Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric (TE) materials, renowned for their excellent near-room-temperature performance, hold great promise for flexible and wearable electronics. However, their intrinsic brittleness hampers large-scale integration. Here we establish a crystal-to-device strategy that converts high-quality Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 crystals-grown by an improved temperature-gradient method with composition optimization via BiCl3 and Ga co-doping-into high-performance, mechanically compliant TE thick films. Leveraging the van der Waals gaps between quintuple layers, large-area (00l)-textured, mirror-smooth thick films are mechanically exfoliated in a graphenelike manner, retaining bulk-like transport characteristics. The optimized composition simultaneously regulates carrier concentration and enhances the Seebeck coefficient through band anisotropy modulation, yielding a Seebeck coefficient of similar to 212.3 mu V K-1 and a power factor of similar to 54.7 mu W cm(-1) K-2 at 300 K. Integrated on flexible printed circuits, single-leg modules achieve ultrahigh sensitivity (-187.2 mu V K-1), sub-second response, and robust durability over 1000 bending cycles. This work provides a versatile pathway to convert brittle layered thermoelectrics into flexible, high-efficiency platforms for next-generation wearable and intelligent thermal sensing.

Chronic pain continues to pose a significant therapeutic challenge due to its complex pathophysiology and the limited efficacy of conventional pharmacological treatments. Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) have emerged as a promising strategy for recording neural activity, modulating neural circuits, and treating neurological disorders. However, the long-term performance of conventional rigid implantable probes is severely constrained by their mechanical mismatch with soft brain tissue. This mismatch provokes chronic inflammatory responses and results in gradual signal deterioration. Additionally, most existing probes lack integrated functionality for simultaneous in situ neuromodulation and neural signal recording. In this work, we developed a supramolecular hydrogel based on α-helical polypeptide cross-linkers, achieving an optimal balance of mechanical compliance, electrical conductivity, and optical transparency. When implanted in the rat prelimbic cortex, the hydrogel probe enabled stable recording of local field potentials (LFPs) for up to 16 weeks. Importantly, the probe enabled in situ neuromodulation while concurrently recording evoked LFPs, resulting in enhanced prelimbic cortical activity, increased mechanical withdrawal thresholds, and reduced cold allodynia in a chronic neuropathic pain model. These findings advance neural interface technology by enabling integrated, long-term monitoring and neuromodulation, representing a paradigm shift in the design of implantable devices for chronic pain therapy.

All-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) suffer from significant challenges of large-scale aggregation and phase separation due to poor compatibility between donor and acceptor polymers. In this study, we introduce volatile solid additives to regulate intermolecular interactions and improve blending miscibility, thereby controlling aggregation and phase separation. Both computational and experimental results reveal that the key to this regulation lies in the strong electrostatic potential coupling between the solid additive and the polymer acceptor. This selective interaction modulates the aggregation behavior during film deposition and thermal annealing, enabling a gradual phase evolution. Further analysis indicates that the strong electrostatic coupling reduces aggregate size and promotes more ordered molecular packing, ultimately optimizing the film morphology. As a result, all-PSCs based on PM6/PY-IT incorporating the solid additive 2-BDBF exhibit a significantly improved power conversion efficiency of 18.62%, representing an increase compared to 14.93% ender the control conditions. This work demonstrates that solid additives with engineered electrostatic interactions offer an effective strategy to tune intermolecular forces, optimize morphology evolution, and boost device performance in all-PSCs.

Diabetic limb ischemia is the leading cause of non-traumatic amputation, and there are limitations in the available treatments. Although stem cells hold significant therapeutic potential, their efficacy is often significantly compromised by the complex microenvironment they encounter post-transplantation, leading to poor survival rates. A multiscale biomimetic alginate hydrogel (Gel-HP-ADSC) was designed to target the improvement of the vascular adventitial microenvironment, establishing a composite delivery platform of hydroxysafflor yellow A phospholipid complex and adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs). Carboxylated cellulose nanofibre -doped alginate biomimetic hydrogels enhance scaffold mechanical properties and cellular homeostasis support capacity by mimicking the multi-level structure of the interstitial matrix. Notably, hydroxysafflor yellow A, released in a sustained manner, acts as an anti-inflammatory agent that markedly improves the inflammatory microenvironment of diseased lower-limb vessels and enhances the survival and functionality of ADSCs. Following minimally invasive perivascular interstitial injection, the hydrogel forms an in situ encapsulation around the diseased vessel, thereby enabling, for the first time, continuous, localized, and noninvasive drug–cell co-delivery. In vitro experiments demonstrated that Gel-HP-ADSC effectively promoted tubular structure formation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells, significantly induced macrophage polarization towards the anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype, and scavenged reactive oxygen species. In the diabetic rat model, interstitial injection of Gel-HP-ADSC significantly enhanced angiogenesis, inhibited abnormal proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells, and improved vascular remodeling, thereby demonstrating a pronounced therapeutic effect. This study offers a minimally invasive therapeutic strategy for diabetic vasculopathy that integrates the functions of targeted sustained release, immunomodulation, and tissue repair.

Early diagnosis and personalized management of chronic liver disease are critical for preventing disease progression and reducing mortality. However, existing diagnostic methods primarily depend on invasive blood sampling and laboratory-based analyses, which limit their suitability for continuous, real-world monitoring. In this study, we developed a skin-conformal, wearable electrochemical biosensing platform capable of real time monitoring of liver health by continuously analyzing liver-related metabolic biomarkers (creatine and lactate) in sweat. To improve sensor reliability, we introduced a universal enzyme immobilization strategy based on covalent organic frameworks, which enhances enzymatic stability and maintains catlytic activity under dynamic conditions. The fully integrated system supports efficient passive sweat collection, real time multi-analyte detection, on-board signal processing, and digital display. The platform was applied in preliminary human studies to track dynamic changes in sweat creatine and lactate in healthy individuals and participants with chronic liver disease. Overall, this work demonstrates a versatile wearable platform for noninvasive, continuous assisted evaluation of liver metabolic functions, contributing to the advancement of next-generation personalized healthcare technologies.

Sutures and anastomoses are widely used for surgical closure; however, owing to their high technical requirements, operation complexity, and limitations of the methods themselves, both closure methods can result in incomplete sealing, causing secondary tissue damage. In recent years, non-invasive hydrogels have demonstrated considerable potential as medical adhesives for applications such as tissue regeneration, wound closure, and wound repair, owing to their superior biological properties and ease of operation. Among them, injectable hydrogel adhesives have attracted increasing attention in the surgical field for their handling convenience and ability to provide complete wound coverage. However, to date, no comprehensive reviews of their use in surgery have been reported. Consequently, we review progress in the design of injectable hydrogels over the past decade, including their design principles, cross-linking strategies, and evaluation methods. We also highlight their application in different surgical fields—including neurosurgery, ophthalmology, cardiothoracic surgery, general surgery, urology, plastic surgery, and orthopedic surgery. In this review, we aim to provide meaningful insights into the design of next-generation hydrogel adhesives for wound closure and tissue regeneration.

The extension of polymer fibrils is anticipated to enhance charge transport in organic solar cells (OSCs).However, further extending the length of polymer fibrils remains challenging due to the weak inter-molecular interactions among polymer chains. This work reports a fibrillization strategy that enablespronounced extension of polymer donor D18 fibrils (from 264 nm to 391 nm) by selectively strengtheningpacking between the acceptor units (A) in D18 fibrils. By introducing a volatile solid additive, 2,4-dichloro-5-cyanothiazole (DCCTz), dipole-dipole interactions are established between the additive and the A unitsof the polymer donor D18, effectively reducing the energetic barrier for intermolecular packing. Importantly,the extended fibril network and optimized molecular packing are well preserved in D18/L8-BO layer-by-layer (LbL) processed active layers without disturbing acceptor ordering. Consequently, this optimizeddonor fibril morphology facilitates charge transport and collection in D18/L8-BO LbL fabricated organicsolar cells (OSCs), yielding a significantly improved power conversion efficiency of 19.30%. This workdemonstrates an effective strategy to carefully control the dipole-dipole interaction between the solidadditive and polymer donor, offering a promising approach for advancing the performance of OSCs.

The long-term operation of Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric generators at elevated temperatures (500 similar to 550 K) is limited by the lack of stable interconnect materials. Although substantial progress has been achieved in thermoelectric legs and diffusion barrier layers, welding layers remain underexplored, leaving Sn-Pb-Ag solders widely used despite their high atomic mobility and poor stability above 500 K. Here we develop a low-temperature diffusion-welding strategy to construct stable interconnects. Guided by the thermal expansion behaviour and melting points of diffusion-reaction products, a high-melting, single-phase Cu3Sn interconnect forms within a short welding time at a moderate welding temperature. With favorable electrical and thermal transport, the resulting module achieves a maximum conversion efficiency of 7.2% and a power density of 0.57 W cm- 2 at hot-side temperature of 553 K. Performance degradation remains negligible after 120 thermal cycles. These results demonstrate a practical and effective interconnect strategy for improving the stability of thermoelectric generators operating under elevated temperatures.

Layered thermoelectric materials face intrinsic challenges in disentangling phonon and electron transport due to their anisotropic bonding networks. Here, we introduce a van der Waals gap engineering strategy that deliberately imposes out-of-plane stress on n-type bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3). Selective interlayer doping creates local charge imbalance, which in turn drives ripple-like lattice corrugations. These structural undulations mimic substrate-induced strain fields, renormalize phonon dispersion, and substantially reduce phonon velocity, thereby suppressing lattice thermal conductivity. The corrugation amplitude is far smaller than the electronic mean free path, ensuring negligible additional electron scattering. As a result, the material reaches a peak zT of 1.43 at 350 kelvin, while the fabricated module delivers a conversion efficiency of 7.5% under a 250-kelvin temperature gradient-both representing state-of-the-art performances for n-type Bi2Te3 systems. More broadly, this work establishes interlayer stress as a general strategy to manipulate phonons in van der Waals solids, providing previously unidentified design principles for high-efficiency thermoelectrics.

Thermal stability is a critical challenge limiting the practical deployment of thermoelectric materials in real-world energy conversion. This study presents a breakthrough by incorporating dense nanoscale twin boundaries into bismuth telluride-based thermoelectrics, achieving concurrent improvements in thermoelectric efficiency, mechanical robustness, and operational longevity. The coherent twin interfaces, characterized by their crystallographic symmetry and minimal electron scattering, effectively reduce lattice thermal conductivity while preserving charge carrier mobility. Remarkably, the material maintains a high power factor and a low thermal conductivity even after extended thermal aging. Device-level testing confirms exceptional stability, with twin-engineered devices retaining >98% of their output power and conversion efficiency across repeated thermal cycles, alongside intact interfacial contacts and no observable microstructural degradation. These results highlight nanotwin boundary engineering as a robust microstructural design paradigm for developing high-performance, durable thermoelectric device applications.

The long-term reliability of thermoelectric devices critically depends on the thermal and chemical stability of their diffusion barriers. Conventional single-metal barriers often fail to simultaneously satisfy the requirements of stability, electrical compatibility, and mechanical integrity. To address these limitations, we introduce a quaternary FeCoNiCr alloy as a diffusion barrier for p-type PbTe. The alloy exhibits an enhanced coefficient of thermal expansion (16.2 & times; 10-6 K-1) compared with pure Fe (15 & times; 10-6 K-1), yielding improved thermal compatibility with PbTe. Samples sintered at 923 K achieved a low interfacial resistivity of 3.1 & micro;Omega cm2. Owing to the in situ formation of a thermodynamically stable Cr3Te4 phase, the FeCoNiCr/PbTe interface retained structural integrity and a low resistivity of 3.0 & micro;Omega cm2 even after 500 h of aging at 723 K. At a 500 K temperature difference, the thermoelectric leg delivered a maximum output power of 0.22 W and a peak conversion efficiency of 7.8%, with negligible degradation after aging, demonstrating the excellent interfacial and thermal stability of the multicomponent alloy.

The fascia, a hierarchical composite structure present in the skin, can promote the rapid repair of damaged tissues and reduce the formation of scars. However, its important role in wound repair has been severely neglected. Therefore, we develop a wound dressing with a nanofiber network structure that mimics the skin fascia. Using methacryloyl chondroitin sulfate as a hydrogel substrate, a light-clickable fascia-inspired nanofibrous hydrogel (CA-DAF-BSA @ PFD) is constructed by electrospinning a dextran shell loaded with pirfenidone albumin nanoparticles (BSA @ PFD) to form a core-shell fiber network. The hydrogel demonstrates good viscoelasticity, injectability, swelling resistance, antibacterial activity, and biocompatibility. In vitro cell studies demonstrate that CA-DAF-BSA @ PFD hydrogel induces macrophage polarization toward the M2 phenotype and inhibits fibroblast differentiation into myofibroblasts. In vivo, CA-DAF-BSA @ PFD hydrogel can significantly promote granulation tissue regeneration and effectively reduce the formation of scar tissue by inhibiting excessive collagen deposition and abnormal fibrosis. This core-shell fiber hydrogel exhibits significant potential as an advanced wound dressing, offering a novel therapeutic strategy for achieving both high-efficiency and biocompatible tissue repair.

Cell-to-cell mechanical interactions are fundamental to physiological and pathological processes, yet their precise quantification remains technically challenging. In this study, we present a high-precision cellular mechanics measurement platform utilizing holographic optical tweezers (HOT) to dynamically probe mechanical responses during cell binding and separation. This system enables dynamic probing of mechanical responses during cell binding and separation by combining nanometer-scale displacement tracking with optical force field reconstruction, achieving sub-piconewton force sensitivity (0.44 f 0.17 pN along the x-axis). Additionally, integrated morphological imaging allows for the generation of accurate force-deformation curves, enabling quantitative analysis of cellular viscoelastic properties through standardized stress relaxation and creep compliance assays. This non-invasive and high-fidelity approach provides a powerful tool for characterizing dynamic cell-to-cell mechanical interactions. (c) 2026 Chinese Laser Press

Stretchable organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are essential for display and interaction in wearable electronics. However, inkjet-printed silver nanowire (AgNW) films for OLED electrodes are limited by poor film uniformity, high surface roughness, and insufficient stretchability. Here, an integrated strategy is proposed to address these challenges through cosolvent modulation, substrate transfer, and junction soldering. Specifically, a high-viscosity cosolvent (1-pentanol) was introduced into the AgNW ink to suppress the outward capillary flow during drying. This effectively mitigated the coffee ring effect and significantly improved film uniformity. On this basis, the AgNW films were embedded into a thermoplastic polyurethane/polydimethylsiloxane (TPU/PDMS) elastomeric matrix via a substrate transfer process, utilizing the water solubility of the initial PEDOT:PSS substrate. This process reduced the root-mean-square surface roughness from 23.9 nm to 4.1 nm and the maximum peak-to-valley roughness from 188.2 nm to 29.9 nm. Furthermore, the inter-nanowire junctions were soldered using a small-molecule additive (4 '-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl, 5CB) to further enhance mechanical stability. This reduced the relative resistance change (R/R0) under 100% strain from 99 to 12. Based on the optimized electrodes, the fully inkjet-printed stretchable OLED devices were successfully fabricated. The devices exhibited a maximum luminance of 3141 cd m-2, corresponding to 84% of that of the spin-coated reference device. Under 100% strain, the devices retained 38% of the initial luminance. These results demonstrate a viable and scalable route toward high-performance, fully printed stretchable OLEDs.

Waterborne acrylic coatings are widely favored for their environmental friendliness, excellent weather resistance, good film-forming property, high transparency and convenient construction. However, their high flammability severely limits their practical applications. In this study, a novel P/Si/B synergistic flame retardant (PSiB) was designed and synthesized, and its flame-retardant performance and mechanism in waterborne acrylic coatings were systematically investigated. The results show that the coating containing 10 wt% of PSiB (A/PSiB10) exhibited a limiting oxygen index (LOI) of 26.5%. When combined with melamine (MEL) and pentaerythritol (PER) to form an optimized coating (A/PSiB10M10P5), the LOI further increased to 28.6%. Compared with the blank sample, the LOI increased significantly by 23.26% and 33.02% for A/PSiB10 and A/PSiB10M10P5, respectively; meanwhile, the heat release rates (HRR) of A/PSiB10 and A/PSiB10M10P5 were significantly reduced by 32.91% and 42.68%, respectively, and the residual char yields increased from 2.12% in the blank sample to 5.86% and 7.54%, respectively, demonstrating superior flame-retardant performance. Moreover, both A/PSiB10 and A/PSiB10M10P5 maintained excellent transparency. The flame-retardant mechanism study demonstrates that A/PSiB10M10P5 can generate abundant acidic substances during pyrolysis and synergize with MEL and PER to promote dehydration carbonization and aromatization of the polymer matrix and char layer expansion. Meanwhile, formed compounds including boron phosphate, boron oxide and boron nitride significantly enhance the thickness and compactness of the inner char layer, while silicon dioxide (SiO2) forms a dense outer protective layer on the char surface, impeding the transfer of heat and oxygen. Thereby, A/PSiB10M10P5 exhibits outstanding synergistic flame-retardant effects.

A portable electrochemical sweat sensor platform enables stable and non-invasive detection of vasospasm biomarkers, including tyrosine, lactate, and Mg2+, offering a promising tool for early point-of-care vascular diagnostics.

Conventional thermoelectric semiconductors are intrinsically brittle, limiting their integration and reliability. Recent studies have revealed intrinsic plasticity in several systems, such as Mg3Bi2 and Bi2Te3, yet this deformability has been primarily attributed to mesoscopic dislocation activity. Here, we unveil an atomic-level charge-mechanical coupling that directly governs plastic deformation in layered bismuth telluride materials. It represents a dislocation-independent pathway for deformation, originating from the tunable interlayer bonding itself. We demonstrate that reducing carrier concentration weakens van der Waals attraction, expands interlayer spacing, and thus promotes interlayer slip, resulting in remarkable ductility with a bending strain of 26% and a compressive strain exceeding 90%. Importantly, this mechanism does not compromise thermoelectric performance. Instead, the optimized p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 simultaneously achieves a high peak dimensionless figure of merit (zT) of 1.23 at 350 K. This work reveals how electronic states can be harnessed to tune plasticity in layered semiconductors and provides a general strategy for synergistically enhancing mechanical flexibility and thermoelectric efficiency.

Flexible graphite packing rings are widely employed in high-temperature and high-pressure valve sealing systems owing to their intrinsic lubricity and thermal stability, yet their service reliability is often compromised by low mechanical strength, pronounced creep, and unstable tribological behavior under extreme conditions. Here, we present an interface-engineered strategy to enhance the service performance of graphite packing rings via reinforcement with surface-functionalized PAN-based carbon fibers (PAN-CFs; carbonized fibers derived from polyacrylonitrile precursors). Through controlled oxidative modification of carbon fibers combined with high-temperature graphite expansion, a three-dimensional reinforced graphite network with uniform fiber dispersion was constructed. The influence of PAN-based carbon fiber (PAN-CF) content (0-7 wt%) on compressive strength, thermal stability, friction behavior, and long-term durability was systematically evaluated. An optimal performance was achieved at 5 wt% PAN-CF, featuring a ~58% increase in compressive strength, a stable friction coefficient of 0.15-0.18, and enhanced creep resistance, while retaining over 78% of the initial strength after 1000 h of sustained loading. Microstructural and complementary structural analyses suggest that these improvements are associated with interfacial mechanical anchoring, fiber embedding, and load-transfer reinforcement enabled by fiber surface functionalization and the expanded graphite architecture. This work offers a practical material-level approach to improving the long-term reliability of graphite-based sealing components in demanding industrial environments.

Thermoelectric (TE) power generators provide an effective solution for recovering low-grade heat, driving the development of high-performance Bi2Te3 alloys. In this study, we enhanced the peak ZT to 1.43 at 350 K by incorporating perovskite-type ZnSnO3 nanoparticles into Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3, surpassing the performance of most (Bi, Sb)2Te3-based composites. The enhancement is attributed to the in-situ reaction between the decomposition products and the matrix, which optimizes hole concentration and enhances the density-of-states effective mass via the energy filtering effect, with minimal loss in hole mobility. Concurrently, microstructural evolution, including high-density twins and oxide nanoprecipitates, significantly reduces lattice thermal conductivity. These combined effects result in a 28 % improvement in the TE quality factor at 300 K, reaching 0.63 for the Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 + 0.4 wt% ZnSnO3 sample. More significantly, when coupled with n-type zone-melted Bi2Te2.7Se0.3, the well-designed 17-pair TE module achieves a conversion efficiency of 6.6 % under a 200 K temperature gradient, surpassing the majority of reported Bi2Te3-based modules, which further demonstrates the efficacy of the ZnSnO3 compositing strategy and highlights the great potential for practical applications.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is marked by a prolonged asymptomatic "window period" (several years). Early prediction and diagnosis during this window are crucial, as timely interventions can slow disease progression. In this study, a fully integrated wearable sweat-sensing patch capable of real-time detection of three key PD biomarkers: L-Dopa, ascorbic acid, and glucose is developed. The system includes a biomimetic microfluidic module for sedentary sweat collection, an advanced electrochemical sensing platform for biomarker analysis, on-site signal processing circuitry for data management, and custom software for real-time data visualization. A universal strategy is proposed to significantly extend the stability of oxidase enzymes without activity loss, achieved through the design of Cu-oxidase hybrid nanoflowers. The patch is successfully tested on dozens of volunteers (healthy and PD patients in various stages), demonstrating its capability to monitor biomarkers in real time, assess PD progression, and optimize medication management.