Yongqian Shi

Silicone rubber (SR) is widely employed in advanced applications but is intrinsically limited by high flammability and insufficient mechanical robustness. Conventional flame retardants and reinforcing fillers typically operate independently, resulting in persistent trade-offs between fire safety and mechanical performance. Herein, we report a core–shell nanoarchitectural strategy that decouples and simultaneously optimizes these competing properties via a non-solvent-induced self-assembly approach. A phosphorus–nitrogen flame-retardant core is encapsulated within a porous SiO2 shell, enabling integrated gas-phase (radical scavenging and inert gas release) and condensed-phase (barrier formation and char stabilization) mechanisms. The porous shell further serves as an interfacial scaffold that allows partial infiltration of polymer chains, generating a confined interphase governed by confinement–interlocking–interaction synergy. This architecture enables efficient stress transfer, regulated chain mobility, and enhanced energy dissipation. The composites exhibit significantly enhanced fire safety, with the limiting oxygen index increasing from 19.6% to 28.0%, the peak heat release rate decreasing by 66%, and the total smoke release being reduced by 53%. Meanwhile, the composite achieves simultaneous mechanical reinforcement. At a loading of 75 phr, the tensile strength and elongation at break are improved by 269% and 37%, respectively, overcoming the conventional strength–ductility trade-off.

Harnessing solar evaporation for simultaneous steam and electricity generation is an emerging technology for sustainable energy‐water systems, yet its development is fundamentally constrained by the inability to maintain a stable interfacial potential gradient in homogeneous materials. Here, we introduce a dry‐wet interface engineering strategy that enables persistent thermal‐ionic coupling for continuous electricity generation. Inspired by leaf transpiration, an asymmetric Janus nanofiber membrane is constructed to form a stable hydrophilic‐hydrophobic interface that simultaneously regulates fluid distribution and interfacial charge dynamics. This architecturally confined interface induces hydration‐triggered surface ionization on the hydrophilic layer, generating an intrinsic potential difference continuously reinforced by evaporation‐driven directional ion transport. As a result, the Janus evaporator delivers a stable open‐circuit voltage of 0.22 V under 1 sun illumination, 57% higher than natural evaporation, and exhibits scalable output up to 2.21 V via modular integration. Mechanistic investigations combining experiments and multiscale simulations reveal that the sustained electrical output arises from the synergistic coupling of interfacial potential modulation, ion‐selective transport, and localized photothermal heating. The dry‐wet interface plays a decisive role by stabilizing charge separation and suppressing potential dissipation. This work establishes a general framework for interfacial potential engineering in evaporation‐driven systems, enabling simultaneous solar desalination and electricity generation.

Conductive polymer composites have attracted considerable attention for gas sensing applications due to the easy fabrication, mechanical flexibility, and superior sensing capability at room temperature. Herein, fluorosilicone rubber (F-SiR) composites filled with vapor-grown carbon fibers (VGCFs) were fabricated, and the organic vapor sensing performance of the composites was investigated. Various F-SiR polymers with different contents (0, 50%, 100%) of trifluoropropyl groups were synthesized via ring-opening polymerization, and the addition of highly dispersed VGCF is effective in improving the electrical conductivity of F-SiR without affecting the mechanical flexibility. Consequently, the optimized VGCF/F-SiR composite film exhibits high sensitivity (>10⁴ resistance change), relatively rapid response time (∼34 s), and good reproducibility for detecting both static-saturated and low-concentration flowing organic vapors, superior to the traditional conductive silicone rubber composites. Notably, the composites with different trifluoropropyl groups present different organic vapor-responsive behaviors. Typically, the VGCF/50%F-SiR film-based gas sensor demonstrates good sensing selectivity for both hexane and ethyl acetate and maintains a stable gas-sensing behavior after 50 cyclic blending and twisting tests or under complex environments. Clearly, this work paves a rational method for developing advanced polymer composites as efficient organic vapor sensors by tailoring the molecular structure of silicone polymers.