Yongpeng Wang

The escalating global freshwater shortage demands sustainable and energy‐efficient desalination solutions. Here, a volcano‐inspired dual‐carbon‐network aerogel (CFCA) that couples hierarchical fluidic channels with multiscale thermal management for high‐performance solar desalination is developed. The CFCA features interconnected primary, branching, and microporous conduits within a carbon‐black aerogel, reinforced by dispersed short carbon fibers to form continuous capillary pathways for rapid water transport and vapor release. A continuous outer carbon‐fiber shell acts as a heat‐confining layer and thermal reservoir while directing salt migration toward the edges. The conical geometry generates radial temperature gradients that induce Marangoni convection, enabling spontaneous salt expulsion and edge‐localized crystallization without blocking the photothermal surface. Benefiting from these synergistic effects, the CFCA delivers an ultrahigh evaporation rate of 4.08 kg m ⁻² h ⁻¹ and a solar‐to‐vapor efficiency of 95.8% under 1 sun. It also maintains an evaporation rate of 2.63 kg m ⁻² h ⁻¹ in 20 wt.% brine with a salt recovery efficiency of 44.2%, and achieves an average rate of 3.00 kg m ⁻² h ⁻¹ during seven‐day operation in 3.5 wt.% saline water. This work establishes a comprehensive design strategy integrating efficient photothermal conversion, guided mass transport, and recoverable salt crystallization for scalable solar‐driven water purification and salt resource recycling.

A novel active‐inert chain‐enveloping strategy was developed to enhance the toughness of epoxy resins by blending phenolphthalein‐based poly(arylether sulfone) (PPES) with carboxyl‐functionalized PPES (PPES‐C). The resulting composite toughening agent, PESP‐C, improves the properties of epoxy resins through chain entanglement and chemical crosslinking, forming a robust interfacial network. The flexible long‐chain segments of PPES‐C and the rigid PPES chains form a stable 3D network, enabling dynamic energy dissipation. Thermogravimetric and DSC analyses showed that T _d5% > 370°C and T _g = 135°C, indicating enhanced thermal stability and good compatibility. SEM confirmed the uniform dispersion of PESP‐C in the resin. With 10 wt% PESP‐C, the impact strength increased by 76.7%, reaching 23.5 kJ m ⁻² , and the fracture elongation increased by 81.0%, reaching 3.8, while the tensile strength remained high. Furthermore, free volume simulations and toughening mechanisms were studied, providing an optimized framework for efficient epoxy resin toughening.

To contribute to the circular and sustainable economy framework, waste tire rubber reclamation by extracting carbon black through pyrolysis and heat treatment and then ingeniously designing it as an electromagnetic wave absorbing (EWA) material is proposed herein. The results showed that the pyrolysis-recycled carbon black (RCB) was heterogeneous with multiple interfaces, making it suitable for EWA application. The RCB was processed at 500 °C–1000 °C to study the changes in the composite and microstructure as well as the EWA properties. The heterointerfaces, defects and components changed with the pyrolytic temperature, which helped to adjust the conductive loss, polarization loss, impedance matching, and electromagnetic wave (EW) transmission path, thereby obtaining different EWA performances. As a result, RCB500 exhibited a minimum reflection loss (RL_min) of −35.99 dB at a thickness of 2.5 mm with a low filler loading of 40 wt%. Its widest effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) can reach 3.98 GHz at a low thickness of 1.5 mm. For RCB800, the RL_min value can reach −34.47 dB, and the EAB_max value can reach 4.14 GHz at a low thickness of only 1.5 mm with a filler loading of only 30 wt%. The absorption mechanism was deeply studied. The results indicated that the carbon black pyrolysed from waste tire rubber with strong, wideband electromagnetic wave absorption can be considered a promising candidate for designing high-efficiency carbon-matrix EWA materials.

MXene-based wave-absorbing materials face challenges in practical applications such as severe sheet stacking and low dielectric loss. Herein, we used two-dimensional (2D) layered Ti₃C₂T_x MXene as the backbone and stereoscopic magnetic cobalt (Co) crystals as the buttress and coating to design a connected three-dimensional layered sandwich heterostructure. By adjustment of the ratio of raw materials, Co crystals were anchored both within the interlayer gaps of the adjacent 2D sheets and on their surfaces through electrostatic and ion-dipole interactions with the functional groups of Ti₃C₂T_x. This prevented magnetic and sheet agglomeration and formed a uniform frosting-like coating on the surface. Owing to this unique structure and multicomponent design, the Ti₃C₂T_x/Co composites were enriched with nonhomogeneous interfacial structures and magnetic/dielectric synergy. They exhibited excellent impedance matching properties with multiple electromagnetic wave absorption (EWA) mechanisms. After optimization, the Co-modified Ti₃C₂T_x composite exhibited a minimum reflection loss (RL_min) of -49.57 dB at a thickness of 2.5 mm with an effective absorption bandwidth of 2.88 GHz, surpassing most previously reported MXene-based EWA materials. The simulated far-field radar-scattering cross-section (RCS) results further indicated that the Ti₃C₂T_x/Co composite consistently maintained an RCS value of <-15 dB m² across all test angles, highlighting its superior EWA capability. The Ti₃C₂T_x/Co composite exhibited a relatively low infrared emissivity and an excellent infrared stealth performance. This study provides a new route for fabricating MXene-based EWA composite materials with enhanced versatility and effectiveness.

C nanofibers dotted with square Fe@C crystals derived from metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with a novel 3D hierarchical architecture were successfully prepared through electrospinning, hydrothermal processing, and high-temperature pyrolysis. The introduction of carbon nanofibers endowed the particles with directional action and mechanical support, inhibiting local agglomeration and the collapse of the Fe@C crystals. The unique overall 3D porous structure with micro-concavities on its surface provided sufficient paths for electromagnetic wave transmission, abundant heterostructured interfaces for interfacial polarization and a connected network for conductive loss. The appropriate combination of the magnetic Fe@C crystals with dielectric carbon nanofibers optimized the impedance matching. Benefitting from the ingenious design, the composites exhibited excellent electromagnetic wave absorption (EWA) performances. FC1–30 was found to exhibit a minimum reflection loss (RL_min) of −28.09 dB at a thickness of 5.5 mm and a widest effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 1.1 GHz at a thickness of 2.5 mm. FC1–10 showed a RL_min of −20.82 dB at a thickness of 3.0 mm and a broadest EAB of 3.8 GHz at a thickness of only 1.5 mm. The preparation process was optimized, and the influence of the filler loading ratio on EWA performance was investigated. The EWA mechanism has been discussed in detail. The study provides an opportunity for the development of advanced electromagnetic devices with integrated structure and function.

Cerium (Ce) metal is commonly involved in fires due to its high activity in terms of chemical properties, posing a critical threat to equipment and human health. The oxidization, combustion and oxidization-to-combustion transition of cerium are complicated processes, and a full understanding of detailed evolution behaviors is lacking. A series of experiments are executed to study the oxidation-to-combustion process of cerium metal slices (CMSs) in an O₂/Ar atmosphere of 0.3 mg/mL O₂. Macroscopic features and micro-transformation behaviors of the physicochemical process are characterized using high-speed imaging, spectroscopy, XRD, AFM, SEM-EDX, and TGA. Results show that the evolution behaviors of CMS present three critical transitions, namely, the oxidation stage (OS), ignition and combustion stage (ICS) of heterogeneous reaction, and extinction stage (ES). The evolutions of CMS structure, oxide layer thickness, surface morphology and micro-zone composition at several key moments during the OS elucidate the transformation mechanism. The surface of CMS is firstly oxidized to Ce₂O₃ and then to CeO₂, and these oxides experience their formation, grow, and gradually aggregate to form dense oxide layers. Fissures have been observed in the micro-morphology of the dense oxide layers at the initial ICS, implying that oxygen could diffuse through the fissures of the oxide layers and fiercely react with molten Ce inside during the ICS. The reactivities of Ce in OS and ICS are quantitatively evaluated with thermodynamic data. The qualitative and quantitative mechanism of the oxidization-to-combustion transition of Ce greatly contributes to the optimal design and safe operation of active metal equipment.