Recently, An electron-doped 12442-type iron-based superconductor BaTh$_2$Fe$_4$As$_4$(N$_{0.7}$O$_{0.3}$)$_2$ has been successfully synthesized with high-temperature solid-state reactions on basis of a structural design. The inter-block-layer charge transfer between the constituent units of BaFe$_2$As$_2$ and ThFeAsN$_{0.7}$O$_{0.3}$ was found to be essential to stabilize the target compound. Dominant electron-type conduction and bulk superconducting transition at ~22 K were demonstrated.