A Photoelectric Synergistic Flexible Solid Slippery Surface for All-Day Anti-Icing/Frosting.

The accumulation of ice on surface has caused great harm to lots of fields such as transportation or aerospace. Nowadays, various equipment or tools used in low-temperature environments, which face the risk of interface icing, usually have irregular shapes. Traditional rigid anti-icing materials are difficult to meet practical application requirements.

Flexible solid-liquid bi-continuous electrically and thermally conductive nanocomposite for electromagnetic interference shielding and heat dissipation.

In the era of 5 G, the rise in power density in miniaturized, flexible electronic devices has created an urgent need for thin, flexible, polymer-based electrically and thermally conductive nanocomposites to address challenges related to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and heat accumulation. However, the difficulties in establishing enduring and continuous transfer pathways for electrons and phonons using solid-rigid conductive fillers within insulative polymer matrices limit the development of such nanocomposites. Herein, we incorporate MXene-bridging-liquid metal (MBLM) solid-liquid bi-continuous electrical-thermal conductive networks within aramid nanofiber/polyvinyl alcohol (AP) matrices, resulting in the AP/MBLM nanocomposite with ultra-high electrical conductivity (3984 S/cm) and distinguished thermal conductivity of 13.

Noncontact Microfluidics of Highly Viscous Liquids for Accurate Self-Splitting and Pipetting.

Accurate dosing for various liquids, especially for highly viscous liquids, is fundamental in wide-ranging from molecular crosslinking to material processing. Despite droppers or pipettes being widely used as pipetting devices, they are powerless for quantificationally splitting and dosing highly viscous liquids (>100 mPa s) like polymer liquids due to the intertwined macromolecular chains and strong cohesion energy. Here, a highly transparent photopyroelectric slippery (PS) platform is provided to achieve noncontact self-splitting for liquids with viscosity as high as 15 000 mPa s, just with the assistance of sunlight and a cooling source to provide a local temperature difference (ΔT).

Light-Induced Dynamic Manipulation of Liquid Metal Droplets in the Ambient Atmosphere.

Dynamic manipulation of liquid metal (LM) droplets, a material combining metallicity and fluidity, has recently revealed tremendous potential in developing unconstrained microrobots. LM manipulating techniques based on magnetic fields, electric fields, chemical reactions, and ion concentration gradients in liquid environments have advanced considerably, but dynamic manipulation in air remains a challenge. Herein, a photoresponsive pyroelectric superhydrophobic (PPS) platform is proposed for noncontact, flexible, and controllable manipulation in the ambient atmosphere.

Infinite Self-Propulsion of Circularly On/Discharged Droplets.

Self-propulsion of droplets in a controlled and long path at a high-speed is crucial for organic synthesis, pathological diagnosis and programable lab-on-a-chip. To date, extensive efforts have been made to achieve droplet self-propulsion by asymmetric gradient, yet, existing structural, chemical, or charge density gradients can only last for a while (<50 mm). Here, this work designs a symmetrical waved alternating potential (WAP) on a superhydrophobic surface to charge or discharge the droplets during the transport process.

Photoelectric synergistic anisotropic slippery interface for directional droplets manipulation.

Stimuli-responsive anisotropic slippery surfaces have displayed remarkable performance in directionally manipulating droplet transport behavior. However, most current reported anisotropic slippery materials have been limited to a single response mode, which often fails to satisfy the practical conditions of double or synergetic stimulation in complex environments. Here, an anisotropic photoelectric synergistic responsive paraffin-injected directional oxidized copper foam slippery interface (P/DOC-S) with a low response threshold is reported.

Slippery Graphene-Bridging Liquid Metal Layered Heterostructure Nanocomposite for Stable High-Performance Electromagnetic Interference Shielding.

Gallium-based liquid metal (LM) with intriguing high electrical conductivity and room-temperature fluidity has attracted substantial attention for its potential application in flexible electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. However, the EMI shielding performance of the existing LM-based composites is unsatisfying due to the irreconcilable contradiction between high EMI shielding efficiency (SE) and low thickness. In addition, the research on environmentally stable EMI shielding material has become an urgent need due to the increasingly sophisticated application scenarios.

Noncontact Charge Shielding Knife for Liquid Microfluidics.

Multibehavioral droplet manipulation in a precise and programmed manner is crucial for stoichiometry, biological virus detection, and intelligent lab-on-a-chip. Apart from fundamental navigation, merging, splitting, and dispensing of the droplets are required for being combined in a microfluidic chip as well. Yet, existing active manipulations including strategies from light to magnetism are arduous to use to split liquids on superwetting surfaces without mass loss and contamination, because of the high cohesion and Coanda effect.

Photothermal Solid Slippery Surfaces with Rapid Self-Healing, Improved Anti/De-Icing and Excellent Stability.

Icing phenomenon that occurs universally in nature and industry gets a great impact on human life. Over the past decades, extensive efforts have been made for a wide range of anti-icing/deicing surfaces, but the preparation of anti-icing/deicing interfaces that combine stability, rapid self-healing and excellent anti-icing/deicing performance remains a challenge. In this study, a photothermal solid slippery surface with excellent comprehensive performance is prepared by integrating cellulose acetate film, carbon nanotubes with paraffin wax (CCP).

Slippery Surface Based on Photoelectric Responsive Nanoporous Composites with Optimal Wettability Region for Droplets' Multifunctional Manipulation.

The development of responsive slippery surfaces is important because of the high demand for such materials in the fields of liquid manipulation on biochips, microfluidics, microreactions, and liquid-harvesting devices. Although great progress has been achieved, the effect of substrate wettability on slippery surfaces stability is overlooked by scientists. In addition, current responsive slippery surfaces generally function utilizing single external stimuli just for imprecisely controlling liquid motion, while advanced intelligences are always expected to be integrated into one smart interface material for widespread multifunctional applications.

Tough Reversible Adhesion Properties of a Dry Self-Cleaning Biomimetic Surface.

Geckos have one of the world's most efficient reversible adhesion systems. Even walking in dusty conditions, geckos can dislodge up to 80% of contaminants and recover their adhesion capability after walking as few as four steps. Thus far, artificial dry self-cleaning materials inspired by the geckos' hierarchical fibrillar structure have been only able to remove 55% of collected large particle contaminants with 30 steps.

Preparation of Polyurethane/Graphite Composite Films with Stable Mechanical Property and Wear Resistance Underwater.

The wear resistance and stable mechanical properties affect the service life of the underwater functional materials to a certain extent. Unfortunately, the current study of underwater functional materials is rarely related to these aspects. Herein, we successfully designed and prepared polyurethane/graphite nanosheet (PU/GN) composite materials, which exhibited excellent wear resistance and stable mechanical properties underwater.

Temperature-Responsive Anisotropic Slippery Surface for Smart Control of the Droplet Motion.

Development of stimulus-responsive anisotropic slippery surfaces is important because of the high demand for such materials in the field of liquid directional-driven systems. However, current studies in the field of slippery surfaces are mainly conducted to prepare isotropic slippery surfaces. Although we have developed electric-responsive anisotropic slippery surfaces that enable smart control of the droplet motion, there remain challenges for designing temperature-responsive anisotropic slippery surfaces to control the liquid droplet motion on the surface and in the tube.

Underwater Mechanically Robust Oil-Repellent Materials: Combining Conflicting Properties Using a Heterostructure.

The development of underwater mechanically robust oil-repellent materials is important due to the high demand for these materials with the increase in underwater activities. Based on the previous study, a new strategy is demonstrated to prepare underwater mechanically robust oil-repellent materials by combining conflicting properties using a heterostructure, which has a layered hydrophobic interior structure with a columnar hierarchical micro/nanostructure on the surface and a hydrophilic outer structure. The surface hydrophilic layer imparts underwater superoleophobicity and low oil adhesion to the material, which has oil contact angle of larger than 150° and adhesion of lower than 2.

Wettability with Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogens.

Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) have become an emerging field since the concept of AIE was proposed in 2001. Recently, AIEgens have attracted considerable attention due to their abnormal non-emissive fluorescent behavior in solution but strongly emissive behavior in the aggregate state. By utilizing the inherent hydrophobicity, AIEgens can be used to monitor the crystal formation and dewetting behavior in the self-assembly process.

Multiphase Media Antiadhesive Coatings: Hierarchical Self-Assembled Porous Materials Generated Using Breath Figure Patterns.

The cleaning of interface pollutants typically consumes a large amount of energy. Therefore, the development of multiphase media antiadhesive materials is urgently required to meet the demand of energy savings and environmental protection. In this study, the antiadhesive properties toward several liquid droplets and bubbles in multiple media are demonstrated on a porous FeO coating, which is prepared via a facile spin-coating-assisted breath figure approach and a phase separation strategy.

Robust Underwater Oil-Repellent Material Inspired by Columnar Nacre.

Inspired by natural columnar nacre, artificial montmorillonite/hydroxyethyl cellulose columnar nacre-like materials with a site-specific layered structure in the interior and a hierarchical columnar structure on the surface are prepared. The materials exhibit improved tensile strength, good chemical stability in seawater, superior resistance to sand-grain impingement, and robust underwater low-adhesive superoleophobicity.

Strengthening of polymer ordered porous materials based on a layered nanocomposite internal structure.

Ordered porous polymeric films attract more and more attention because they have many advantages and broad application prospects in many fields. But because of their large flexibility and poor mechanical properties, some of the scope for application is greatly limited. Inspired by the ordered pore structure of the honeycomb and the layered structure of natural nacre, we prepared an ordered porous polymer film with a layered structure in the pore wall by the solvent-evaporation-restriction assisted hard template method.

Biomimetic heterogeneous multiple ion channels: a honeycomb structure composite film generated by breath figures.

We design a novel type of artificial multiple nanochannel system with remarkable ion rectification behavior via a facile breath figure (BF) method. Notably, even though the charge polarity in the channel wall reverses under different pH values, this nanofluidic device displays the same ionic rectification direction. Compared with traditional nanochannels, this composite multiple ion channel device can be more easily obtained and has directional ionic rectification advantages, which can be applied in many fields.

Anisotropic Slippery Surfaces: Electric-Driven Smart Control of a Drop's Slide.

Anisotropic slippery surfaces composed of directional, porous, conductive poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) fibers, and silicone oil exhibit excellent anisotropic sliding properties for several liquid droplets and the reversible control of conductive liquid droplets sliding on these surfaces under the application of voltage.

Chemically controllable fabrication of one-dimensional ZnO nanostructures and their applications in solar cells.

One-dimensional (1D) ZnO nanostructures have attracted much attention due to their interesting optical and electronic properties, which make them suitable for a wide variety of current and future technological applications, including photodetectors, photovoltaics, photocatalysis, field emissions, gas sensors and solar cells. This review gives a comprehensive overview of recent developments in chemically controllable fabrication of 1D ZnO nanomaterials. We will cover the synthetic techniques including chemical vapor deposition (CVD), metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), hydrothermal technique, solvothermal synthesis, sol-gel method, electrochemical deposition, and nanosphere lithography technique.

Conductive Polymer Porous Film with Tunable Wettability and Adhesion.

A conductive polymer porous film with tunable wettability and adhesion was fabricated by the chloroform solution of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyricacid-methyl-ester (PCBM) via the freeze drying method. The porous film could be obtained from the solution of 0.8 wt%, whose pore diameters ranged from 50 nm to 500 nm.

A visual and organic vapor sensitive photonic crystal sensor consisting of polymer-infiltrated SiO2 inverse opal.

A photonic crystal (PC) sensor that can selectively detect organic vapors through visual color changes has been proposed. The sensor was fabricated by infiltrating a tetraphenylethene polymer (TPEP) into the voids of SiO2 inverse opal photonic crystal. When the sensor was exposed to tetrahydrofuran or acetone vapor, a red shift of the stopband of more than 50 nm could be clearly observed; meanwhile, the film's color changed from violet to cyan.

Special adhesion of natural honeycomb walls and their application.

In this paper, we investigated the wettability and adhesive behavior of the natural honeycomb wall for water and honey droplets. The cell walls have hydrophobic and highly adhesive properties for both water and honey in air. This highly adhesive cell wall was used as a "mechanical hand" to transfer micro-droplets.

Silole-infiltrated photonic crystal films as effective fluorescence sensor for Fe3+ and Hg2+.

We develop a highly effective silole-infiltrated photonic crystal (PC) film fluorescence sensor with high sensitivity, good selectivity and excellent reproducibility for Fe(3+) and Hg(2+) ions. Hexaphenylsilole (HPS) infiltrated PCs show amplified fluorescence due to the slow photon effect of PC because the emission wavelength of HPS is at the blue band edge of the selected PC's stopband. The fluorescence can be quenched significantly by Fe(3+)/Hg(2+) ions owing to electron transfer between HPS and metal ions.