was evaluated under varying dosages (10-60 mg/L) at a reactor temperature of 30°C and a flow rate of 500 μl/min, with a total water volume of 60 ml. The total organic carbon (TOC) levels were quantitatively assessed using a TOC analyzer, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was employed to analyze the liquid products, which revealed that methanol (CH3OH) was the predominant product, whereas HCHO was the minor one. The findings suggest that EAF-SSNC can serve as an effective catalyst for CO2 reduction, addressing environmental concerns associated with steel slag disposal while contributing to sustainable carbon management strategies. This research highlights the potential of utilizing industrial by-products in innovative ways to mitigate environmental impact and promote resource recovery.

Functional matter is often designed and reported as disconnected advances in synthesis, structure, and performance, which limits transferability across materials classes and length scales. This review introduces a cross-scale design grammar that unifies how researchers specify, test, and validate causal links from processing and reactions to architecture, interfaces, defects, and device-level outcomes. We formalize grammar units as controllable operators, interaction rules, constraints, and measurable metrics, and show how uncertainty and failure modes propagate along the synthesis to structure to function chain. The framework integrates mechanistic control across solution, solid-state, vapor, electrochemical, and mechanochemical routes; mesoscale assembly and hierarchical architectures; interfaces and interphases as transport gatekeepers; and defect chemistry as both a performance lever and a degradation driver. We then treat multimodal characterization as an inference and evidence-fusion problem and map it onto a modeling ladder that spans mechanistic, continuum, statistical, and hybrid approaches with uncertainty quantification and validation. Finally, we provide benchmarking and reporting templates, truth-table criteria for what counts as improvement, and case-study scorecards that identify the dominant bottlenecks in representative applications. By converting fragmented knowledge into a reusable grammar, this review offers a practical, end-to-end playbook for designing functional matter with measurable causality, reproducibility, and observation-ready.

Food security in hyper-arid regions is constrained not only by water scarcity and soil degradation but by the thermodynamic instability of agricultural climates. In countries such as Qatar and across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), extreme diurnal heat loads impose continuous cooling demand on controlled-environment agriculture, rendering food production energy-intensive and economically vulnerable. This study presents a novel multi-layered wall (MLW) designed to establish a controlled microclimate within interior agricultural environments under arid conditions. It is an arrangement of thermally useful materials: a high-thermal-mass clay composite for conductive attenuation; sequential semi-permeable membranes to interrupt and regulate convective exchange; a conditioned cavity that uses stack-driven airflow together with embedded cooling system; a concrete layer providing structural endurance and secondary buffering; and a recycled-plastic insulation layer to reduce residual flux. The assembly sequences moderate resistances and storage capacity to produce thermal lag, flux dispersion, and amplitude damping. Laboratory experiments under controlled radiative loading and sustained heat exposure verify the hypothesis: the MLW suppresses peak internal temperature excursions, flattens thermal gradients across interfaces, and preserves near-baseline interior conditions over prolonged forcing. Energy accounting for indoor farming loads suggests meaningful reductions in cooling demand when MLW-mediated temperature control replaces part of traditional mechanical conditioning. Index Terms- Multi-layered Wall (MLW): Structural configuration designed for progressive reduction of heat transfer. Thermal Insulation: Layers and materials engineered to reduce conductive and convective heat flux. Convective Ventilation: Stack-driven airflow mechanisms that remove excess heat from the conditioning cavity. Thermal Mass: Use of clay-based composites and water loops to absorb and regulate transient heat loads. Desert Agriculture: Application of engineered microclimates to enable sustainable crop production under arid conditions. Sustainable Development: Meeting present developmental needs without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same.