Crack-Resistant and Self-Healable Passive Radiative Cooling Silicone Compounds.

Crack damage and expansion are prevalent issues in outdoor materials, which absorb or transmit sunlight to damaged areas, substantially impairing the functionality of passive radiative cooling systems. Herein, a silicone/dielectric radiative cooling compound is introduced that is both self-healing and crack-resistant, developed through the synthesis of a dynamic and crack-resistant polymer/dielectric hydrogen bond network. This network incorporates boron nitride dielectrics, which serve as sunlight scatterers and hydrogen bond acceptors, with customized silicone polymer featuring high atmospheric window emissive chain segments and UV-vis-NIR transparent hydrogen bond moieties.

Molecularly Functionalized Biomass Hydrogels for Sustainable Atmospheric Water Harvesting.

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) offers a promising pathway to alleviate global water scarcity, highlighting the need for environmentally responsible sorbent materials. In this context, this research introduces a universal strategy for transforming natural polysaccharides into effective hydrogel sorbents, demonstrated with cellulose, starch, and chitosan. The methodology unites alkylation to graft thermoresponsive groups, thereby enhancing water processability and enabling energy-efficient water release at lower temperatures, with the integration of zwitterionic groups to ensure stable and effective water sorption.

Biopolymeric Gels: Advancements in Sustainable Multifunctional Materials.

With the growing emphasis on building a global sustainable community, biopolymeric gels have emerged as a promising platform for environmentally friendly and sustainable applications, garnering significant research attention. Compared to conventional synthetic gels, biopolymeric gels offer numerous advantages, including abundant and renewable raw materials, energy-efficient and eco-friendly fabrication processes, tunable physicochemical properties, and superior biocompatibility and biodegradability. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in multifunctional biopolymeric gels.

Mechanochemistry-mediated colloidal liquid metals for electronic device cooling at kilowatt levels.

Electronic systems and devices operating at significant power levels demand sophisticated solutions for heat dissipation. Although materials with high thermal conductivity hold promise for exceptional thermal transport across nano- and microscale interfaces under ideal conditions, their performance often falls short by several orders of magnitude in the complex thermal interfaces typical of real-world applications. This study introduces mechanochemistry-mediated colloidal liquid metals composed of Galinstan and aluminium nitride to bridge the practice-theory disparity.

Chemistries and materials for atmospheric water harvesting.

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) is recognized as a crucial strategy to address the global challenge of water scarcity by tapping into the vast reserves of atmospheric moisture for potable water supply. Within this domain, sorbents lie in the core of AWH technologies as they possess broad adaptability across a wide spectrum of humidity levels, underpinned by the cyclic sorption and desorption processes of sorbents, necessitating a multi-scale viewpoint regarding the rational material and chemical selection and design. This Invited Review delves into the essential sorption mechanisms observed across various classes of sorbent systems, emphasizing the water-sorbent interactions and the progression of water networks.

Sustainable, low-cost, high-contrast electrochromic displays via host-guest interactions.

Electrochromic (EC) displays with electronically regulating the transmittance of solar radiation offer the opportunity to increase the energy efficiency of the building and electronic products and improve the comfort and lifestyle of people. Despite the unique merit and vast application potential of EC technologies, long-awaited EC windows and related visual content displays have not been fully commercialized due to unsatisfactory production cost, durability, color, and complex fabrication processes. Here we develop a unique EC strategy and system based on the natural host and guest interactions to address the above issues.

Bistable Electrochromic Ionogels via Supramolecular Interactions for Energy-Efficient Displays.

Bistable electrochromic (EC) materials and systems offer significant potential for building decarbonization through their optical modulation and energy efficiency. However, challenges such as limited design strategies and bottlenecks in cost, fabrication, and color have hindered the full commercialization of energy-saving EC windows and displays, with few materials achieving true bistability. Herein, a novel strategy for designing bistable electrochromic materials is proposed by leveraging supramolecular interactions.

Molecularly confined hydration in thermoresponsive hydrogels for efficient atmospheric water harvesting.

Water scarcity is a pressing global issue, requiring innovative solutions such as atmospheric water harvesting (AWH), which captures moisture from the air to provide potable water to many water-stressed areas. Thermoresponsive hydrogels, a class of temperature-sensitive polymers, demonstrate potential for AWH as matrices for hygroscopic components like salts predominantly due to their relatively energy-efficient desorption properties compared to other sorbents. However, challenges such as limited swelling capacity due to the salting-out effect and difficulty in more complete water release hinder the effectiveness of conventional hydrogel sorbents.

Hygroscopic-Microgels-Enabled Rapid Water Extraction from Arid Air.

Sorbent-based atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) has emerged as a promising decentralized water-production technology to mitigate the freshwater crisis in arid areas. Hydrogels have been regarded as attractive sorbents due to their high water retention and tailorable polymer-water interactions. Yet, the kinetics of water sorption and desorption at low relative humidity (RH) shall be improved for their practical implementation.

Sorbents for Atmospheric Water Harvesting: From Design Principles to Applications.

Water scarcity caused by climate change and population growth poses a grave threat to human society. Of the different water purification technologies put forward, one presents a promising strategy that is spatially or temporally non-restricted-atmospheric water harvesting (AWH). Here we review recent progress in the design and study of AWH sorbents, ranging from the innovative chemistries to the integration of sophisticated architectures and functional components, and clarify the structure-property-performance relationship that governs the water capture and release processes.

Tailoring the Desorption Behavior of Hygroscopic Gels for Atmospheric Water Harvesting in Arid Climates.

The ubiquitous nature of atmospheric moisture makes it a significant water resource available at any geographical location. Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) technology, which extracts moisture from the ambient air to generate clean water, is a promising strategy to realize decentralized water production. The high water uptake by salt-based sorbents makes them attractive for AWH, especially in arid environments.

Polyzwitterionic Hydrogels for Highly Efficient High Salinity Solar Desalination.

Interfacial solar vapor generation (SVG) is regarded as a promising and sustainable strategy for clean water production. While many materials have demonstrated excellent evaporation rates under one sun, it remains challenging to design solar evaporators without compromising SVG performance in high-salinity brines (≥10 wt %). Herein, polyzwitterionic hydrogels (PZHs) are proposed as a novel platform for high-salinity solar desalination.

A Universal Mechanochemistry Allows On-Demand Synthesis of Stable and Processable Liquid Metal Composites.

Gallium-based liquid metal (LM) is regarded as one of the most promising candidates for the new-generation jigsaw of stretchable electronics. Nonetheless, the obstacle for the LM application lies in its high surface tension and easy fluidity which leads to great difficulty in handling and processing. Herein, a cross-mechanochemistry between liquid metal and inorganic solid, mediated via the coordination binding between the empty electronic orbits of the former and the lone electron pair of the latter is reported.

Scalable super hygroscopic polymer films for sustainable moisture harvesting in arid environments.

Extracting ubiquitous atmospheric water is a sustainable strategy to enable decentralized access to safely managed water but remains challenging due to its limited daily water output at low relative humidity (≤30% RH). Here, we report super hygroscopic polymer films (SHPFs) composed of renewable biomasses and hygroscopic salt, exhibiting high water uptake of 0.64-0.

Materials Engineering for Atmospheric Water Harvesting: Progress and Perspectives.

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) is emerging as a promising strategy to produce fresh water from abundant airborne moisture to overcome the global clean water shortage. The ubiquitous moisture resources allow AWH to be free from geographical restrictions and potentially realize decentralized applications, making it a vital parallel or supplementary freshwater production approach to liquid water resource-based technologies. Recent advances in regulating chemical properties and micro/nanostructures of moisture-harvesting materials have demonstrated new possibilities to promote enhanced device performance and new understandings.

Polyzwitterionic Hydrogels for Efficient Atmospheric Water Harvesting.

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) is regarded as one of the promising strategies for freshwater production desirable to provide sustainable water for landlocked and arid regions. Hygroscopic materials have attracted widespread attention because of their water harvesting performance. However, the introduction of many inorganic salts often leads to aggregation and leakage issues in practical use.

Controlled Vertically Aligned Structures in Polymer Composites: Natural Inspiration, Structural Processing, and Functional Application.

Vertically aligned structures, which are a series of characteristic conformations with thickness-direction alignment, interconnection, or assembly of filler in polymeric composite materials that can provide remarkable structural performance and advanced anisotropic functions, have attracted considerable attention in recent years. The past two decades have witnessed extensive development with regard to universal fabrication methods, subtle control of morphological features, improvement of functional properties, and superior applications of vertically aligned structures in various fields. However, a systematic review remains to be attempted.

Fully Organic Bulk Polymer with Metallic Thermal Conductivity and Tunable Thermal Pathways.

Electrically insulating polymers are indispensable for electronic and energy applications, but their poor thermal conduction has increasingly become a bottleneck for high-performance devices. Highly drawn low-dimensional polymeric fibers and thin films can exhibit metallic conductivity. Extending this to bulk materials required by real world applications is prohibitive due to the additional interfacial thermal conduction barriers.

A Multidirectionally Thermoconductive Phase Change Material Enables High and Durable Electricity Real-Environment Solar-Thermal-Electric Conversion.

A solar thermoelectric generator (STEG) that generates electricity from sunlight is expected to be a promising technology for harvesting and conversion of clean solar energy. The integration of a phase-change material (PCM) with the STEG even more enables engines to durably generate power in spite of solar radiation flux. However, its photothermal conversion and output electricity is still limited (<15 W/m) by the PCM's deficient thermal management performance, .

Metal-Level Robust, Folding Endurance, and Highly Temperature-Stable MXene-Based Film with Engineered Aramid Nanofiber for Extreme-Condition Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Applications.

Polymer-based electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials possess many irreplaceable advantages than metals, such as superior flexibility, easy processing, and low density. However, impeded by their limited mechanical properties, inferior temperature resistance and unsatisfactory electrical conductivity, it is still challenging to extend their shielding applications under some extreme conditions, i.e.

Highly Thermoconductive, Thermostable, and Super-Flexible Film by Engineering 1D Rigid Rod-Like Aramid Nanofiber/2D Boron Nitride Nanosheets.

Polymer-based thermal management materials have many irreplaceable advantages not found in metals or ceramics, such as easy processing, low density, and excellent flexibility. However, their limited thermal conductivity and unsatisfactory resistance to elevated temperatures (<200 °C) still prevent effective heat dissipation during applications with high-temperature conditions or powerful operation. Therefore, herein highly thermoconductive and thermostable polymer nanocomposite films prepared by engineering 1D aramid nanofiber (ANF) with worm-like microscopic morphologies into rigid rod-like structures with 2D boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) are reported.

Green Production of Regenerated Cellulose/Boron Nitride Nanosheet Textiles for Static and Dynamic Personal Cooling.

Personal cooling technology using functional clothing that could provide localized thermal regulation instead of cooling the entire space is regarded as a highly anticipated strategy to not only facilitate thermal comfort and human health but also be energy-saving and low-cost. The challenge is how to endow textiles with prominent cooling effect whenever the wearer is motionless or sportive. In this study, high content of edge-selective hydroxylated boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) up to 60 wt % was added into a biodegradable cellulose/alkaline/urea aqueous solution, and then regenerated cellulose (RCF)/BNNS multifilaments were successfully spun in a simple, low-cost, and environmentally friendly process, which was demonstrated to serve as both static and dynamic personal cooling textile.

Design and Preparation of a Unique Segregated Double Network with Excellent Thermal Conductive Property.

It is still a challenge to fabricate polymer-based composites with excellent thermal conductive property because of the well-known difficulties such as insufficient conductive pathways and inefficient filler-filler contact. To address this issue, a synergistic segregated double network by using two fillers with different dimensions has been designed and prepared by taking graphene nanoplates (GNPs) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) in polystyrene for example. In this structure, GNPs form the segregated network to largely increase the filler-filler contact areas while MWCNT are embedded within the network to improve the network-density.