Solar-driven seawater desalination is an efficient and environmentally friendly technology that directly utilizes renewable energy to produce fresh water. However, salt accumulation and low efficiency of seawater evaporation seriously restrict the long-term stable operation and development of this technology. Herein, a self-cleaning desalination evaporator (SCDE) with a vertical porous structure was obtained by surface modification of thermosensitive hydrogels with photothermal materials and directional freeze drying. The functional groups within the evaporator selectively capture and enrich multivalent ions from seawater at the interface. This local ion accumulation disrupts the hydrogen bonding network, thereby lowering the enthalpy of vaporization and enhancing the evaporation rate. The evaporation rate of the SCDE in brine reached 3.22 kg m-2 h-1 under 1 sun irradiation, surpassing the rate of 2.21 kg m-2 h-1 in pure water, exhibiting anomalous evaporation behavior. Furthermore, the photothermal-responsive hydrogel network induces dynamic modulation of the vertical channel water interface, enabling the SCDE to achieve self-cleaning desalination functionality. The reversible phase transition of SCDE enables water to flush through the vertical channels, preventing salt accumulation within the channels. This work offers a new approach to the design of high-performance, self-cleaning desalination evaporators for desalination. (c) 2026 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.

Organic molecular contamination presents a significant challenge in fields such as advanced semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace engineering, and ecological environment. Zeolite-based molecular adsorption coatings offer a promising solution due to their customizability and scalability. However, the intrinsic microporous structure of zeolites limits mass transfer and the diffusion of contaminant molecules, thereby significantly reducing the overall adsorption capacity of the coating. This study developed a molecular soldering strategy using polyphenolic acid to construct a zeolite coating featuring hierarchical interconnected macro/meso/micro pores for enhanced molecular contamination adsorption. In the resulting hierarchical system, macropores enhance accessibility by shortening diffusion pathways, mesopores function as intermediate channels that alleviate diffusion resistance and provide supplementary sites, and micropores act as the primary high-affinity domains for contamination molecules. Acting synergistically, these multi-scale pores maximize adsorption efficiency. The resulting coating features a high specific surface area (362.28 m2 center dot g- 1), enhanced mechanical strength, and excellent vacuum adsorption capacity (266.7 mg center dot g- 1). Moreover, the coating retains a high binding capacity for molecular contamination under vacuum heating conditions without undergoing desorption. This work presents a scalable strategy for fabricating high-performance, interface-matched hierarchical adsorbents, with potential applications in semiconductor manufacturing, precision electronics, and aerospace engineering.

Marine biofouling initiates with microbial attachment and early biofilm formation, posing challenges for titanium alloys. Herein, CeO2 nano-octahedra with exposed {1 1 1} facets and haloperoxidase (HPO)-like activity were synthesized and incorporated into a TiO2-based coating on TA1 titanium by one-step plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO). Structural analyses showed increased Ce incorporation and outward Ce enrichment, together with locally observed CeO2(1 1 1)-related lattice features in Ce-6.Increasing the CeO2 content from 0 to 6 g·L−1 increased the coating thickness from 18.7 ± 1.6 to 24.9 ± 2.1 μm and the surface roughness from 0.81 ± 0.01 to 1.35 ± 0.08 μm. The surface Ce3+ fraction increased from 26.9% in the CeO2 precursor to 50.1% in Ce-6, accompanied by increased oxygen-vacancy-related species; these changes were associated with enhanced H2O2 activation and bromide oxidation. Ce-6 exhibited the strongest HPO-like activity, as supported by phenol red bromination and celestine blue bleaching. In the fifth consecutive 24-h catalytic cycle, Ce-6 retained 96.1% of its first-cycle activity. Under conditions containing both H2O2 and Br-, Ce-6 reduced the survival rates of E. coli and S. aureus to 9.4% and 11.9%, respectively. This work provides a one-step surface-engineering strategy for constructing antibacterial titanium surfaces and supports their further evaluation for controlling early-stage microbial fouling

LaMnO3-based perovskites are crucial for advanced thermal management due to their tunable infrared optical properties, which are fundamentally governed by infrared-active phonons. However, the anisotropic infrared optical properties of their parent material, LaMnO3, remain insufficiently understood. Here, we systematically investigate the anisotropic infrared optical properties of orthorhombic LaMnO3 using a parametrized Lorentz oscillator model based on first-principles calculations. We employ PBEsol + U (U = 4.5 eV) to compute the lattice dynamic properties, yielding all infrared-active transverse optical (TO) phonon modes and the corresponding dielectric function. Crucially, phonon damping is accurately determined from anharmonic lattice dynamics by incorporating both three- and four-phonon scattering processes, which produces damping factors consistent with available experimental data. Using these parameters, the anisotropic infrared dielectric function and emissivity along the crystallographic directions [010], [001], and [100] are predicted. This work provides a comprehensive theoretical framework and a reliable basis for understanding the infrared phonon behavior and anisotropic optical response of orthorhombic LaMnO3 and provides physical guidance for predicting orientation-dependent mid-infrared emissivity in LaMnO3-based infrared functional materials.

The expanding use of Flash circuits in high-radiation environments, such as aerospace, increases its susceptibility to performance degradation or failure due to total ionizing dose (TID) effects. To enhance the TID radiation tolerance of Flash circuits, this study investigates a bismuth oxide/epoxy resin (Bi2O3/EP) composite coating. The coating was used for radiation hardening of commercial Flash circuits and subjected to comprehensive reliability testing, including mechanical, thermal, and electrical assessments, followed by TID irradiation experiments. Results demonstrate that the Bi2O3/EP coating exhibits excellent adhesion and environmental durability, successfully meeting all reliability criteria. Critically, the coating provides effective shielding against radiation within GEO cabin, significantly improving TID tolerance up to 300 krad(Si), exceeding conventional requirements for space applications. This work validates Bi2O3/EP as a promising low-cost, lightweight component-level radiation hardening strategy for Flash memory in extreme space environments.

The practical promotion of zinc-based seawater batteries is hindered by the thermodynamic instability and kinetic irreversibility of zinc anodes, which cause severe dendrite growth and side reactions. Traditional inorganic coatings for zinc anodes often suffer from poor interfacial adhesion with the substrate, leading to delamination during cycling. Furthermore, they offer insufficient protection against chloride-induced corrosion in seawater electrolytes. To address these issues, we develop a wet-chemistry method to in situ construct a hydrophilic silica layer (OH-SiO2) chemically bonded to zinc substrate via Zn-O-Si bonds. This artificial interface facilitates the capture and desolvation of hydrated Zn2+, repels corrosive chloride ions, and provides abundant channels for rapid zinc ions transport. As a result, zinc deposits uniformly underneath the protective layer. When tested in the seawater electrolyte, the OH-SiO2-Zn anode demonstrates exceptional stability over 2300 h during the symmetric cell test. Full cell which adopts OH-SiO2-Zn and alpha-MnO2 cathode also exhibits remarkable cycling performance coupled with superb rate capability. This work provides an effective and extensible method for constructing outstanding zinc anodes and advances the use of low-cost seawater electrolytes in zinc-ion batteries.

Visible-infrared (Vis-IR) compatible stealth coatings are urgently needed for spacecraft that must remain inconspicuous while operating in harsh space environments. Yet, combining high visible absorptivity (α), low infrared emissivity (ε), wide angular tolerance, and long-term stability within a single coating system is still non-trivial. In this work, we construct a CrTiWYAlN high-entropy nitrides (HENs) multilayer that consists of a high-metal-volume-fraction (HMVF) layer, a low-metal-volume-fraction (LMVF) layer, and a Si3N4 dielectric layer, forming a graded-refractive-index profile across the thickness. By coupling thin film interference with electronic band structure engineering, the coating exhibits broadband absorption in the visible region while maintaining strongly suppressed emission in the infrared. First-principles band-structure calculations together with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations show that the redistribution of metal-N electronic states (involving Cr/Ti/W/Y/Al) coupled with multilayer interference, enhances light trapping, broadens the absorption band, and preserves weak angular dependence. The coating also maintains nearly unchanged optical properties after exposure to ultraviolet doses up to 5000 ESH, indicating excellent environmental robustness. These results demonstrate a practical design route toward multifunctional Vis-IR compatible stealth coatings capable of reliable operation under extreme service conditions.

The inherent lack of autonomous self-repairing capability of protective oxide layer limits the long-term service of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) coatings in the Pb-Bi eutectic alloy (LBE) corrosion environment. Herein, this work breaks the limitation by designing a self-repairing oxide layer, which is engineered through the incorporation of V-O-Y bridge bonding in Y2O3-modified FeCrMnAlV HEAs coating, where the co-segregation of V element and Y2O3 nanoparticles at grain boundaries enables their subsequent cooperative diffusion into the growing oxide layer. Combined experimental and theoretical analyses identify the V-O-Y bridge bonding as a dual-functional unit, which provides highly delocalized electron states to facilitate Y3 + migration and leverages mixed-valence V4+/(5+) to enhance oxygen reduction kinetics. This synergistic mechanism drives in-situ formation of a dense and stable YBiO3 self-repairing layer, maintaining exceptional structural integrity over 4000 h of LBE corrosion. The Y2O3-modified FeCrMnAlV HEAs coating achieves a record-low parabolic rate constant of 0.00324 mu m(2)/h, which is 1 similar to 2 orders of magnitude lower than currently reported HEAs coatings. Crucially, the scratch test provides further evidence of the complete regeneration of a continuous YBiO3 layer within 500 h of LBE corrosion, which demonstrates its self-repairing capability. This work establishes a viable design paradigm for developing self-repairing HEAs coatings with exceptional long-term stability against LBE corrosion.

Passive radiative cooling has emerged as a promising strategy for personal thermal management to mitigate the growing challenges of global climate change. Yet, conventional radiative cooling materials suffer from poor environmental adaptability, a lack of thermal regulation capability, and limited durability, while their nondegradable nature raises sustainability concerns. Here, we report multifunctional phase-change fiber membranes fabricated via coaxial electrospinning, integrating polylactic acid/polydimethylsiloxane (PLA/PDMS) composite shells with n-eicosane cores. The optimized PLA/PDMS@C20 (0.4 mL/h) membrane exhibits a high melt enthalpy of 115.06 J/g, remarkable solar reflectance (96.8%), and strong emissivity within the atmospheric window (92.4%). These properties yield an average cooling of 5.76 degrees C (up to 8.20 degrees C) under typical outdoor solar radiation (approximate to 629 W/m2), while simultaneously regulating heat flow by slowing warming near 37 degrees C and enhancing nighttime comfort. Even under cloudy conditions (approximate to 787 W/m2), the membrane achieves an average cooling of 7.01 degrees C with a peak cooling power of 117.64 W/m2. In addition, its superhydrophobic surface (contact angle 153.2 degrees) provides self-cleaning capability and stable outdoor performance. This predominantly biodegradable PLA-based cooling material offers a promising platform for energy-efficient wearables and adaptive smart textiles.

Satellite security requires advanced thermal control coatings capable of simultaneous stealth and heat dissipation. To achieve this, the coatings must be engineered to absorb strongly in the visible spectrum while being lowemissive in critical infrared detection bands (mid wave infrared (MWIR, 3-5 & micro;m) and long-wave infrared (LWIR, 8-14 & micro;m)) and high-emissive elsewhere for heat rejection. As these spectral functions are mutually coupled, inversely designing such a multifunctional system is formulated as a high-dimensional, non-convex optimization problem, which renders traditional design paradigms intractable. Here, we present an intelligent inverse design framework using differential evolution optimization with transfer matrix evaluation to jointly screen metallic candidates and globally optimize the thicknesses of a five-layer Fabry-Perot structured coating, coupling material selection and structural optimization within a unified workflow. The optimized design reaches a visible band absorptivity of 0.94 together with low emissivity in the MWIR window 0.06 and in the LWIR window 0.18, while maintaining enhanced emissivity in the 5-8 & micro;m band 0.51, demonstrating a balanced selective emissivity profile for multispectral stealth with radiative heat dissipation. Mechanistic analysis reveals that the Fabry-Perot architecture enables cavity-enhanced emission in 5-8 & micro;m, while effectively suppressing parasitic thermal radiation across the IR detection bands. Furthermore, the optimized coating demonstrates a marked improvement in thermal performance under simulated space heat loads. This work delivers an intelligent design pathway for multifunctional thermal control coatings that achieve synergistic multispectral-stealth and efficient radiative heat dissipation, resolving a key conflict in aerospace material design.

Sprayable flexible superblack photothermal coating on spongy fibrous cellulose paper exhibits a broadband absorptance of 98.2%, efficient photothermal conversion and superhydrophobicity, synergistically enabling effective anti-icing functionality.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology plays a vital role in achieving China's "Dual Carbon" strategy. However, the efficiency and stability of PV modules are significantly compromised by harsh environments such as sandstorms, snow, and ice, particularly in arid or high-altitude regions. Conventional protective coatings are inadequate for simultaneously mitigating persistent dust accumulation and snow cover. In this study, a multifunctional anti-reflective coating was developed via a sol-gel method, integrating high transmittance, superhydrophobicity, mechanical durability, and electrothermal de-icing capability. The coating was engineered by tailoring the hydrolysis ratio of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and incorporating polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to enhance interfacial bonding followed by surface modification with fluorosilane to achieve excellent superhydrophobicity. The resulting coating exhibits an average transmittance exceeding 83 %, a water contact angle of 158 degrees, and excellent wear resistance-maintaining its performance after 400 cm of sandpaper abrasion. Under-20 degrees C conditions, the initial ice formation time on the coated surface was five times longer than that on bare glass. Moreover, the coating enabled rapid and efficient snow and ice removal through short-duration electrothermal heating. This multifunctional coating provides a robust and scalable solution for year-round protection of PV modules in dusty and cold environments, demonstrating strong potential for practical applications.

Transparent superhydrophobic coatings provide passive self-cleaning and dust removal functionality for photovoltaic (PV) modules to sustain the energy conversion efficiency, which is highly dependent on micro/ nanostructures of coatings. However, it remains challenge to enhance the micro/nanostructures robustness of such coatings while preserving their optical transparency, self-cleaning and dust removal functionality. Herein, we proposed dense and conformal "nano-armor" by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on transparent super-hydrophobic coatings to enhance their resistance to particle impact and structural durability. Experimental results revealed that the ALD-treated coating (SZ90-F) maintained the high optical transparency (89.27 %) and superhydrophobicity with water contact angle of 160.3 degrees, while also exhibiting excellent dust removal efficiency of 99.23 %. Meanwhile, the SZ90-F coating retained the superhydrophobicity and excellent dust removal performance after exposure to 6000 g of sand and 4000 g of water droplets, respectively. Mechanism analysis revealed that the enhanced durability of the transparent superhydrophobic coatings originated from the ZnO layer deposited by ALD, which formed strong chemical bonds on the micro/nanostructures surface, resulting in a continuous "nano-armor" structure, thereby providing effective protection against dust impact and preventing damage to the micro/nanostructures. This study provides a novel strategy for designing durable, transparent superhydrophobic coatings with enhanced mechanical robustness.

Sustainable recycling of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is increasingly important as their deployment continues to expand. Therefore, recycling the widely practically applied LIBs cathode material, LiFePO4 (LFP), shows great importance to the conservation of lithium source. However, current technologies for spent LFP (sLFP) recycling and regeneration typically consume electrical energy or chemical reagents, increasing process cost and limiting economic viability. Here, we report a charging-free electrochemical system, which enables regenerating sLFP while simultaneously harvesting low-grade heat. Owing to the inversed spontaneous reaction direction between LFP and [Fe(CN)6]3-/4- achieved by temperature difference, the constructed system realized extracting Li+ from sLFP in one cell while embedding Li+ into sLFP in another cell. The developed system achieves a thermoelectric conversion efficiency of 5.26%, while the regenerated LFP delivers a discharge capacity of 153 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 C, recovering 90% of the theoretical capacity of LiFePO4. This work presents an environmentally friendly, low cost and promising pathway for simultaneous regeneration of sLIBs and low-grade heat harvesting.

Singlet oxygen (O-1(2)) offers unique advantages for contaminant degradation owing to its high oxidative selectivity, long half-life, and pH-independent reactivity. However, the spin-forbidden transition between molecular oxygen (triplet state, O-3(2)) and O-1(2) severely limits their interconversion under energy-free conditions. Herein, we innovatively prepared a nitrogen-doped carbon-coated copper-cobalt alloy catalyst (CuCo@NC) that hierarchically activated molecular oxygen into O-1(2). The optimized CuCo@NC600 demonstrated exceptional performance: achieving 96.79 %-98.91 % Norfloxacin (NOR) removal and similar to 70 % mineralization within 40 min across a broad pH range of 3-11 under conditions of 1.0 g/L catalyst and 20 mg/L NOR. The catalyst exhibited remarkable versatility, degrading diverse organic pollutants (rhodamine B, tetracycline hydrochloride, etc.) with > 90 % efficiency and strong anti-interference capability against common ions and organic matter. No significant performance degradation was observed in both real wastewater and surface water systems. Radical quenching experiments confirmed O-1(2) as the dominant reactive species generated through hierarchically activating O-2 by Cu-Co collaboration: molecular oxygen is initially activated at Cu sites, generating center dot O-2(-) and center dot OH, which are then captured and converted to O-1(2) at Co sites. The preserved catalytic stability (>70 % efficiency after 3 cycles) originated from the protective carbon matrix and self-compensating Cu+/Cu2+-Co2+/Co3+ valence transitions. LC-MS-identified intermediates revealed three detoxification pathways. This work provided an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly strategy for O-1(2)-dominated advanced oxidation processes, demonstrating significant potential for antibiotic-polluted water remediation.

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) have been widely considered as promising materials to protect the Ferritic/ Martensitic (F/M) steels against the extreme environments in the lead-cooled fast reactors (LFR). Due to the wide diversity of elemental compositions and ratios, the rational design of HEAs with high wear resistance remains a huge challenge. In this work, we employed machine learning (ML) methods to guide the design of HEAs with high wear resistance as the protective coating for the F/M steels. The ML-based models were constructed to predict the phase structure and hardness of HEAs. The constructed SVM and XGBoost models exhibited the best performance in predicting the phase classification and the Vickers hardness of HEAs, respectively. Valence electron concentration (VEC) and Delta Hmix are identified as the most important factors affecting both the phase structures and Vickers hardness of HEAs. With these models, the FeCrVTiMoxSiy HEAs were predicted to exhibit a BCC phase and increasing hardness with the decreased ratio of Mo and Si elements. The following experimental results showed that FeCrVTiMo0.5Si1.5 exhibited optimal wear resistance with Vickers hardness, Young's modulus, H/E, H3/E2, and wear rate of 732.65 HV, 289.6 GPa, 0.0353, 0.0127 GPa, and 8.65 x 10-7mm3/ (N.m), respectively. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that decreasing the ratios of Mo and Si elements in FeCrVTiMoxSiy HEAs increases lattice distortion and increases the proportion of covalent bonds to enhance solid-solution strengthening, improving wear resistance. This work presents a paradigm shift in quantifying the relationship between elemental compositions and the properties of HEAs.

Multiband camouflage of space satellite to against advanced detection has attracted rising attention. However, the combination of compatible camouflage and radiative heat dissipation for space satellite still remains challenging, which requires low visibility and selective thermal emission in a dark and deep cold background. In this work, a dual dielectric Ge/SiO2 layer embedded Fabry-Perot multilayer film (W/Ge/SiO2/W/SiO2) is proposed for space stealth and heat dissipation. Ge and SiO2 films with appropriate thickness are designed to realize high visible absorption and spectra selective IR emission, simultaneously. The optimized multilayer film achieves a high absorbance (alpha = 0.983) in visible light (0.38-0.80 mu m) for visible stealth, low emissivity (83-5 mu m = 0.038; 88-14 mu m = 0.200) in atmospheric windows for infrared stealth, and relative high emissivity outside the atmospheric windows (85-8 mu m = 0.487) for radiative heat dissipation. The simulation results indicate that the coupling of tunneling effect in ultrathin metallic W film and Fabry-Perot resonant is the main contribution to the excellent absorptivity and emissivity tunability. The proposed dual spacers embedded Fabry-Perot multilayer film paves a new way for multispectral camouflage of space satellite and other applications such as solar-thermal conversion, thermal management, energy saving, and detective technologies.