Compression-sensitive smart windows: inclined pores for dynamic transparency changes.

Smart windows, capable of tailoring light transmission, can significantly reduce energy consumption in building services. While mechano-responsive windows activated by strains are promising candidates, they face long-lasting challenges in which the space for the light scatterer's operation has to be enlarged along with the window size, undermining the practicality. Recent attempts to tackle this challenge inevitably generate side effects with compromised performance in light modulation.

Age of Flexible Electronics: Emerging Trends in Soft Multifunctional Sensors.

With the commercialization of first-generation flexible mobiles and displays in the late 2010s, humanity has stepped into the age of flexible electronics. Inevitably, soft multifunctional sensors, as essential components of next-generation flexible electronics, have attracted tremendous research interest like never before. This review is dedicated to offering an overview of the latest emerging trends in soft multifunctional sensors and their accordant future research and development (R&D) directions for the coming decade.

Homogenizing Zn Deposition in Hierarchical Nanoporous Cu for a High-Current, High Areal-Capacity Zn Flow Battery.

A Zn anode can offset the low energy density of a flow battery for a balanced approach toward electricity storage. Yet, when targeting inexpensive, long-duration storage, the battery demands a thick Zn deposit in a porous framework, whose heterogeneity triggers frequent dendrite formation and jeopardizes the stability of the battery. Here, Cu foam is transferred into a hierarchical nanoporous electrode to homogenize the deposition.

Anti-Fatigue Hydrogel Electrolyte for All-Flexible Zn-Ion Batteries.

Hydrogel electrolytes are widely explored in Zn metal batteries for application in wearable electronics. While extensive studies have been conducted on optimizing the chemical structure and boosting the tensile elasticity, the mechanical stability of the hydrogel under repeated deformation is largely overlooked, leading to unsatisfactory performance at large cycling capacity. This work systematically analyzes the compressive fatigue-resistance properties of the hydrogel electrolyte, revealing the critical roles of the salt and copolymer matrix on crack initiation and propagation.

Mechanochromic Optical/Electrical Skin for Ultrasensitive Dual-Signal Sensing.

Following earlier research efforts dedicated to the realization of multifunctional sensing, recent developments of artificial skins endeavor to go beyond human sensory functions by integrating interactive visualization of strain and pressure stimuli. Inspired by the microcracked structure of spider slit organs and the mechanochromic mechanism of chameleons, this work aims to design a flexible optical/electrical skin (OE-skin) capable of responding to complex stimuli with interactive feedback of human-readable structural colors. The OE-skin consists of an ionic electrode combined with an elastomer dielectric layer, a chromotropic layer containing photonic crystals and a conductive carbon nanotube/MXene layer.

BN-PVDF/rGO-PVDF Laminate Nanocomposites for Energy Storage Applications.

The increasing demand for high energy storage devices calls for concurrently enhanced dielectric constants and reduced dielectric losses of polymer dielectrics. In this work, we rationally design dielectric composites comprising aligned 2D nanofillers of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) in a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix through a novel press-and-fold technique. Both nanofillers play different yet complementary roles: while rGO is designed to enhance the dielectric constant through charge accumulation at the interfaces with polymer, BNNS suppress the dielectric loss by preventing the mobility of free electrons.

Salt-Assisted Selective Growth of H-phase Monolayer VSe with Apparent Hole Transport Behavior.

Vanadium diselenide (VSe) exhibits versatile electronic and magnetic properties in the trigonal prismatic (H-) and octahedral (T-) phases. Compared to the metallic T-phase, the H-phase with a tunable semiconductor property is predicted to be a ferrovalley material with spontaneous valley polarization. Herein we report an epitaxial growth of the monolayer 2D VSe on a mica substrate via the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method by introducing salt in the precursor.

Scalable anisotropic cooling aerogels by additive freeze-casting.

Cooling in buildings is vital to human well-being but inevitability consumes significant energy, adding pressure on achieving carbon neutrality. Thermally superinsulating aerogels are promising to isolate the heat for more energy-efficient cooling. However, most aerogels tend to absorb the sunlight for unwanted solar heat gain, and it is challenging to scale up the aerogel fabrication while maintaining consistent properties.

Highly porous carbon nanofiber electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries.

The electrochemical performance of carbon nanofiber (CNF) electrodes in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) is enhanced by optimizing the morphological and physical properties of low-cost electrospun CNFs. The surface area, porosity and electrical conductivity of CNFs are tailored by modifying the precursor composition, especially the sacrificing agent, Fe(acac), in the polymer precursor and carbonization temperature. A highly porous structure with a large surface area is generated by the catalytic growth of graphitic carbon spheres surrounding the iron nanoparticles which are removed by an acid etching process.

Superinsulating BNNS/PVA Composite Aerogels with High Solar Reflectance for Energy-Efficient Buildings.

With the mandate of worldwide carbon neutralization, pursuing comfortable living environment while consuming less energy is an enticing and unavoidable choice. Novel composite aerogels with super thermal insulation and high sunlight reflection are developed for energy-efficient buildings. A solvent-assisted freeze-casting strategy is used to produce boron nitride nanosheet/polyvinyl alcohol (BNNS/PVA) composite aerogels with a tailored alignment channel structure.

Flexible temperature sensors made of aligned electrospun carbon nanofiber films with outstanding sensitivity and selectivity towards temperature.

Continuous real-time measurement of body temperature using a wearable sensor is an essential part of human health monitoring. Electrospun aligned carbon nanofiber (ACNF) films are employed to assemble flexible temperature sensors. The temperature sensor prepared at a low carbonization temperature of 650 °C yields an outstanding sensitivity of 1.

Interdigitated Three-Dimensional Heterogeneous Nanocomposites for High-Performance Mechanochromic Smart Membranes.

Mechanochromic smart membranes capable of optical modulation have great potential in smart windows, artificial skins, and camouflage. However, the realization of high-contrast optical modulation based on light scattering activated at a low strain remains challenging. Here, we present a strategy for designing mechanochromic scattering membranes by introducing a Young's modulus mismatch between the two interdigitated polydimethylsiloxane phases with weak interfaces in a periodic three-dimensional (3D) structure.

Beyond homogeneous dispersion: oriented conductive fillers for high nanocomposites.

Rational design of structures for regulating the thermal conductivities () of materials is critical to many components and products employed in electrical, electronic, energy, construction, aerospace, and medical applications. As such, considerable efforts have been devoted to developing polymer composites with tailored conducting filler architectures and thermal conduits for highly improved . This paper is dedicated to overviewing recent advances in this area to offer perspectives for the next level of future development.

Hierarchical crumpled NiMnO@MXene composites for high rate ion transport electrochemical supercapacitors.

MXenes have received great attention due to their excellent features such as metal-like electronic conductivity, hydrophilic surface groups, and high volumetric capacitance. However, many performances of MXenes are still unsatisfactory due to their low energy density and easy horizontal stacking. In this work, an NiMn2O4@MXene composite with a crumpled surface was fabricated by a hydrothermal method and a developed dip-coating method.

Anisotropic, Wrinkled, and Crack-Bridging Structure for Ultrasensitive, Highly Selective Multidirectional Strain Sensors.

Flexible multidirectional strain sensors are crucial to accurately determining the complex strain states involved in emerging sensing applications. Although considerable efforts have been made to construct anisotropic structures for improved selective sensing capabilities, existing anisotropic sensors suffer from a trade-off between high sensitivity and high stretchability with acceptable linearity. Here, an ultrasensitive, highly selective multidirectional sensor is developed by rational design of functionally different anisotropic layers.

Sodiophilically Graded Gold Coating on Carbon Skeletons for Highly Stable Sodium Metal Anodes.

Metallic sodium (Na) is an appealing anode material for high-energy Na batteries. However, Na metal suffers from low coulombic efficiencies and severe dendrite growth during plating/stripping cycles, causing short circuits. As an effective strategy to improve the deposition behavior of Na metal, a 3D carbon foam is developed that is sputter-coated with gold nanoparticles (Au/CF), forming a functional gradient through its thickness.

Inter-overlapped MoS/C composites with large-interlayer-spacing for high-performance sodium-ion batteries.

As a two-dimensional layered material with a structure analogous to that of graphene, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) holds great promise in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). However, recent research findings have revealed some disadvantages in two-dimensional (2D) materials such as poor interlayer conductivity and structural instability, resulting in poor rate performance and short cycle life for SIBs. Herein, we designed MoS2 nanoflowers with an ultra-wide spacing interlayer (W-MoS2/C) anchored on special double carbon tubes to construct three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures.

3D pomegranate-like TiN@graphene composites with electrochemical reaction chambers as sulfur hosts for ultralong-life lithium-sulfur batteries.

The low loading and poor cycling performance of sulfur cathodes are among the critical barriers restricting the practical application of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. The rational design of composites consisting of transition metals and conductive nanocarbon is considered an effective strategy to construct cathode materials for Li-S batteries with excellent cycling stability and rate capability. Herein, we propose a spray drying method to fabricate 3D pomegranate-like titanium nitride (TiN)@graphene composites as hosts for sulfur cathodes.

A 3D porous FeP/rGO modulated separator as a dual-function polysulfide barrier for high-performance lithium sulfur batteries.

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) have gained considerable attention for their desirable energy densities, high theoretical capacities, low cost and environmentally friendly properties. However, the shuttle effect of polysulfides seriously hinders their future practical applications. Herein, a dual-function cathode structure, consisting of 3D porous FeP/rGO microspheres supported on both aluminum foil and a commercial separator, exhibits excellent performance by providing strong adsorption with respect to LiS (x = 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8) and S.

Hydrogel-derived VPO/porous carbon framework for enhanced lithium and sodium storage.

Vanadium phosphate (VPO) is attracting extensive attention because of its advantages of low cost, stable structure and high theoretical capacity. However, similar to other phosphates, VPO suffers from low electrical conductivity and large volume expansion, adversely influencing its electrochemical performance and thus limiting its application as an anode in lithium and sodium ion batteries. Herein, we propose a novel, facile strategy based on the organic-inorganic network of a nanostructured hybrid hydrogel for immobilizing VPO in a hierarchically porous carbon framework (3DHP-VPO@C).

Molybdenum Disulfide Based Nanomaterials for Rechargeable Batteries.

The rapid development of electrochemical energy storage systems requires new electrode materials with high performance. As a two-dimensional material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS ) has attracted increasing interest in energy storage applications due to its layered structure, tunable physical and chemical properties, and high capacity. In this review, the atomic structures and properties of different phases of MoS are first introduced.

CrO nanosheet/carbon cloth anode with strong interaction and fast charge transfer for pseudocapacitive energy storage in lithium-ion batteries.

Flexible lithium-ion batteries have attracted considerable interest for next-generation bendable, implantable and wearable electronics devices. Here, we have successfully grown CrO nanosheets on carbon cloth (CC) as freestanding anodes for Li-ion batteries (LIBs). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations verify an optimal structure of two-dimensional CrO nanosheets on the carbon fiber surface and a strong interaction between the O edges of CrO and the carbon.

Self-limiting electrode with double-carbon layers as walls for efficient sodium storage performance.

As a promising energy storage device, sodium ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted more and more attention. Nevertheless, the radius of a sodium ion is much larger than that of a lithium ion, and it is still a significant challenge to solve the problem of volume expansion. In order to solve the problem of volume expansion, a rational nanostructure consisting of CNTs as a carbon matrix, and were sequentially coated with mesoporous SnO2 and N-doped porous carbon tube (NCT).

Two-dimensional porous silicon nanosheets as anode materials for high performance lithium-ion batteries.

In this paper, silicon nanosheets (Si-NSs) are chemically synthesized by using graphene oxide nanosheets as the template. The obtained Si-NSs, which are aggregations of silicon nanocrystals with a size of ∼10 nm, are applied directly as the anode material for lithium ion batteries, delivering a reversible capacity of 800 mA h g-1 after 900 cycles at a rate as high as 8400 mA g-1. Ex situ measurements and in situ observations show the positive effect of the mesoporous structure on the structural stability of Si-NSs.

Nitrogen-doped graphene fiber webs for multi-battery energy storage.

Freestanding carbon-based electrodes with large surface areas and pore volumes are essential to fast ion transport and long-term energy storage. Many of the current porous carbon substrates are composed of particulates, making it difficult to form a self-supported structure. Herein, novel highly porous nitrogen-doped graphene fiber webs (N-GFWs) are prepared using a facile wet-spinning method.