Shenglong Shang

Textile dyeing based on structural colors has attracted great attention due to its environmental friendliness and long-lasting color fastness. However, most studies on structural colored fabrics focus on only improving the color and stability of the fabric, neglecting the increasing demand for multifunctional textiles in daily life. Herein, a simple and effective method was used for preparing conductive structural colored cotton fabrics with nonangle-dependent colors and dynamic thermal management. To prepare structural color nanospheres with higher color rendering, PMMA nanospheres were coated with black PDA. The conductive structural colored fabric was obtained by self-assembling PMMA@PDA nanospheres onto MXene-modified cotton fabric through a simple blade coating method. The prepared conductive structural colored textile retains its softness and demonstrates good electrothermal performance and durable color fastness through washing, friction, and durability tests. This work provides a novel approach for creating bifunctional structural colored textiles that are suitable for electrothermal applications.

Flexible piezoelectric sensors have advantages of being ultra-thin, low modulus, lightweight, and flexible, which hold critical potential applications in health monitoring and human-machine interaction. However, the sensitivity and piezoelectric properties of flexible piezoelectric sensors still face challenges. Herein, we prepared a flexible polyvinylidene fluoride/carbon nanotubes/zinc oxide (PVDF/CNTs/ZnO) piezoelectric sensor that has an empathetic and good piezoelectric performance by electrospinning. To address the potential incompatibility between PVDF and ZnO at the interface and the uneven distribution of ZnO nanoparticles, CNTs were introduced as a "bridge" to connect ZnO with PVDF and achieved an effective combination between them. The output voltage of the PVDF/CNTs/ZnO piezoelectric sensor reached 0.1 V under a pressure of 4.1 N when ZnO loading was 3.0%, which was 6.67 times higher than that of pure PVDF nanofiber membrane. Moreover, the optimized piezoelectric device has a high sensitivity of up to 25.64 mV/N, which increased by 525% compared to pure PVDF piezoelectric devices. The device’s response and recovery times are 51 ms and 115 ms, respectively. The piezoelectric device can accurately monitor various human activities, including mouse clicks, pulse beats, wrist movements, and facial expressions, without needing an external power supply, demonstrating promising applications in human health monitoring.

Lithium (Li) metal is considered the most promising anode material for the next generation of secondary batteries due to its high theoretical specific capacity and low potential. However, the application of Li anode in rechargeable Li metal batteries (LMBs) is hindered due to the short cycle life caused by uncontrolled dendrite growth. In this work, a dendrite‐free anode (Li–Sn/Cu) is reinforced synergistically by lithophilic alloy, and a 3D grid structure is designed. Li ⁺ diffusion and uniform nucleation are effectively induced by the lithophilic alloy Li ₂₂ Sn ₅ . Moreover, homogeneous deposition of Li ⁺ is caused by the reversible gridded Li plating/stripping effect of Cu mesh. Furthermore, the local space electric field is redistributed throughout the 3D conductive network, whereby the tip effect is suppressed, thus inhibiting the growth of Li dendrites. Also, the volume expansion of the anode during cycling is eased by the 3D grid structure. The results show that the Li–Sn/Cu symmetric battery can stably cycle for more than 10,000 h at 2 mA·cm ⁻² and 1 mAh·cm ⁻² with a low overpotential. The capacity retention of the LiFePO ₄ full battery remains above 90.7% after 1,000 cycles at 1C. This work provides a facile, low‐cost, and effective strategy for obtaining Li metal batteries with ultra‐long cycle life.

Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) have gained tremendous attention because they are expected to solve the safety problems caused by liquid electrolytes. However, the low ion-transport capacity, insufficient mechanical strength, and unsatisfying flame-retardant properties greatly limit their further application. Here, we designed a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based SPE by introducing a calcium alginate (CA) nanofiber membrane obtained by electrospinning as a framework. The abundant C═O and -OH groups in the CA macromolecules not only effectively weakened the coordination environment of lithium ions (Li⁺) but also promoted the dissociation of LiTFSI, assisting in the transfer of Li⁺ along PEO polymer chains and providing an effective pathway for Li⁺ transfer. The introduction of calcium ions (Ca⁺) during the cross-linking process improved the flame-retardant property of the SPE. The obtained SPE exhibited a high ion conductivity (3.86 × 10^-4 S cm^-1, 30 °C), excellent mechanical strength (2.01 MPa), and a wide electrochemical window (5.32 V). The assembled lithium-symmetric battery could undergo stable lithium plating/stripping for 3000 h at 30 °C. Meanwhile, LiFePO₄ (LFP)/Li all-solid-state lithium metal battery showed excellent cycle stability over 300 cycles with a high discharge capacity (141.2 mAh g^-1) and retention rate (92.5%) at 0.3 and 30 °C.

Textiles that can repeatedly change color in the presence of external stimuli have attracted great interest. Effectively designing to produce such functional textiles is essential, yet there remain challenges like producing stable coloration, rapid response, and reverse color changing. Here, the preparation of a magnetic field response (MFR) textile with a fast magnetic field response, brilliant structural coloration, and mechanical robustness is reported. The MFR textile is knitted by incorporating magnetic particles' ethylene glycol (EG) suspension within polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based fibers. A surface modification strategy is designed to prevent EG from seeping out along the PDMS polymer chains. A PDMS fiber is encapsulated in waterborne polyurethane, and a polydopamine joint layer is used. The MFR textile demonstrates magnetic field-triggered structural colors, and the breaking strength and elongation at break of each composite fiber are improved. In addition, multishaped patterns can be printed on the MFR textile with the help of the photo etching technology, which enhances the applications of the new functional textiles.