Daytime radiative cooling as an environmentally energy-saving strategy, achieves cooling without any power consumption by reflecting sunlight and radiating energy to outer space. In our work, an ecofriendly and degradable poly (lactic acid) (PLA) fibers derived from discarded nonwovens are used to prepare aerogels by combing with ZrO2 nanoparticles with silane coupling agent (VTMS) crosslinking. The composite aerogel with low density (26.3-30.7 mg/cm3) exhibits high solar reflectance (77 %), emissivity (94.31 %), low thermal conductivity, and high compressive stress (9.0 kPa under 60 % compressive strain). Thermal insulation test demonstrates that the aerogel can achieve temperature drops of 31.3 degrees C and 41.4 degrees C under the temperature of heating table 60 degrees C and 80 degrees C. Radiative cooling test shows aerogel with 15 wt% ZrO2 can achieve a temperature drop of 9.14 degrees C during daytime. Meanwhile, the aerogel cooler presents excellent superhydrophobic (150 degrees), self-cleaning performance, and cyclic compression performance. This findings will promote the field of passive radiative cooling toward a greener and more sustainable direction. (c) 2025 Kingfa Scientific and Technological Co., Ltd. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Polypropylene (PP) fiber with durable hydrophilicity is a novel development which may fundamentally improve their application value. Nevertheless, conventional hydrophilic modification techniques fail to guarantee long-lasting performance and suffer from high processing costs. Herein, scalable bicomponent melt spinning technology is adopted to fabricate asymmetric polypropylene fibers with durable hydrophilicity and nonwovens. The fiber axial Janus characteristics on each individual PP fiber is rendered by an interfacial macromolecular implantation mechanism where trace amount of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) chain segments is physically implanted on the surface of only one longitudinal side of the fibers. The concave-shaped PP fibers are durably hydrophilic while the resulting fabrics exhibit excellent amphiphilic characteristics mimicking the natural cellulose based materials. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) showed the dual sides of the fiber with different morphologies with much more pronounced adhesive forces from the hydrophilic side of the fiber, indicating fundamental changes of atomic force field resulting from modified PP surfaces. These asymmetrically hydrophilic fibers and nonwovens have remarkable characteristics including fluid wicking and transport. This work provides a universal fabrication strategy for polyolefin-based Janus fibers and is expected to broaden the application scope of PP in medical dressings, separation filter media and other fields.

Unidirectional moisture transport, facilitated by asymmetric structure or property, has already demonstrated its application prospects in functional textiles for personal moisture management. Herein, bilayered fully polyester (PET) nonwoven is prepared by hot pressing between hydrophilic PET spunbond layer and hydrophobic PET electrospun layer to realize its unidirectional moisture transport property. PET spunbond layer possesses crescent shaped PET fibers with 12.54 +/- 7.46 mu m diameter, displaying superhydrophilicity. At the same time, PET electrospun layer has excellent hydrophobic property with average water contact angle 134.4 degrees. Water droplets are penetrated in hydrophilic PET spunbond nonwoven and left a diffusion ring with a diameter of 17.6 mm after 5 s, showing excellent diffusion effect. Strikingly, the composite nonwoven exhibits an outstanding unidirectional moisture transport property with 1096.58 +/- 27.3% MMT value. Water has undergone slight diffusion in the hydrophobic layer, with a maximum water content of 61.35%. Moreover, hydrophilic layer features significant diffusion, reaching a maximum of 1472.6%, the value of hydrophilic surface is 40 times that of the hydrophobic surface. The fully PET nonwoven provides new insights into the development of functional nonwoven for personal health and comfort as well as medical hygienic products.

Inspired by the continuous shells and graded porous interiors of natural bird bones, this study presents a framework to design, optimize, and additively manufacture bird-bone-like materials for a new class of aircraft wing designs without traditional components such as ribs, spars, and stiffeners. Additive manufacturing, including fused deposition modeling (FDM), enables the rapid fabrication of these complex bio-inspired geometries with minimal material waste but introduces significant anisotropy due to its layer-by-layer deposition process. We implemented a transversely isotropic material model with Hill's yield criterion to capture the directional dependence of FDM-printed polylactic acid (PLA). Using the Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES), the bird-bone-inspired materials were optimized to minimize wing mass while maximizing load-carrying capacity. This framework achieved substantial improvements in structural efficiency, with 48-54 % for wings with lattice-based internal structures and 23-37 % for foam-based internal structures compared to reference designs. Experimental validation through structural testing of 3D-printed wings showed strong agreement with numerical predictions, with differences in effective stiffness and load-carrying capacity within 1.4-3.3 % and 1.2-13.5 %, respectively, of simulated values. The results confirm the effectiveness of this integrated framework for designing lightweight, high-performance bird-bone-inspired materials for aerospace applications.

To date, it has been challenging for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials undergoing external mechanical stimuli containing stretching, bending, or large deformations to maintain excellent EMI shielding effectiveness and long-term structural stability. At the same time, EMI shielding materials require high shielding effectiveness and low reflection, reducing secondary pollution of electromagnetic waves. Herein, porous core-shell polyurethane (PU) fibers featuring a rich porous microstructure are prepared by coaxial wet spinning, with elastic elongation capacity exceeding 1500%. This work explores a porous core-shell PU fiber substrate by loading silver nanowires (AgNWs), forming an interconnected conductive network in the PU fiber matrix. The resultant composite is stable, successfully achieved through the thermal adhesion of PU nanofibers between the AgNW functional layer and the PU substrate layer. The composite (500 mg of PU fiber substrate) loading of 36 mg of AgNWs results in the EMI shielding efficiency of 39.41 dB. While it is stretched under 10% deformation, its EMI shielding efficiency exceeds 23.14 dB. Even if electromagnetic waves are randomly incident from both sides of the composite, it maintains excellent EMI shielding performance. In summary, this type of composite with excellent EMI shielding performance can be used in applications where flexibility, lightweight, and bendable conditions are the primary requirements.

Benefiting from the unique physical and chemical characteristics induced by extreme diameter reduction, micro/ nanofiber materials exhibit remarkable functional properties and have emerged as a frontier in fiber science and engineering. However, traditional processing approaches for micro/nanofibers mostly rely on previously synthesized high molecular weight polymers as raw materials. This reliance results in manufacturing processes that are either energy-intensive with achievable fiber diameters limited to relatively large micron-scale dimensions, or involve extensive use of organic solvents, leading to low production efficiency and potential environmentally harmful emissions. This paper builds upon our previously reported reactive melt spinning (RMS) technique as a green, efficient and scalable process, and successfully achieves continuous stable operation using polyamide 6 (PA6) as a representative example. We demonstrate herein that the optimal caprolactam monomer/catalyst formulation serves as the starting material, and reactive polymerization, melt extrusion, fiber drawing and web forming are successively taking place within a single integrated process. The resulting PA6 micro/nanofibers and their nonwovens exhibit excellent comprehensive performance, showing significant potential for applications in air purification, hygiene and environmental protection, as well as in creative print design. Furthermore, RMS is presented as a viable alternative to direct spinning technologies currently under active research and development for PA6, and may also be adaptable to other fast-reacting polymeric systems. Therefore, this innovative methodology has opened a promising pathway for the design, preparation and application of high-performance ultrafine fibrous materials.

The challenges of Zn dendrite growth and corrosion are closely tied to salt depletion at the Zn anode interface, arising from Zn2+ ions consumption and the reverse migration of anions during zinc deposition. Herein, a functional separator (GFZP), composed of ultra-thin ZrP nanosheets with oxygen defects affixed to glass fiber, is developed to resolve these challenges. The GFZP separator effectively mitigates salt depletion by rapidly adsorbing and releasing significant quantities of ions under an electric field, preventing Zn2+ depletion and replenishing SO42- anions through reverse diffusion, ensuring uniform zinc anode deposition. In addition, the absence of a salt depletion region at the Zn interface, coupled with the strong interaction between GFZP and water molecules, suppresses water activity, thereby reducing Zn anode corrosion and side reactions. As a result, the Zn||Zn symmetric cells with GFZP separator survive 3000 h at 1 mA cm-2 and 1 mAh cm-2. Furthermore, Zn|| Na2V6O16 center dot 3H2O full cell achieves a high capacity of 4.9 mAh cm-2 and excellent cycling stability under limited zinc resources (N/P = 2.4).

Tunable surface amphiphilic polypropylene (PP) fibers and textiles with multi-grooved hydrophilic micro-structures have been prepared through a commercially scalable segmented pie bicomponent fiber melt spinning and post-treatment process. It was demonstrated that the molecular implantation of a modified polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) macromolecular chains onto the PP interface/interphase during the bicomponent melt-spinning process was responsible for the hydrophilicity inside the micro-channels (micro-groves) of the PP fibers. These hydrophilic channels brought about super capillary wicking effect through the PP fibers and fabrics that is much amplified than previous technologies to functional treatment of the fibers and fabrics via environmentally friendly aqueous processes. In aqueous dyeing treatment, for example, these multi-grooved novel amphiphilic fibers demonstrated a practical solution to the well-known dilemma that PP fiber is essentially impossible to dye due to its inherently low surface energy. Additionally, there is a great promise to expanded the amphiphilic PP to higher-value functionalities and wider-field applications.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are popular for their safety, affordability, and environmental friendliness. However, irreversible electrochemical processes at the zinc anode limit their longevity, especially in mildly acidic electrolytes. Traditional approaches including protective artificial interfaces and electrolyte engineering with functional additives, face limitations due to rapid electrolyte consumption and diminished regulatory effectiveness over time. To overcome these challenges, we have developed a thin copper acetate/polyacrylonitrile composite (CPAN) fibrous film (37 mu m) inspired by diffusion-controlled drug release systems. This innovative separator ensures the continuous and controllable release of copper ions (Cu2+) and acetate ions (Ac-). The Cu2+ promotes the formation of a zincophilic-hydrophobic Cu/Zn alloy interface on the zinc anode, effectively suppressing dendrite growth and hydrogen evolution. The Ac- in conjunction with the cyano groups in PAN, regulates the solvation structure of Zn2+ and accelerates its desolvation. As a result, the CPAN separator significantly enhances the reversibility of zinc stripping and plating, allowing stable cycling for over 1500 hours. The assembled MnO2 & Vert;Zn pouch cell exhibits a high capacity of 45 mAh and stable cycling for over 300 cycles even under lean electrolyte conditions (E/C ratio = 25.88 mu L mAh-1) and limited Zn supply (N/P ratio = 3).

Particulate matter (PM) suspended in the air has posed significant potential threats to human health. However, current air filters designed to intercept PM are confronted with several challenges, including a complicated preparation process, monotonous protective performance, and uncomfortable wearability. Herein, a novel jet-splitting electrospinning strategy was demonstrated to simply fabricate a hierarchically structured PLA membrane with a high filtration performance, antibacterial performance, and rapid heat dissipation for effective and comfortable air filtering. Formulating a cationic antibacterial surfactant in the PLA solution to tailor the splitting of charged jets enables the simultaneous formation of nanofibers, submicron-fibers, and beads in the hierarchical filtration network by the single-jet electrospinning. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of multi-scale fibers and beads, the hierarchically structured filter exhibited an excellent filtration efficiency of 99.979% and high quality factor of 0.45 Pa−1 against PM0.3, with a remarkably low pressure drop of 18.7 Pa. Furthermore, the hierarchical structure endowed the filter with excellent stability in filtration performance, even under 20-cyclic and 480 min long-term tests, high-humidity tests with sodium chloride aerosol particles, and the 20-cycle PM2.5 smoke tests. Simultaneously, the filter also demonstrated remarkable antibacterial performance and an excellent heat dissipation property—all achieved due to its PLA formulation and the hierarchical structure.

The exploration of non-precious metal electrocatalysts with superior oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity is a key but significant challenge for industrialization of rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs). Herein, we rationally design an efficient and stable ORR catalyst based on CuFe alloy nanoparticles embedded in N-doped carbon nanofibers (CuFe-NHPC/CNFs) that derived from covalent organic framework/metal organic framework (COF/MOF) hybrids. Merited from strong synergistic effect of multiple active sites and advantage of three-dimensional hierarchical porous structure, CuFe-NHPC/CNFs electrode exhibits outstanding ORR activity in alkaline media, with a half-wave potential (E1/2 ​= ​0.88 ​V) and electrocatalytic stability (91 % current retention after 950 ​min). The above results reveal that overall performance of CuFe-NHPC/CNFs catalyst outperforms both commercial Pt/C and non-precious metal electrocatalysts reported recently. Impressively, aqueous ZAB driven by CuFe-NHPC/CNFs delivers a peak power density of 207 ​mW ​cm−2 and cycling stability over 300 ​h. Furthermore, corresponding solid-state ZAB displays appealing discharge capability, energy storage ability and flexibility, and can power wearable electronic devices such as safety warning lights under different deformation. This study offers a reliable idea for fabrication of low-cost and high ORR activity non-precious metal electrocatalysts from MOF/COF hybrids, which is important for development of efficient energy conversion and storage systems.

A novel environmentally-friendly conjugate structural membrane, composed of cuprammonium cellulose (CC), polyethylene oxide (PEO), and polyacrylonitrile (PAN), was fabricated using conjugate electrospinning. Adsorption of ciprofloxacin (CIP) from water was achieved using the conjugated membrane (CC-PAN). By combining PEO and PAN with CC, the membrane's mechanical strength was significantly enhanced, and notably improved its selective adsorption capability for antibiotics in both organic and inorganic systems. The CC-PAN membrane demonstrated high adsorption capacity for ciprofloxacin (CIP), reaching a maximum of 70.7 mg/g. The adsorption ability of CC-PAN towards CIP remained unaffected even at low CIP concentrations of 5 ppm in tap water. The adsorption mechanisms of CC-PAN onto CIP were extensively investigated by combining adsorption kinetics, thermodynamics, and isotherms. Spectroscopic methods were further employed to explore the interactions at various pH levels from 2 to 10. The adsorption capacity revealed a clear pH dependence. Specifically, at pH < 6.4, electrostatic attraction, interactions between electron donors and acceptors (likely hydrogen bonding), were the most predominant interactions. Furthermore, CC-PAN exhibited excellent stability, retaining 68 mg/g of its original adsorption capability during five successive adsorption-desorption repetitions. In addition to CIP, CC-PAN could also effectively remove tetracycline (TC) and trimethoprim (TMP). Based on these vital characteristics, CC-PAN demonstrates potential as an effective material for removing antibiotics from water through adsorption.

This paper presents the optimization frameworks for designing cellular internal structures of an aircraft wing subjected to aerodynamic loads. Inspired by natural cellular materials, this study employs lattice and foam cells as the internal structures of the aircraft wing. The distribution of the cell materials is optimized by minimizing the mass and maximizing the stiffness while avoiding the global buckling of the wing. The optimization variables for the lattice structure are the cell size distribution field and the strut radii (or cell face thicknesses). Various weighting factor combinations are applied to the two competing objectives to obtain the optimal solution, considering different priorities of reducing mass or increasing stiffness. The results demonstrate that the wings with optimized cellular internal structures have higher structural efficiency than the reference wings with uniform cellular internal structures. The optimized wings also achieve higher structural efficiency than conventional wing designs when requiring heavy loading or a balanced tradeoff between load-bearing capacity and mass.

High-performance metal chalcogenide anodes based on conversion and alloy reaction are promising for the next generation of sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to their high theoretical capacity. However, the intrinsic limitations of metal chalcogenides, including inadequate electrical conductivity and suboptimal ion diffusion kinetics, impede high-rate performance and large-scale applicability. Herein, a two-dimensional ultrathin Cu heteroatom-doped Bi2Se3 nanosheet with cation vacancies (denoted as DBS) has been developed as an anode for SIBs, exhibiting high capacity and superior rate performance. The electrical conductivity of DBS is enhanced by the contribution of surface topological states and the regulation of electronic structure due to structural defects. Furthermore, the modified crystal structure demonstrates improved ion transport capabilities, elevated Na+ adsorption energy, and a greater number of adsorption sites, as substantiated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Consequently, the DBS electrode exhibits reduced polarization potential, fast capacitive charge storage and a more comprehensive conversion-alloy reaction, thereby achieving a high specific capacity (528 mA h g-1 at 0.2 A g-1), large rate performance (383 mA h g-1 at 10 A g-1), and long cycling stability. This superior performance enhances the appealing electrochemical properties of both coin and pouch-type DBS//Na3V2(PO4)3@C full cells.

A cotton linter-based source was used to form conjugate electrospun membranes composed of cuprammonium cellulose, polyethylene oxide, and polyacrylonitrile for the removal of the anionic and cationic dyes from aqueous media. The highest removal efficiencies of 94 %, 89.9 %, 87.4 % were achieved for the anionic dyes Congo red (CR), Metanil yellow (MY), and Methyl orange (MO), respectively, and less so on the cationic dyes Crystal violet (CV), and Rhodamine B (RB) were 55.8 % and 15.1 %, respectively. The pseudo-second-order model effectively described the adsorption kinetics for both types of dyes. The composite membrane exhibited adsorption behaviors following the Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isothermal model. Thermodynamics study suggests that the adsorption process was spontaneous except for the RB dye. The activation energy values of CR, MY, MO, CV, and RB dyes were 27.65, 21.17, 11.50, 10.47, and 71.12 kJ/mol, respectively, confirming the physisorption phenomenon for CR, MY, MO, and CV dyes, while chemisorption occurs for RB dyes. This study investigates the potential of a conjugate electrospun membranes as a reusable adsorbent for dye removal. The effects of solution pH, temperature, and dye concentration on adsorption performance were systematically evaluated. The conjugate electrospun membrane efficiency declined by only 10 % after undergoing five adsorption/desorption cycles.

Biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) melt-blown nonwovens (MN) are regarded as the promising alternatives for petroleum-based air filtration mediums. However, the filtration performances of most PLA MN were greatly relied on their electrostatic effects which would suffer from inevitable attenuation caused by environment conditions during long-term storage. Herein, the innovative combination of breath-figure (BF) and melt-blowing technologies was proposed to prepare the hierarchically structured PLA MN-bearing BF net pattern (PMBP) for enhanced air filtration. Initially, melt-blowing technology was employed to conduct large-scale preparation of PLA MN with a low-pressure drop of 25.7 Pa but an unsatisfactory PM2.5 (aerodynamic diameter below 2.5 μm) filtration efficiency of 59.5

Polyamide 6 (PA6), as a well-established engineering thermoplastic, plays a crucial role in modern society. However, the traditional production mode of PA6 has many drawbacks such as complex processes, huge energy consumption and serious pollution, and it is often separated from the processing technology. Here we report a simple and efficient method for synthesizing linear PA6 polymers, i.e., self-initiated anionic polymerization of epsilon-caprolactam. It was found that a high conversion rate of over 94 % was achieved at 240 degrees C for 15 min using sodium hydride as a catalyst only. The polymerization products thus obtained exhibited characteristics consistent with those of commercial spinning grade PA6. Furthermore, we successfully prepared PA6 micro-nano fiber materials by seamlessly integrating the two processes of linear polyamide 6 synthesis and melt spinning. This innovative reactive melt spinning technology is expected to create a new situation in the preparation and application of high-performance fibers.

Defect engineering and interface engineering exhibit remarkable potential in the quest for efficient and stable bifunctional catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, we innovatively designed a Ni-MoO2/NiMoO4-x heterojunction electrocatalyst enriched with lattice defects using a novel thermal reduction strategy. For this catalyst, the strain effect induced by the lattice defects optimizes the electronic structure, while the heterogeneous interface significantly accelerates the electron transport efficiency, thereby substantially enhancing catalytic activity and promoting reaction kinetics. Using advanced spherical aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy (AC-TEM) combined with geometric phase analysis (GPA) simulations, we directly visualized and confirmed the presence of strain effects and heterostructures, which are pivotal factors in improving catalytic performance. In an alkaline seawater environment, the Ni-MoO2/NiMoO4-x catalyst exhibited exceptional performance with the HER overpotential as low as 27 mV and the OER overpotential of 216 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm-2. Furthermore, in a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) electrolyzer, the heterojunction catalyst can drive a current density of 147 mA cm-2 at a voltage of only 1.82 V, and maintain stable operation for over 100 h without degradation. In-depth theoretical simulations and experimental analyses revealed that the enriched Ni defect sites optimized the adsorption energy of hydrogen and oxygen intermediates, thereby boosting the catalytic efficiency for both HER and OER. This study not only pioneers a new approach to optimizing the performance of transition metal oxide catalysts but also provides robust theoretical support and experimental foundations for the practical application of hydrogen production technology through electrolytic water splitting in the future. (c) 2025 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.

We report the preparation of polypropylene fibers and textiles with durable surface hydrophilicity/amphiphilicity through a commercially scalable bicomponent fiber spinning and post-treatment process. It was demonstrated that the molecular implantation of a modified PVA chains onto the PP interface/interphase during the bicomponent melt-spinning process was responsible for the durable hydrophilicity of the PP fibers which can be further converted into hydrophobicity through selective solvent treatment. Such molecular implantation doesn't create an immiscible phase blend morphology in the bulk, but rather changes the outmost surface molecular segmental compositions of the PP component. This mechanism of macromolecular implantation at the interface between PP and PVA is novel, and can generate specific surface performance on PP fibers which is durable and tunable, leading to expanded higher value applications, and potentially changing the route of their end-of-life disposition in our living environment.

Biofouling on marine aquaculture nets severely hampers the sustainable development of the aquaculture industry. To address this issue, this study developed a novel low-surface-energy antifouling coating based on the synergistic action of polyurethane-methylphenyl silicone resin and polyhexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride (PHMG). Experiments demonstrate that with the addition of 3 wt% PHMG, the developed coating achieves over 95 % bacterial inhibition against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and reduces the Chlorella pyrenoidosa cell density by 92 % via cell membrane interference and genetic material inhibition. The novel coating also enhances coating adhesion and wear resistance, with a static water contact angle of 109 degrees, indicating excellent hydrophobicity and self-cleaning ability. Marine field tests show a 33.52 % biofouling reduction over three months, outperforming conventional coatings in terms of inhibiting shellfish attachment under static conditions. This study provides effective theoretical and technical support for developing efficient and environmentally friendly marine antifouling coatings and the sustainable development of aquaculture.