JianHua Xu

Developing multifunctional materials that integrate exceptional infrared (IR) stealth with long‐term environmental stability remains a formidable challenge. Inspired by the synergistic function of human skin hair and sweat glands, we report a hydrophobic, highly conductive, and anti‐oxidant IR stealth material (P‐MXene). Perfluorooctyl long chains are covalently grafted onto MXene surfaces to form “molecular hairs”, creating a robust hydrophobic boundary layer via steric hindrance that passivates reactive ‐OH groups without disrupting high‐density conductive pathways. Consequently, P‐MXene maintains a high electrical conductivity of 2074.58 S cm ^{− 1} even after 40 days of accelerated oxidation, while its water contact angle increases to 135.6 ° alongside an ultra‐low IR emissivity of 0.125. Leveraging a continuous coating process, large‐scale fabrication of flexible P‐MXene fabrics (3 m × 0.5 m) was successfully achieved. The resulting fabrics exhibit excellent spatial uniformity (2.2–2.8 µm thickness, 22–27 Ω surface resistance) and remarkable mechanical durability, showing less than 5% resistance change after 5,000 bending cycles. Furthermore, the covalent grafting ensures robust wearability, retaining high hydrophobicity and IR stealth performance after 40 washing cycles and 100 severe friction cycles, demonstrating great potential for large‐area flexible wearables.

Light alloys, particularly magnesium and aluminum, are recognized for their low density, high specific strength, and excellent processability, leading to their widespread use in aerospace and other sectors. However, their intrinsic susceptibility to corrosion remains a critical bottleneck limiting their widespread implementation. Although polymer barriers effectively isolate substrates from corrosive environments, they are vulnerable to microcracks and damage under rigorous service conditions, leading to premature failure. Consequently, the development of smart coatings with autonomous self‐healing capabilities is imperative. By spontaneously restoring structural integrity upon damage, these coatings significantly extend service life and minimize maintenance requirements. This review summarizes recent advances in self‐healing coatings for light alloys, emphasizing various self‐healing mechanisms and their underlying anticorrosion principles, with the aim of providing insights for their development in aerospace applications.

Self-healing materials hold significant commercial potential if their mechanical properties meet industrial requirements. However, conventional viscoelastic self-healing materials face an inherent compromise between fatigue resistance and stiffness, limiting their viability as substitutes for load-bearing rubber. To overcome this challenge, we construct multiscale structures, achieved through hydrogen bonding-driven assembly of a microscale transition metal carbide/carbonitride (MXene) framework within a self-healing polyurethane matrix featuring nanoscale continuous dynamic hard phase. This synergistic design endows the resulting composite with a fatigue threshold of 8226.3 J m⁻², modulus of 51.1 MPa, self-healing with 1 min recovery activated by near-infrared irradiation, and enhanced thermomechanical stability. Mechanism analysis reveals that the nanoscale continuous hard domains, coupled with the microscale MXene framework, collectively enable multiscale stress deconcentration while suppressing thermal activation effects in the composite. This study presents promising results for designing multifunctional, high-performance polymer composites via controlled multiscale structural coupling.

Transition metal carbides/carbonitrides (MXene) have emerged as highly promising infrared stealth coating materials due to their exceptional low infrared emissivity and high visible light absorption. Conventional coating techniques─such as blade coating, spraying, and spin-coating, the primary methods for existing MXene coatings─require specific substrate properties and face significant challenges in conforming to geometrically complex surfaces. To address these limitations, we developed an electrochemical ion-diffusion-induced gelation approach for fabricating MXene-based composite coatings (Fe²⁺ M/G). This method enables uniform deposition on substrates of arbitrary geometry while achieving remarkable mechanical strength (198.31 MPa) and infrared stealth capability (infrared emissivity: 0.19). Furthermore, the coating exhibits exceptional electrical conductivity (3571.4 S cm^-1), enabling dual functionality: (1) an average electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of 49.35 dB in the X-band and (2) rapid Joule heating (reaching 84 °C at 1.5 V in 120 s), suitable for low-temperature deicing applications. Beyond its core infrared stealth performance, this multifunctional coating system integrates superior physical properties, offering both fundamental insights and practical solutions for developing advanced stealth materials with extended operational capabilities.

The development of sustainable capacitive strain‐sensors necessitates dielectric elastomers that integrate mechanical robustness and closed‐loop recyclability. Herein, a self‐healing thermosetting elastomer (PIT) is designed that simultaneously achieves depolymerizability and high toughness through a dual‐crosslinking architecture combining triazine‐based dynamic covalent linkages and supramolecular hydrogen bonds. The dynamic nucleophilic aromatic substitution enables closed‐loop chemical recycling, while the sacrificial hydrogen bonding dissipates energy to enhance mechanical toughness. The electron‐deficient triazine structure confers enhanced dielectric properties (κ = 5.94 at 100 kHz), surpassing common silicone‐based counterparts (e.g., silicon rubber, κ500 cycles), and full‐component recyclability. Real‐time human motion monitoring validates practical functionality, while controlled depolymerization regenerates pristine materials for sensor re‐fabrication. This work presents a material design paradigm and sustainable manufacturing strategy for eco‐conscious flexible electronics.

The concept of recyclability or repairability provides a new approach for extending the service life of glassy polymers and addressing environmental pollution issues.

Chitosan nanoparticles loaded with gallic acid significantly improved the mechanical, barrier, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of the composite film, giving it the potential to replace petroleum-based packaging films.

Realizing the full potential of self‐healing materials in stretchable electronics necessitates not only low modulus to enable high adaptivity, but also high toughness to resist crack propagation. However, existing toughening strategies for soft self‐healing materials have only modestly improves mechanical dissipation near the crack tip ( Г _D ), and invariably compromise the material's inherent softness and autonomous healing capabilities. Here, a synthetic microporous architecture is demonstrated that unprecedently toughens and softens self‐healing materials without impacting their intrinsic self‐healing kinetics. This microporous structure spreads energy dissipation across the entire material through a bran‐new dissipative mode of adaptable crack movement ( Г _A ), which substantially increases the fracture toughness by 31.6 times, from 3.19 to 100.86 kJ m ⁻² , and the fractocohesive length by 20.7 times, from 0.59 mm to 12.24 mm. This combination of unprecedented fracture toughness (100.86 kJ m ⁻² ) and centimeter‐scale fractocohesive length (1.23 cm) surpasses all previous records for synthetic soft self‐healing materials and even exceeds those of light alloys. Coupled with significantly enhanced softness (0.43 MPa) and nearly perfect autonomous self‐healing efficiency (≈100%), this robust material is ideal for constructing durable kirigami electronics for wearable devices.