Fabraction of edible bio-nanocomposite coatings from pectin-containing lignocellulosic nanofibers isolated from apple pomace.

Minimally processed fruits are increasingly demanded in modern society, but the management of perishable waste pomaces (WPs) and the products' short shelf-life are still big issues. Here, a facile approach of reconstruing apple pomace (AP) into edible bio-nanocomposite coatings of fresh-cutting apple slices was successfully developed through alkaline demethylation followed by high-pressure homogenization. The fibrillation of AP fibers is largely improved by -COO at a concentration of 1.

Mitigating the Trade-Off between Non-Radiative Recombination and Charge Transport to Enable Efficient Ternary Organic Solar Cells.

Ternary organic solar cells (OSCs) have attracted intensive studies due to their promising potential for attaining high-performing photovoltaics, whereas there has been an opening challenge in minimizing the open circuit voltage () loss while retaining the optimal carrier extraction in the multiple mixture absorbers. Here, we systemically investigate a ternary absorber comprised of two acceptors and a donor, in which the resultant and fill factor are varied and determined by the ratios of acceptor components as a result of the unbalance of non-radiative recombination rates and charge transport. The transient absorption spectroscopy and electroluminescence techniques verify two distinguishable charge-transfer (CT) states in the ternary absorber, and the mismatch of non-radiative recombination rates of those two CT states is demonstrated to be associated with the deficit, whilst the high-emissive acceptor molecule delivers inferior electron mobility, resulting in poor charge transport and a subpar fill factor.

Local Built-In Field at the Sub-nanometric Heterointerface Mediates Cascade Electrochemical Conversion of Lithium-sulfur Batteries.

Heterogeneous catalytic mediators have been proposed to play a vital role in enhancing the multiorder reaction and nucleation kinetics in multielectron sulfur electrochemistry. However, the predictive design of heterogeneous catalysts is still challenging, owing to the lack of in-depth understanding of interfacial electronic states and electron transfer on cascade reaction in Li-S batteries. Here, a heterogeneous catalytic mediator based on monodispersed titanium carbide sub-nanoclusters embedded in titanium dioxide nanobelts is reported.

Graphene-Like Conjugated Molecule as Hole-Selective Contact for Operationally Stable Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells and Modules.

Further enhancing the operational lifetime of inverted-structure perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is crucial for their commercialization, and the design of hole-selective contacts at the illumination side plays a key role in operational stability. In this work, the self-anchoring benzo[rst]pentaphene (SA-BPP) is developed as a new type of hole-selective contact toward long-term operationally stable inverted PSCs. The SA-BPP molecule with a graphene-like conjugated structure shows a higher photostability and mobility than that of the frequently-used triphenylamine and carbazole-based hole-selective molecules.

Steered polymorphic nanodomains in TiO to boost visible-light photocatalytic oxidation.

A breakthrough in enhancing visible-light photocatalysis of wide-bandgap semiconductors such as prototypical titania (TiO) cocatalyst decoration is still challenged by insufficient heterojunctions and inevitable interfacial transport issues. Herein, we report a novel TiO-based composite material composed of generated polymorphic nanodomains including carbon nitride (CN) and (001)/(101)-faceted anatase nanocrystals. The introduction of ultrafine CN results in the generation of many oxygen vacancies in the TiO lattice, and simultaneously induces the exposure and growth of anatase TiO(001) facets with high surface energy.

MOF-Enabled Ion-Regulating Gel Electrolyte for Long-Cycling Lithium Metal Batteries Under High Voltage.

High-voltage lithium metal batteries (LMBs) are a promising high-energy-density energy storage system. However, their practical implementations are impeded by short lifespan due to uncontrolled lithium dendrite growth, narrow electrochemical stability window, and safety concerns of liquid electrolytes. Here, a porous composite aerogel is reported as the gel electrolyte (GE) matrix, made of metal-organic framework (MOF)@bacterial cellulose (BC), to enable long-life LMBs under high voltage.

Spectral Stable Blue-Light-Emitting Diodes via Asymmetric Organic Diamine Based Dion-Jacobson Perovskites.

The spectral instability issue is a challenge in blue perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). Dion-Jacobson (DJ) phase perovskites are promising alternatives to achieve high-quality blue PeLEDs. However, the current exploration of DJ phase perovskites is focused on symmetric divalent cations, and the corresponding efficiency of blue PeLEDs is still inferior to that of green and red ones.

Building bimodal structures by a wettability difference-driven strategy for high-performance protein air-filters.

Building bimodal structures for air-filters is promising to reduce the airflow resistance without sacrificing the filtration efficiency. To do so, multi-jet electrospinning is among the most broadly used methods, yet the interplay between single fibers in electrospinning, which is significant to their morphologies, is overlooked. In this study, we report a wettability difference-driven strategy to fabricate a bimodal protein fabric with superior filtration performance.

A Bimodal Protein Fabric Enabled via In Situ Diffusion for High-Performance Air Filtration.

Design and fabrication of bimodal structures are essential for successful development of advanced air filters with ultralow airflow resistance. To realize this goal, simplified processing procedures are necessary for meeting the practical needs. Here, a bimodal protein fabric with high-performance air filtration, and effectively lowered airflow resistance is reported.

A Super-breathable "Woven-like" Protein Nanofabric.

Nanofabrics made from abundant natural protein that possesses enormous amounts of functional groups may have important applications such as air filtration. However, protein nanofabrics with randomly distributed nanofibers have very low mechanical properties and high airflow resistance, both of which seriously reduce the breathability. Here, a super-breathable zein (corn protein) fabric having a unique "woven-like" nanofibrous structure (w-PNF) via the accumulation effect between the charged nanofibers and the collector during electrospinning is reported.

An Ultra-microporous Carbon Material Boosting Integrated Capacitance for Cellulose-Based Supercapacitors.

A breakthrough in advancing power density and stability of carbon-based supercapacitors is trapped by inefficient pore structures of electrode materials. Herein, an ultra-microporous carbon with ultrahigh integrated capacitance fabricated via one-step carbonization/activation of dense bacterial cellulose (BC) precursor followed by nitrogen/sulfur dual doping is reported. The microporous carbon possesses highly concentrated micropores (~ 2 nm) and a considerable amount of sub-micropores (< 1 nm).

Superresilient Hard Carbon Nanofabrics for Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Developing supermechanically resilient hard carbon materials that can quickly accommodate sodium ions is highly demanded in fabricating durable anodes for wearable sodium-ion batteries. Here, an interconnected spiral nanofibrous hard carbon fabric with both remarkable resiliency (e.g.

Ultralight Programmable Bioinspired Aerogels with an Integrated Multifunctional Surface for Self-Cleaning, Oil Absorption, and Thermal Insulation via Coassembly.

Creating a configurable and controllable surface for structure-integrated multifunctionality of ultralight aerogels is of significance but remains a huge challenge because of the critical limitations of mechanical vulnerability and structural processability. Herein, inspired by , the facile and one-step coassembly approach is developed to allow the structured aerogels to spontaneously replicate -like textures for function-adaptable surfaces morphologically. The in situ superimposed construction of bioinspired topography and intrinsic topology is for the first time performed for programmable binary architectures with multifunctionality without engendering structural vulnerability and functional disruption.