Qiyan Zhang

Poly(ether imide) (PEI) is a promising high-temperature dielectric material, yet its application is limited by severe intrachain and interchain charge transfer (CT) effects, which give rise to high leakage currents at elevated temperatures. Tuning interchain spacing has been recognized as an effective strategy to suppress CT effects, but it entails an intrinsic tradeoff: excessively large spacing facilitates free charge transport, whereas overly compact chain packing exacerbates CT interactions. Herein, we report a series of spiral-twisted PEI copolymers synthesized by incorporating the bulky, twisted BAFL diamine and the planar PPDA diamine with BPADA dianhydride. By systematically varying the BAFL/PPDA molar ratio, we identified that the cPEI-5 composition (50 mol % BAFL and 50 mol % PPDA) as possessing the most favorable interchain spacing, which effectively suppresses CT without unduly weakening interchain coupling, thereby yielding the widest bandgap (3.37 eV) and the deepest trap level (2.19 eV). This optimal spacing, enabled by the spiral-twisted backbone, concurrently shortens the hopping distance and lowers the carrier mobility, leading to a substantial reduction in leakage current. Consequently, cPEI-5 achieves a breakdown strength of 610 MV m–1 at 150 °C, which is 36.2% higher than cPEI-0 and 9.5% higher than cPEI-10, and delivers a discharged energy density of 5.5 J cm–3 at > 90% efficiency, surpassing the room-temperature performance of biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP, 4.0 J cm–3). Moreover, cPEI-5 demonstrates excellent cycling stability (over 50 000 cycles, 0.8% loss) and fast discharge capability (t95 = 2.47 μs, power density = 0.28 MW cm–3). This work underscores that rational engineering of spiral-twisted structures enables a synergistic balance between CT suppression and charge transport, offering a new paradigm for high-performance polymer dielectrics under harsh operating conditions.

The rapid advancement of electric vehicles, renewable energy integration, and next-generation power electronics has intensified the demand for high-performance dielectric capacitors capable of operating reliably under high temperatures and electric fields. In this study, we develop an all-polymer dielectric (APD) system with superior high-temperature capacitive performance achieved through strategically designed heterogeneous interfaces that introduce high electron barriers. These interfaces are constructed via in situ polymerization and cross-linking of a commercial bismaleimide (MIR) monomer within a fluorinated polyimide (FPI) matrix. The pronounced band structure mismatch between FPI and MIR domains generates substantial interfacial electron barriers, which effectively suppress high-temperature leakage currents while concurrently enhancing breakdown strength, charge-discharge efficiency, and energy density. The optimized FPI/MIR APD achieves outstanding discharged energy densities of 5.8 J/cm³ at 150 °C and 3.0 J/cm³ at 200 °C with high efficiency (η > 90%), as well as excellent cycling endurance (>50 000 cycles at 150 °C). Moreover, the material exhibits intrinsic self-healing capability, exceptional scalability, and large-area uniformity. The straightforward and cost-effective fabrication process further underscores its potential for scalable production of high-temperature polymer dielectrics.

Spiking in‐sensor systems rely on discrete input transitions to enable event‐driven encoding. However, humidity signals change gradually and continuously, lacking intrinsic thresholds required for spike generation. This mismatch poses a fundamental challenge for applying in‐sensor spiking computation to humidity. Here, a neuromorphic humidity‐sensing platform based on a threshold‐switching memristor with an asymmetric Ag/Nafion/ITO structure is reported. The Nafion layer serves both as a humidity transduction medium and as an electrochemical matrix for silver filament formation. Increased ambient humidity reduces ionic migration barriers, enabling volatile conductance changes over six orders of magnitude and switching speeds down to 60 ns. Importantly, the switching threshold decreases from 0.8 V at 50% relative humidity to 0.2 V at 90%, providing an embedded gating mechanism that produces spikes only when humidity exceeds defined levels. To evaluate the system in practical scenarios, real‐time classification of spatiotemporal humidity gradients for wind direction inference, as well as noise‐resilient speech recognition via exhalation‐induced humidity cues is demonstrated. These results demonstrate a hardware‐level strategy for event‐driven encoding of slow environmental dynamics, offering a pathway toward efficient, low‐power sensory systems for edge‐intelligent applications.

CMOS scaling faces atomic‐scale limits and the crippling von Neumann bottleneck, while emerging bio‐integrated artificial intelligence demands neuromorphic hardware with biocompatibility, flexibility, and degradability—requirements unmet by conventional electronics. This review positions peptide‐based electronics as a transformative solution. Through supramolecular assembly, peptides form nanostructures exhibiting quantum‐confined semiconducting, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric properties. Their inherent biological congruence, mechanical compliance, and stimulus‐responsive intelligence uniquely enable seamless integration with living systems. The material design principles underpinning these functionalities are analyzed and critically evaluate peptide neuromorphic devices: memristors emulating synaptic plasticity via conductance tuning, and synaptic transistors leveraging peptide semiconductors or dielectrics. Crucially, how peptide devices’ convergence of electronic function, environmental adaptability, and biocompatibility unlocks novel bio‐integrated applications is explored—implantable brain‐computer interfaces, biodegradable medical diagnostics, secure adaptive systems, and conformal sensory intelligence. Key challenges in operational stability, scalability, and performance metrics are outlined, yet peptide electronics present a foundational pathway toward truly bio‐integrated neuromorphic computing.

Ferroelectric polymers have emerged as promising dielectric materials for film capacitors in modern electronics and high-power systems, owing to their high dielectric constant. However, their practical applications are limited by significant energy loss caused by ferroelectric hysteresis, which leads to poor charge–discharge efficiency under high electric fields. To overcome this challenge, we developed a ferroelectric polymer incorporating rigid short-chain cross-linked networks that simultaneously facilitate weakly polar γ-phase formation and restrict chain motion to minimize dielectric loss. These networks further introduce deep charge traps that effectively suppress leakage current and conduction loss while significantly enhancing breakdown strength. These optimal characteristics collectively contribute to enhancements in both discharged energy density and charge–discharge efficiency. Notably, the rigid short-chain cross-linked networks are formed through thermally initiated imine bond formation between the ferroelectric polymer and 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether (ODA) serving as a rigid diamine crosslinker via a simple heating process. This methodology combines processing simplicity with excellent scalability, positioning it as a highly promising solution for manufacturing high-performance energy storage capacitors.

Polymer dielectric capacitors play a crucial role in modern electronics and power systems owing to their exceptional power density, high breakdown strength, excellent processability, and cost-effectiveness. Nevertheless, their practical deployment in harsh operating environments, particularly in electric vehicles and aerospace power electronics, remains challenging due to the inherent thermal instability of conventional polymer dielectrics. Herein, we report an all-polymer dielectric composite (APDC) material fabricated from partially miscible polyetherimide (PEI)/polyamide-imide (PAI) blends that exhibits significantly improved high-temperature capacitive energy storage properties, including breakdown strength (Eb), discharge energy density (Ud), and charge–discharge efficiency (η). The performance enhancement stems from the self-assembled nanoscale interfacial architectures comprising uniformly dispersed PAI domains within the PEI matrix, coupled with the intrinsic energy band structure mismatch between PEI and PAI (notably in electron affinity). These structural characteristics effectively create deep charge traps, resulting in a substantial reduction of leakage current density by more than one order of magnitude compared to pristine PEI under elevated temperatures and high-electric fields. Notably, the developed APDC materials feature a straightforward, efficient, and cost-effective fabrication process, rendering them highly promising for scalable production of high-performance dielectric films for high-temperature capacitors.

Polymer film capacitors are essential in modern electronics and power systems, but their limited thermal stability restricts their application in advanced energy storage systems under harsh conditions. At elevated temperatures, their capacitive performance degrades due to increased conduction losses in strong electric fields. In polymer dielectrics, these losses arise from two primary mechanisms: electrode-limited and bulk-limited conduction. Unlike previous approaches that target only one mechanism, this study introduces a dual-conduction loss reduction strategy. Maleic anhydride (MAH) is grafted onto high-glass transition temperature (T_g) poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO) chains via free-radical polymerization, effectively reducing both conduction mechanisms. The grafted polar MAH groups inhibit charge injection by creating an internal electric field from trapped charges, reducing electrode-limited conduction. Additionally, the grafted MAH creates deeper trap sites in the bulk, mitigating bulk-limited hopping conduction. As a result, PPO-g-MAH films demonstrate significantly reduced energy losses, achieving a discharged energy density of 3.12 J cm^-3 at 200 °C and an efficiency exceeding 90%, outperforming most existing dielectric polymers. This simple, cost-effective method supports the scalable fabrication of high-temperature dielectric polymers for film capacitors.

The growing demand for electrostatic capacitors in high-temperature environments requires dielectric polymers capable of withstanding both elevated temperatures and high electric fields. Here, we investigate all-polymer nanodielectrics (PNDs) fabricated through polymerization-induced microphase separation (PIMS) in thermoplastic/thermoset blends, focusing on the role of thermoset resins in high-temperature capacitive performance. Two BMI monomers, 2,2-bis(4-(4-maleimidophenoxy)phenylpropane) (BMP) and 4,4'-bismaleimidodiphenylmethane (BDM), form cross-linked domains of different sizes in a polysulfone (PSU) matrix, creating deeper charge traps. While trap depths are similar, PSU/BMP PNDs exhibit higher trap density owing to smaller BMP domains resulting from enhanced compatibility with PSU. This reduces current density at high temperatures compared to PSU/BDM and pristine PSU. Consequently, PSU/BMP PNDs demonstrate superior capacitive energy storage at elevated temperatures. These findings emphasize the importance of interfacial area in determining high-temperature electrical properties and provide insights for designing nanostructured all-polymer dielectrics for advanced applications.

Polymer dielectrics are ideal for capacitors in power electronics, power conditioning, and pulsed power systems due to their high breakdown strength, ease of processing, and reliability. However, they currently fall short of the high-temperature requirements for emerging applications such as hybrid and electric vehicles and photovoltaic power generation. Here, we present a general approach to impeding charge transport in all-organic polymer composites by introducing organic molecular semiconductors with high electron affinity into a polymer blend with densely packed molecular chains. This strategy significantly reduces conduction loss and enhances breakdown strength under elevated temperatures and high electric fields. At 150 °C, the resulting polymer blend-based all-organic composites achieve high discharged energy densities of 3.45 J cm⁻³ and 3.68 J cm⁻³ for TPI/PEI/PC61BM and TPI/PEI/NTCDA composites, respectively, with a 90% charge–discharge efficiency. This performance is approximately three times higher than that of the pristine TPI/PEI blend (1.19 J cm⁻³). NTCDA, in particular, demonstrates similar effectiveness in enhancing high-temperature capacitor performance while being significantly more cost-effective compared to PC61BM and other previously reported organic molecular semiconductors. Consequently, this polymer blend-based all-organic composite offers a promising solution for the scalable fabrication of high-performance, high-quality polymer films required for high-temperature capacitive energy storage.

Polymer dielectric energy storage capacitors play a vital role in modern electronic and electrical power systems, particularly in high-voltage environments. However, achieving both high energy density and charge–discharge efficiency presents a significant challenge for next-generation applications that demand miniaturization and compact design. In this study, we present relaxor ferroelectric terpolymers with an increased gamma (γ)-phase content, prepared through a facile and scalable interfacial engineering approach that incorporates ultra-low amounts of graphene oxide. The γ-phase crystals in the terpolymer reduce hysteresis losses and generate numerous deep traps, resulting in enhanced performance. These terpolymers achieve a high energy density of up to 15.2 J/cm3 and an improved breakdown strength of 562 MV/m, representing enhancements of 62% and 39.8%, respectively, compared to the pristine terpolymer. The results suggest that tuning the phase structure of relaxor ferroelectric terpolymers offers a pathway to developing ferroelectric polymers with enhanced energy density and charge–discharge efficiency for energy storage capacitors.