Bionic Inner-Tapered Energy Absorption Tube Featuring Progressively Enhanced Fold Deformation Mode.

Slender tubes are in high demand owing to their lightweight and outstanding energy absorption. However, conventional slender tubes are prone to catastrophic failures such as Euler's buckling under axial load. Interestingly, growing bamboos overcome this similar dilemma via a unique tapered intine in the internodes, which endows them with excellent energy absorption.

Bionic Recognition Technologies Inspired by Biological Mechanosensory Systems.

Mechanical information is a medium for perceptual interaction and health monitoring of organisms or intelligent mechanical equipment, including force, vibration, sound, and flow. Researchers are increasingly deploying mechanical information recognition technologies (MIRT) that integrate information acquisition, pre-processing, and processing functions and are expected to enable advanced applications. However, this also poses significant challenges to information acquisition performance and information processing efficiency.

Autonomous Anticoagulation on a Biomimetic Al-Based Hierarchical Surface.

Studies targeting the blood repellency and autonomous anticoagulation of superhydrophobic (SH) surfaces are potentially valuable for their application in blood contact. The anticoagulation abilities and potential mechanisms of different SH surfaces urgently need to be revealed. In this study, a range of microprotrusion arrays on Al substrates with varying spacings via laser ablation through the utilization of organic adsorption and siloxane coupling reactions were fabricated.

Preparation and Application of Nature-inspired High-performance Mechanical Materials.

Natural materials are valued for their lightweight properties, high strength, impact resistance, and fracture toughness, often outperforming human-made materials. This paper reviews recent research on biomimetic composites, focusing on how composition, microstructure, and interfacial characteristics affect mechanical properties like strength, stiffness, and toughness. It explores biological structures such as mollusk shells, bones, and insect exoskeletons that inspire lightweight designs, including honeycomb structures for weight reduction and impact resistance.

Flexible Pressure Sensor Composed of Multi-Layer Textile Materials for Human-Machine Interaction Applications.

Flexible pressure sensors have shown significant application prospects in fields such as artificial intelligence and precision manufacturing. However, most flexible pressure sensors are often prepared using polymer materials and precise micronano processing techniques, which greatly limits the widespread application of sensors. Here, this work chooses textile material as the construction material for the sensor, and its latitude and longitude structure endows the sensor with a natural structure.

Capacitive pressure sensors based on bioinspired structured electrode for human-machine interaction applications.

Flexible pressure sensor is a crucial component of tactile sensors and plays an integral role in numerous significant fields. Despite the considerable effort put forth, how to further improve sensitivity with ingenious yet easy-to-manufacture structures and apply them to emerging fields such as structure/materials recognition, human motion monitoring, and human-machine interaction remains a challenge. Here, we develop a highly sensitive flexible capacitive pressure sensor featuring a structured electrode layer with embedded microcracks and a dielectric layer with micro-convex structures, which are combined with an iontronic interface.

High-Toughness Epoxy-Based Composites with a Bioinspired Three-Dimensional Interconnected Skeleton for Photothermal Conversion Applications.

Advanced epoxy (EP)-based composites, retaining excellent physical and mechanical properties, are in demand in many high-end devices, such as fan blades of aeroengines. However, the irreconcilable conflict between stiffness and toughness within an EP often leads to catastrophic brittle fracture. Herein, inspired by the medulla skeleton of wing feathers of , bioinspired EP-based composites (BECs) were obtained via integrating functionalized three-dimensional interconnected skeleton into a brittle EP.

Bioinspired Active Dynamic Dust Remover for Multiscale Stardust Repelling of Unmanned Probe Surface.

Unmanned probes, mainly powered by solar panels, are effective tools for exploiting space resources to expand the human habitat. However, it remains a great challenge for the unmanned probes to actively repel multiscale dust particles in space. Inspired by the synergistic antifouling mechanism of fly wings and legs, a biomimetic dynamic antifouling surface (BDAS) was prepared based on a combination of self-assembly and template inversion.

Chiton-Inspired Composites Synergizing Strength and Toughness Through Sinusoidal Interlocking Interfaces for Protective Applications.

Introducing biological structures into materials design is expected to develop strong and tough structural materials. However, multiple interfaces are introduced simultaneously. They are always the weakest part of load transfer, becoming a critical vulnerability and failure-prone area.

Bioinspired Antireflective and Antifogging Surface for Highly Efficient and Stable Inverted Solar Cells.

Photovoltaic devices are essentially solar energy collectors that convert incident photons into charge carriers. However, light reflection losses and external factors (e.g.

Reversible Antireflection Materials Inspired by Cicada Wings for Anticounterfeit and Photovoltaic Cells.

Antireflection (AR) surfaces are essential for the fields of flexible displays, photovoltaic industry, medical endoscope, intelligent windows, etc. Although natural creatures with well-organized micro/nanostructures have provided some coupling design principles for the rapid development of bioinspired AR materials, the mechanical vulnerability, poor flexibility, and nonadjustability have been pointed out as the drawback of these nanostructures. Here, a bioinspired reversible AR film with 4% reflectivity, 90% transmittance, and 9% haze in broadband (400-900 nm) was prepared.

Study of Self-Locking Structure Based on Surface Microstructure of Dung Beetle Leg Joint.

Dung beetle leg joints exhibit a remarkable capacity to support substantial loads, which is a capability significantly influenced by their surface microstructure. The exploration of biomimetic designs inspired by the surface microstructure of these joints holds potential for the development of efficient self-locking structures. However, there is a notable absence of research focused on the surface microstructure of dung beetle leg joints.

Bionic Design of High-Performance Joints: Differences in Failure Mechanisms Caused by the Different Structures of Beetle Femur-Tibial Joints.

Beetle femur-tibial joints can bear large loads, and the joint structure plays a crucial role. Differences in living habits will lead to differences in femur-tibial joint structure, resulting in different mechanical properties. Here, we determined the structural characteristics of the femur-tibial joints of three species of beetles with different living habits.

Optically Responsive Hydrogel with Rapid Deformation for Motion Regulation of Magnetic Actuators.

Optically and magnetically responsive soft actuators are gaining attention for their noncontact actuation, flexibility, and remote control capabilities. However, they face challenges in rapidly switching motion postures and modes, which limits their performance in complex environments. We developed bilayer hydrogel actuators based on poly(-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) using an ice-templating method combined with free radical polymerization.

Bioinspired interlaced wetting surfaces for continuous on-demand emulsion separation.

Maintaining high separation performance during continuous emulsion separation remains a challenge. Herein, based on biomimetic coupling ideas, hole array interlaced wetting surfaces (HAIWSs) and mastoid array interlaced wetting surfaces (MAIWSs) were prepared by laser processing, electroless silver deposition, thiol modification, and spraying for on-demand emulsion separation. When the separation is going on, randomly moving emulsion droplets are prone to being captured by holes or mastoids due to interlaced wettability.

Flexible Pressure, Humidity, and Temperature Sensors for Human Health Monitoring.

The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, micro-nano manufacturing, and flexible electronics technology have unleashed unprecedented innovation and opportunities for applying flexible sensors in healthcare, wearable devices, and human-computer interaction. The human body's tactile perception involves physical parameters such as pressure, temperature, and humidity, all of which play an essential role in maintaining human health. Inspired by the sensory function of human skin, many bionic sensors have been developed to simulate human skin's perception to various stimuli and are widely applied in health monitoring.

Crack-Deflecting Lattice Metamaterials Inspired by Precipitation Hardening.

Lattice structures, comprising nodes and struts arranged in an array, are renowned for their lightweight and unique mechanical deformation characteristics. Previous studies on lattice structures have revealed that failure often originates from stress concentration points and spreads throughout the material. This results in collapse failure, similar to the accumulation of damage at defects in metallic crystals.

Preparation and Properties of Brake Friction Materials Reinforced with Coconut Fiber and Dypsis Lutescens Fiber.

Brake friction material reinforced with coconut fiber and dypsis lutescens fiber was designed and prepared in this study. Specimens incorporating 0-8 wt.% of coconut fibers or dypsis lutescens fibers were fabricated.

Study of the influence of macro-structure and micro-structure on the mechanical properties of stag beetle upper jaw.

Macrostructural control of stress distribution and microstructural influence on crack propagation is one of the strategies for obtaining high mechanical properties in stag beetle upper jaws. The maximum bending fracture force of the stag beetle upper jaw is approximately 154, 000 times the weight of the upper jaw. Here, we explore the macro and micro-structural characteristics of two stag beetle upper jaws and reveal the resulting differences in mechanical properties and enhancement mechanisms.

One-Step Spraying Strategy for Fabricating Bioinspired, Graphene-Based, and Multifunctional-Integrated Coatings on Structural Steel with Good Water Repellency, Fireproofing, Anticorrosion, and Durability.

Traditionally, many coatings were merely concentrated on settling the inherent fire protection problem of steel structures, while surface contamination and corrosion susceptibility should also be considered. Concurrently addressing these problems in fireproof efficiency and surface multifunctionality has become an issue of great significance in further expanding the application value in industrial and daily scenarios. Based on this condition, ecofriendly, graphene-based, and superhydrophobic coatings with multifunctional integration were constructed on steel via a one-step spraying method.

What Exactly Can Bionic Strategies Achieve for Flexible Sensors?

Flexible sensors have attracted great attention in the field of wearable electronic devices due to their deformability, lightness, and versatility. However, property improvement remains a key challenge. Fortunately, natural organisms exhibit many unique response mechanisms to various stimuli, and the corresponding structures and compositions provide advanced design ideas for the development of flexible sensors.

Superwetting PVA/cellulose aerogel with asymmetric structure for oil/water separation and solar-driven seawater desalination.

Extracting clean water from oily wastewater and seawater is one of the effective strategies to alleviate the freshwater crisis. However, achieving both high separation efficiency and excellent salt resistance remain challenges for materials. Herein, a novel methyltrichlorosilane-modified polyvinyl alcohol/cellulose aerogel (MPCA) was prepared by freeze drying, chemical cross-linking, and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods.

Droplet Bottom Expansion and Its Wettability Control Mechanism Based on Macroscopic Defects.

Biomimetic surfaces with special wettability have received much attention due to their promising prospects in droplet manipulation. Although some progress has been made, the manipulation of droplets by macroscopic defects of the millimeter structure and the wetting-state transition mechanism have rarely been reported. Herein, inspired by lotus leaves and desert beetles, biomimetic surfaces with macroscopic defects are prepared by laser processing and chemical modification.