Diatom-Inspired Nanoscale Heterogeneous Assembly Strategy for Constructing Thermal Insulating Wood-Based Aerogels with Exceptional Strength, Resilience, Degradability, and Flame Retardancy.

The potential of thermally insulated wood aerogels in energy-efficient engineering is constrained by their mechanical weakness and inadequate environmental stability. Combining minerals with wood aerogels offers promise for enhancing their multifaceted performance. However, fabricating high-performance wood-based aerogels organic-inorganic assembly remains challenging due to poor uniformity and weak interfacial bonding.

Top-Down Strategy Enabling Elastic Wood Nanocarbon Sponges with Wrinkled Multilayer Structure and High Compressive Strength for High-Performance Compressible Supercapacitors.

3D porous carbon electrodes have attracted significant attention for advancing compressible supercapacitors (SCs) in flexible electronics. The micro- and nanoscale architecture critically influences the mechanical and electrochemical performance of these electrodes. However, achieving a balance between high compressive strength, electrochemical stability, and cost-effective sustainable production remains challenging.

Enhancing the water resistance properties of bamboo particleboard by reconstructing lignocellulose through carbonization treatment.

Bamboo particleboards are recognized as a highly promising alternative to traditional wood particleboards owing to their short growth cycle, abundant availability, and exceptional mechanical properties. However, bamboo particleboards frequently exhibit undesirable hygroscopicity, which limits their broader applications. This study introduces a straightforward and inhibitor-free carbonization treatment method to enhance the water resistance properties of bamboo particleboards.

Green Strategy for a Large-Format, Superhard, and Insulated Electromagnetic Wave Absorber Inspired by a Natural Feature of a Conch Shell.

Due to the intensification of electromagnetic pollution and energy shortages, there is an urgent need for multifunctional composites that can absorb electromagnetic waves and provide insulation. However, developing low-cost electromagnetic wave-absorbing composites that are lightweight, high strength, heat-insulating, and large-format for special environments remains challenging. Inspired by the conch shell, this article proposes a green strategy of hydration recrystallization self-assembly.

MoS/NiO heterocatalyst featuring stacking Structures, oxygen Vacancies, and hydrophilic Interfaces for hydrogen production via urea electrolysis.

Two-dimensional nano-MoS holds remarkable potential for widespread use in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) applications owing to its high catalytic activity, abundant availability, and low cost. However, its electrocatalytic performance is significantly lower than that of Pt-based catalysts necessitating strategies to improve its catalytic activity. We developed an effective strategy for enhancing the HER performance of MoS based on the synergistic effect of oxygen vacancies (O), heterostructures, and interfacial wettability.

Develop a novel and multifunctional soy protein adhesive constructed by rosin acid emulsion and TiO organic-inorganic hybrid structure.

Soy protein adhesives (SPI) exhibit broad prospects in substituting aldehyde-based resin due to the economic and environmental-friendly characteristics, but still face a challenge because of the dissatisfied bonding strength and terrible water resistance. Herein, prompted by organic-inorganic hierarchy, a multifunctional and novel soy protein adhesive (SPI-RAE-TiO) consisting of rosin acid emulsion (RAE) and TiO nanoparticles (TiO) were proposed. In comparison with original SPI, the dry and wet shear strengths of modified adhesive reached 2.

Powering the Future Green Buildings: Multifunctional Ultraviolet-Shielding Transparent Wood.

Indoor UV damage is a serious problem that is often ignored. Common glasses cannot filter UV rays well and have fragility and environmental issues. UV-shielding transparent wood (TW) holds promise, yet striking the right balance between blocking UV rays and allowing sufficient visible-light transmission poses a challenge.

Synergistic preparation of a straw fiber/polylactic acid composite with high toughness and strength through interfacial compatibility enhancement and elastomer toughening.

Plant fiber-reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) composites are extensively utilized in eco-friendly packaging, sports equipment, and various other applications due to their environmental benefits and cost-effectiveness. However, PLA suffers from brittleness and poor toughness, which restricts its use in scenarios demanding high toughness. To expand the application range of plant fiber-reinforced PLA-based composites and enhance their poor toughness, this study employed a two-step process involving wheat straw fiber (WF) to improve the interfacial compatibility between WF and PLA.

Effect of Fiber Loading on Mechanical and Flame-Retardant Properties of Poplar-Fiber-Reinforced Gypsum Composites.

Gypsum-based composites were prepared via a slurry casting process using construction gypsum as the binding material and poplar fibers as reinforcing material. The effects of different fiber content and curing time on the mechanical properties, water resistance, and flame retardancy of these composites were investigated, and the influence mechanism was characterized by infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffractometry. The results showed that the best composite mechanical strength was achieved with 10% poplar fiber- content, and the absolute dry flexural and compressive strengths reached 3.

A Novel Flame-Retardant, Smoke-Suppressing, and Superhydrophobic Transparent Bamboo.

Silica glass, known for its brittleness, weight, and non-biodegradable nature, faces challenges in finding suitable alternatives. Transparent wood, made by infusing polymers into wood, shows promise but is hindered by limited availability of wood in China and fire risks associated with its use. This study explores the potential of utilizing bamboo, which has a shorter growth cycle, as a valuable resource for developing flame-retardant, smoke-suppressing, and superhydrophobic transparent bamboo.

An electrochemically mediated ATRP synthesis of lignin-g-PDMAPS UCST-thermoresponsive polymer.

It is a promising idea to graft zwitterionic polymers onto lignin and prepare lignin-grafted-poly [2-(methacryloyloxy) ethyl] dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl) ammonium hydroxide (Lignin-g-PDMAPS) thermosensitive polymer with the upper critical solution temperature (UCST). In this paper, an electrochemically mediated atom transfer radical polymerization (eATRP) method was used to prepare Lignin-g-PDMAPS. The structure and property of the Lignin-g-PDMAPS polymer were characterized by the fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray electron spectroscopy (XPS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC).

The reconstitution of reed cellulose by the hydrothermal carbonization and acid etching to improve the performance of photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics.

As an economical and environment-friendly material, hydrothermal carbonation carbon (HTCC) has been widely used in the field of adsorption and catalysis. Previous studies mainly used glucose as raw material to prepare HTCC. Cellulose in biomass can be further hydrolyzed into carbohydrate; however, there are few reports on the direct preparation of HTCC from biomass and the relevant synthesis mechanism is unclear.

Constructing N-doped and 3D Hierarchical Porous graphene nanofoam by plasma activation for supercapacitor and Zn ion capacitor.

Traditional electrode materials still face vital challenges of few active sites, low porosity, complex synthesis process, and low specific capacitance. Herein, N-doped and 3D hierarchical porous graphene nanofoam (N-GNF) is created on carbon fibers (CFs) by employing a facile, fast, and environmentally friendly strategy of N plasma activation. After an appropriated N plasma activation, the graphene nanosheets (GNSs) synthesized by Ar/CH plasma deposition transform into N-GNF successfully.

Preparation of reed-based hydrothermal carbonized carbon photocatalyst and effective degradation of methylene blue and tetracycline.

Hydrothermal carbonation carbon (HTCC) is a promising semiconductor material for the photocatalytic degradation of pollutants. However, the poor charge transfer capability of HTCC and the unclear mechanism of photocatalysis limit its practical application. In this study, a novel Z-type heterojunction photocatalyst of silver carbonate (AgCO) and HTCC (AgCO/HTCC) was developed for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and tetracycline (TC) from wastewater using a hydrothermal- coprecipitation method.

Farmland quality assessment using deep fully convolutional neural networks.

Farmland is the cornerstone of agriculture and is important for food security and social production. Farmland assessment is essential but traditional methods are usually expensive and slow. Deep learning methods have been developed and widely applied recently in image recognition, semantic understanding, and many other application domains.

Lake volume variation in the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau from 1989 to 2019.

Lake storage change serves as a unique indicator of natural climate change on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). However, comprehensive lake storage data, especially for lakes smaller than 10 km, are still lacking in the region. In this dataset, we completed a census of annual relative lake volume (RLV) for 976 lakes, which are larger than 1 km, on the endorheic basin of the Tibetan Plateau (EBTP) during 1989-2019 using Landsat imagery and digital terrain models.

Synergistic modification of polylactic acid by oxidized straw fibers and degradable elastomers: A green composite with good strength and toughness.

Polylactic acid-based (PLA) composites are widely used in biomedicine, electrical components, food packaging and other fields, but their unsatisfactory mechanical properties such as high brittleness and poor toughness, cause problems in functional applications. This work developed a green and environmentally friendly strategy to improve PLA mechanical properties. Flexible polybutylene succinate (PBS) and alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) treated straw fibers (SF) synergistically modified PLA.

Effect of different amounts of bamboo charcoal on properties of biodegradable bamboo charcoal/polylactic acid composites.

Biodegradable composites were prepared from polylactic acid (PLA) and bamboo charcoal (BC) by melt blending and hot pressing. The effects of BC addition on the mechanical properties, water absorption, DMA, TGA, DSC, and CONE of BC/PLA composites were investigated. The microscopic morphology of the composites was analyzed by SEM.

Effects of Reed Biochar Mass Fraction on the Properties of Polypropylene/Reed Char Composites.

Reed charcoal/polypropylene (RC/PP) composites were prepared by melt-blending and molding processes. The effects of RC addition (by mass fraction) on its mechanical properties were investigated and the mechanism characterized. The results showed that RC and PP were physically bonded and formed a mechanical interlocking matrix.

Influence of Alkali Treatment on Properties of Bamboo Portland Cement Particle Board.

Bamboo contains water-soluble saccharides and carboxylic acid which have an anticoagulation effect on Portland cement; the anticoagulation ingredients can directly influence the adaptability of the Portland cement and bamboo shavings and finally influence the mechanical properties of bamboo Portland cement particle board. In order to improve the adaptability of bamboo and the Portland cement, bamboo shavings are pretreated with 1% NaOH solution, 2% NaOH solution, or 3% NaOH solution. High-performance liquid chromatography is adopted to analyze the influences of treatment based on different concentrations of NaOH solutions on the content of water-soluble saccharides and carboxylic acid in the bamboo shavings, and a Fourier infrared spectrometer and an X-ray diffractometer are utilized to analyze the characteristic peak changes and crystallization property changes, respectively, of the chemical ingredients of the bamboo shavings before and after the three types of pretreatment.

Biomimetic Swallow Nest Structure: A Lightweight and High-Strength Thermal Insulation Material.

A common method for reducing carbon emissions and the load-bearing pressure of buildings, and while also achieving improved energy conservation is to prepare porous magnesium-based lightweight composites to reduce waste and environmental hazards. However, due to internal stress, the pores of traditional lightweight composites crack easily and collapse, resulting in composites that are brittle with poor water resistance. These materials cannot achieve both low density and high strength, which limits their application in advanced functional materials.

Calcium carbonate modified urea-formaldehyde resin adhesive for strength enhanced medium density fiberboard production.

This study investigated the improved properties of calcium carbonate (CaCO) modified urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin adhesive for medium density fiberboard (MDF) production. The CaCO modified UF resins were prepared by adding different proportions of CaCO to a low molar ratio UF resin at the initial stage of a typical synthetic process of the resin. The physicochemical properties of the resins were measured.

Terrestrial water storage regime and its change in the endorheic Tibetan Plateau.

Analogous to flow regime, this study proposed a new statistical framework to assess inter-annual and intra-annual terrestrial water storage (TWS) regime and its changes from the aspects of magnitude, variability, duration and components. The framework was applied to two endorheic basins, Inner Basin (IB) and Qaidam Basin (QB), in the Tibetan Plateau and their eight sub-regions. Our major findings are as follows: (1) TWS in the IB (2.

Degradation of urea-formaldehyde resin residues by a hydrothermal oxidation method into recyclable small molecular organics.

Urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin residues and the related product wastes as organic hazardous wastes are difficult to be biodegraded or recycled. In this research, a hydrothermal oxidation method using hydrogen peroxide (HO) solution has been developed for the degradation and recycling of UF resin residues. The effects of solution concentration, temperature, and time on the degradation efficiency and products of UF resin residues were studied.