Human skin is a self-healing mechanosensory system that detects various mechanical contact forces efficiently through three-dimensional innervations. Here, we propose a biomimetic artificially innervated foam by embedding three-dimensional electrodes within a new low-modulus self-healing foam material. The foam material is synthesized from a one-step self-foaming process. By tuning the concentration of conductive metal particles in the foam at near-percolation, we demonstrate that it can operate as a piezo-impedance sensor in both piezoresistive and piezocapacitive sensing modes without the need for an encapsulation layer. The sensor is sensitive to an object's contact force directions as well as to human proximity. Moreover, the foam material self-heals autonomously with immediate function restoration despite mechanical damage. It further recovers from mechanical bifurcations with gentle heating (70 °C). We anticipate that this material will be useful as damage robust human-machine interfaces.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19531-0 | DOI Listing |
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January 2025
College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, Shandong, 250014, China.
Renewable energy-powered seawater electrolysis is a green and attractive technique for producing high-purity hydrogen. However, severe chlorideions (Cl) and their derivatives tend to corrode anodic catalysts at ampere-level current densities and hinder the application of seawater-to-H systems. Herein, a polycalmagite (PCM)-coated NiFe layered double hydroxide is presented on Ni foam (NiFe LDH@PCM/NF) that exhibits exceptional stability in alkaline seawater.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China.
This study investigates the deposition of tantalum (Ta) coatings on carbon foams using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to enhance their compressive strength. Two types of open-cell carbon foams, CF-1 and CF-2, with different strut diameters, were examined. The morphology and uniformity of the coatings were characterized, and the effect of coating thickness on the compressive strength of the foams was systematically analyzed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLangmuir
January 2025
Key Laboratory for Advanced Technology in Environmental Protection of Jiangsu Province, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng 224051, China.
Electrode materials with a deformation capability are vital to the development of flexible supercapacitors. However, the preparation of porous carbons with a deformability remains challenging. Herein, a compressible carbon foam has been successfully prepared using a polydopamine/melamine sponge (PDA/MS) as the precursor material.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
School of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, P. R. China.
Ceramic aerogels are promising high-temperature thermal insulation materials due to their outstanding thermal stability and oxidation resistance. However, restricted by nanoparticle-assembled network structures, conventional ceramic aerogels commonly suffer from inherent brittleness, volume shrinkage, and structural collapse at high temperatures. Here, to overcome such obstacles, 3D ultralight and highly porous carbon tube foams (CTFs) were designed and synthesized as the carbonaceous precursors, where melamine foams were used as the sacrificial templates to form the hollow and thin-wall network structures in the CTFs (density: ∼4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Colloid Interface Sci
January 2025
Jilin Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Centre of Optical Materials and Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130022, China. Electronic address:
The materials currently available for information encryption often suffer from low transparency, poor mechanical strength, and a reliance on single decryption conditions, which limits their security and hence application potential. To address these challenges, we developed a transparent, mechanically robust polymer film inspired by the camouflage and communication strategies of the glass squid. In this film, 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalic acid (DHTA) and zinc acetate dihydrate are integrated into a crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol-glutaraldehyde (PVA-GA) matrix to achieve bidirectional irreversible fluorescence and sequential decryption.
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