Small Methods
·
2025
·
IF 9.1
Yidan Zhang,Zhiguang Guo
The insufficient density and discontinuity of solar energy of photothermal superhydrophobic flexible film seriously affect the practical application. Light energy harvesting and heat energy storage are effective ways to solve this problem. Inspired by the viscous temperature-regulating material within the inflorescence of Lobelia telekii and the arrangement of bracts on its surface, a flexible film for photoheat storage is proposed that integrated a three-order photoheat trap and one-order heat storage. The surface of the flexible film features microcone array with micro-grooves, modified carbon nanotubes (MCNTs), and layered structures on microcapsules, forming a three-level photoheat trap. The generated heat increases the surface temperature and is partially absorbed by the heat storage material inside the microcapsule . The stable photothermal temperature of polyurethane films with microcone structure (S x ) was elevated by 3–5 °C compared to without it (Flat-S x ), while the stable photothermal temperature of MCNTs-S x (Flat-S x with MCNTs) exceeds that of S x by 2–6 °C. The ice particles on the MCNTs-S 0.45 completely dissolved within 180 s under xenon lamp light source. Meanwhile, MCNTs-S x demonstrated superhydrophobicity and outstanding anti-fouling capabilities. The fabricated MCNTs-S x realized biomimicry of Lobelia telekii in both structure and performance, providing a strategy for biomimetic photothermal de-icing.
研究领域:
材料科学
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能源科学
·
仿生学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
·
2024
·
IF 9.4
Keda Jiang,Zhihua Yang,Yifan Luo,Xiaohang Xue,Feiran Li,Bharat Bhushan,Yunlu Pan,Yanqiang Huo,Xuezeng Zhao,Libo Li,Jun Wei,Wenxin Cao
Ecofriendly fabrication of anti-oil-fouling materials is of interest. Surfaces with underwater superoleophobicity have been fabricated which exhibit limited mechanical durability and water resistance. In this study, we report on a bioinspired bilayer design of a transparent anti-oil-fouling coating. Seaweed surfaces show anti-oil-fouling in the sea due to its high surface hydration ability. Mussels can adhere tightly onto a surface with good stability in the sea by virtue of its levodopa-containing secretions. The surface layer was fabricated using a crosslinked combination of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and sodium alginate (AlgS) inspired by seaweed, with the addition of calcium ions. Polydopamine (PDA), a derivative of levodopa, was used as the underlayer to enhance bonding strength and water resistance. Oil that adhered to the coated surface was spontaneously detached upon immersion in water. The mechanism underlying this anti-oil-fouling effect was elucidated using Gibbs free energy theory. The coating exhibited mechanical durability and water resistance. The coating is transparent and preserves the original color of the substrate. The coated glass showed stable anti-fogging and anti-frost performance. These coatings hold promise for a wide range of anti-oil-fouling applications.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物仿生学
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环境科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Matter
·
2019
·
IF 0
Jingsong Peng,Chuanjin Huang,Can Cao,Eduardo Saiz,Yi Du,Shixue Dou,Antoni P. Tomsia,Hanoch Daniel Wagner,Lei Jiang,Qunfeng Cheng
Epoxy nanocomposites have many promising applications in the fields of aerospace and aeronautics, as well as many others. Achieving tough epoxy nanocomposites remains a great challenge, however. One inspiration for improving the mechanical properties of epoxy nanocomposites is nacre, which has remarkable fracture toughness for its layered “brick-and-mortar” architecture. Inspired by this, we fabricated a lamellar graphene scaffold by the freeze-casting technique. An alternating-layered epoxy-graphene nanocomposite was made by infiltrating epoxy into this graphene scaffold. As our epoxy-graphene nanocomposite consists of ∼99 wt % organic epoxy, in contrast to nacre containing ∼96 wt % inorganic aragonite, we call it an “inverse nacre-like” epoxy-graphene layered nanocomposite. It exhibits exceptional fracture toughness, 3.61 times that of pure epoxy, and demonstrates anisotropic conductivity due to the anisotropic graphene scaffold, which can be used to detect cracks. Our bioinspired strategy provides a promising approach to combine excellent mechanical properties with functional properties to fabricate high-performance nanocomposites.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
纳米技术
✓ 已验证
DOI
Advanced Science
·
2024
·Vol. 11
·期 28
·2402940
·
IF 14.3
Jiaming Zhong,Zhixiong Wen,Yibo Wu,Hao Luo,Guodong Liu,Jianqiao Hu,Hengxu Song,Tao Wang,Xudong Liang,Helezi Zhou,Wei Huang,Huamin Zhou
Structural materials such as ceramics, metals, and carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) are frequently threatened by large compressive and impact forces. Energy absorption layers, i.e., polyurethane and silicone foams with excellent damping properties, are applied on the surfaces of different substrates to absorb energy. However, the amount of energy dissipation and penetration resistance are limited in commercial polyurethane foams. Herein, a distinctive nacre-like architecture design strategy is proposed by integrating hard porous ceramic frameworks and flexible polyurethane buffers to improve energy absorption and impact resistance. Experimental investigations reveal the bioinspired designs exhibit optimized hardness, strength, and modulus compared to that of polyurethane. Due to the multiscale energy dissipation mechanisms, the resulting normalized absorbed energy (≈8.557 MJ m −3 ) is ≈20 times higher than polyurethane foams under 50% quasi-static compression. The bioinspired composites provide superior protection for structural materials (CFRP, glass, and steel), surpassing polyurethane films under impact loadings. It is shown CFRP coated with the designed materials can withstand more than ten impact loadings (in energy of 10 J) without obvious damage, which otherwise delaminates after a single impact. This biomimetic design strategy holds the potential to offer valuable insights for the development of lightweight, energy-absorbent, and impact-resistant materials.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
仿生学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
RSC Advances
·
2015
·Vol. 5
·期 71
·58032-58040
·
IF 3.84
Fen Ran,Haiming Song,Jiayu Wu,Lang Ma,Xiaoqin Niu,Huili Fan,Long Kang,Changsheng Zhao
While polyethersulfone (PES) represents outstanding oxidative, thermal and hydrolytic stability as well as good mechanical and film-forming properties, the hemocompatibility of PES membranes must be dramatically enhanced to reduce injections of anticoagulants during hemodialysis. In this study, a series of biological macromolecules with heparin-like chains were synthesized via reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization to design anticoagulant membrane surfaces. When the synthesized copolymers were used as additives to modify the PES membrane using the phase separation method, the functional groups of the copolymers migrated and formed a negatively charged coating on the membrane surface. The modified PES membrane blended with a heparin-like block copolymer showed prolonged blood coagulation time and thereby good hemocompatibility. In addition, the clotting time of the modified membrane was enhanced with increasing amounts of the heparin-like amphiphilic tri-block copolymer. Furthermore, the results of the cell morphology and the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay suggest that the cytocompatibility increases due to the addition of heparin-like additives. Thus, the heparin-like surface modification method seemed to be a promising approach for application in the biomedical field.
研究领域:
生物材料
·
医学工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Research
·
2022
·
IF 11.036
Yongsong Luo,Xiaoliang Chen,Hongmiao Tian,Xiangming Li,Yangtianyu Lu,Yang Liu,Jinyou Shao
Highly sensitive flexible pressure sensors play an important role to ensure the safety and friendliness during the human-robot interaction process. Microengineering the active layer has been shown to improve performance of pressure sensors. However, the current structural strategy almost relying on axial compression deformation suffers structural stiffening, and together with the limited area growth efficiency of conformal interface, essentially limiting the maximum sensitivity. Here, inspired by the interface contact behavior of gecko’s feet, we design a slant hierarchical microstructure to act as an electrode contacting with an ionic gel layer, fundamentally eliminating the pressure resistance and maximizing functional interface expansion to achieving ultrasensitive sensitivity. Such a structuring strategy dramatically improves the relative capacitance change both in the low- and high-pressure region, thereby boosting the sensitivity up to 36000 kPa-1 and effective measurement range up to 300 kPa. To verify the advantages of high sensitivity, the sensor is integrated with a soft magnetic robot to demonstrate a biomimetic Venus flytrap. The ability to perceive weak stimuli allows the sensor to be used as a sensory and feedback window, realizing the capture of small live insects and the transportation of fragile objects.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
International Journal of Polymer Science
·
2017
·
IF 1.077
Mei Han,Qiang Liu,Baihai Su,Shudong Sun,Changsheng Zhao
Polyurethanes (PUs) are currently considered to be biocompatible materials but limited by a low resistance to thrombus. We therefore design a heparin-like PU (HLPU) to modify polyethersulfone (PES) membranes approaching integrated antifouling and antithrombotic properties by bioinspiration of heparin structure. Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)-HLPU (PVP-HLPU) was synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization of VP using PU as a macroinitiator and then sulfonated by concentrated H2SO4. FTIR and NMR results demonstrated the successful synthesis of PVP-HLPU. By incorporation of PVP-HLPU, the cross-sectional structure of PES composite membranes altered from finger-like structure to sponge-like structure resulting in tunable permeability. The increased hydrophilicity verified by water contact angles benefited both the permeability and antifouling property. As a consequence, the composite membranes showed good blood compatibility, including decreased protein adsorption, suppressed platelet adhesion, lowered thrombin-antithrombin III generation, reduced complement activation, and prolonged clotting times. Interestingly, the PVP-capped HLPU showed better blood compatibility compared to polyethyleneglycol-capped and citric acid-capped HLPUs. The results demonstrated the enhanced antifouling and antithrombotic properties of PES hemodialysis membranes by the introduction of functional HLPUs. Also, the proposed method may forward the fabrication of hemocompatible membranes via bioinspired surface design.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
·
血液相容性研究
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Science Advances
·
2025
·Vol. 11
·期 21
·
IF 12.5
Siru Chen,Kaixin Lin,Sai Liu,Chui Ting Kwok,Lin Liang,Ze Li,Shuangdui Wu,Ziai Liu,Chuyao Wang,Aiqiang Pan,Jianheng Chen,Tsz Chung Ho,Shauhrat S. Chopra,Yihao Zhu,Qingping Sun,Wei Li,Borong Lin,Chi Yan Tso
Tremendous efforts have been dedicated to facilitating heat dissipation into cold universe through radiative cooling. Nevertheless, its applications remain limited by overcooling in cold conditions and reduced effectiveness under nonclear skies. We present a robust metafilm inspired by the adaptive capabilities of horned lizards (Phrynosoma) to overcome these challenges. This design extends energy harvesting to rainy conditions while maintaining thermal regulation on clear days. The metafilm features a sandwich structure with fluorinated ethylene propylene/indium tin oxide outer layers for raindrop-induced electricity generation and thermochromic core layers for self-regulated heating and cooling. It achieves an optical contrast exceeding 63% in the visible spectrum, enabling sub-ambient cooling in hot conditions and above-ambient heating when cold. In addition, it demonstrates efficient droplet-induced electricity generation, delivering a high-voltage output of 208 volts with exceptional long-term stability. This multifunctional metafilm overcomes key limitations of traditional radiative coolers, offering a versatile approach for all-weather energy harvesting.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源工程
·
仿生学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
·
2025
·
IF 19
Qingchuang Lu,Lei Duan,Yao Liu,Chenrui Zhang,Zebo Zhang,Zhenyang Luo,Cheng-Hui Li,Yanlong Luo
Dragonfly wings possess exceptionally high strength, toughness, and fatigue resistance due to their unique hierarchical structure from the micro to macro scale. Inspired by this, mismatched supramolecular interactions (MMSIs) are introduced into the dynamic acylsemicarbazide groups, constructing an interconnected hybrid network of soft and hard segments in the SPUU-DS elastomer. This design, featuring a dense array of hydrogen bonds, achieves exceptional mechanical properties: a true stress at breaks of 1.1 GPa comparable to that of typical spider silk (0.8–1.5 GPa); toughness of 325.54 MJ m −3 , twice that of typical spider silk (≈160 MJ m −3 ); and a fracture energy of 232.83 kJ m −2 , surpassing many metals and alloys. Furthermore, a monitoring device with a “hamburger” structure is developed by integrating SPUU-DS with a conductive graphene film. When placed inside a tire, this device enhances the tire's puncture resistance by approximately twofold. By correlating the resistance signals with puncture angles, the system enables the detection of damage at various locations on the tire, allowing for timely repair of damage and preventing traffic accidents. This novel biomimetic approach, inspired by dragonfly wings, provides valuable insights for designing healable elastomers with superior mechanical properties.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物力学
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产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
SmartMat
·
2025
·Vol. 6
·期 3
·e70018
·
IF 12.8
Sihan Gu,Dezhi Jiao,Li Cheng,Enkang Wu,Zhengsen Wang,Lanyue Cui,Chengbao Liu
The development of smart materials capable of underwater self-healing, mechanical robustness and damage-healing sensing attributes holds great promise for applications in marine energy exploitation. However, achieving excellent humidity self-healing, superior adhesion, and effective damage sensing and monitoring properties simultaneously is challenging because the disturbance of water molecules to dynamic-interaction reconstruction. Herein, inspired by gecko's toes, an ultra-robust environmental adaptative self-healing supramolecular elastomer is designed by molecular engineering of water-insensitive dynamic network, which possesses efficient self-healing and visual damage sensing capabilities. Through coupling design of hierarchical hydrogen bonds, humidity-tolerant catechol coordination and photothermal sensitivity moiety, the elastomer achieves high Young's modulus (157.72 MPa) and superior self-healing efficiency (84.68%). Moreover, the autonomous association between catechol groups and steel surface endows the resultant elastomer with outstanding adhesion force (12.82 MPa) in humid conditions. Furthermore, this elastomer can be fabricated as a patch covered on steel substrates. The damage-healing dynamics and interfacial failure characteristics are visually demonstrated by the reversible fracture and reconstruction of iron-catechol coordination bonds, realizing real-time damage sensing and monitoring. This study provides a novel strategy for the design of next-generation smart protective materials in harsh marine environment, and expected for ensuring the stable operation of marine energy mining equipment.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物仿生学
·
化学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Biomimetics
·
2025
·Vol. 10
·期 5
·334
·
IF 3.9
Zebin Zhao,Wenxuan Wang,Zhichen Ba,Yuze Zhang,Hongbo Xu,Daxin Liang
An efficient solar water evaporator is an important strategy for addressing the problem of water shortage. Constructing high-performance solar interfacial evaporators through bionic design has become a crucial approach for performance enhancement. Through the study of zebra patterns, it has been found that the black-and-white alternating patterns generate vortices on the surface of the zebra’s skin, thereby reducing the temperature. By utilizing the vortices brought about by the temperature difference, the design of a solar water evaporator is created based on the bionic zebra pattern, so as to improve its water evaporation performance. In this work, green and sustainable wood is used as the base of the evaporator, and the bionic design of zebra stripes is adopted. Meanwhile, the following research is conducted: The wood is cut into thin slices with dimensions of 30 × 30 × 5 mm3, and a delignification treatment is performed. Tannic acid-Fe ions are used as the photothermal material for functionalization. A series of stable patterned water evaporators based on delignification wood loaded with tannic acid-Fe ion complex (TA-Fe3+) are successfully prepared. Among them, the wood-based solar water evaporator with 3 mm zebra stripes exhibits excellent photothermal water evaporation performance, achieving a water evaporation rate of 1.44 kg·m−2·h−1under the illumination intensity of one sun. Its water evaporation performance is significantly superior to that of other coating patterns, proving that the bionic design of zebra patterns is effective and can improve water evaporation efficiency. This work provides new insights into the development of safe and environmentally friendly solar interfacial water evaporation materials through bionic design.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境科学
·
仿生学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS
·
2024
·
IF 5.6
Yuanting Deng,Zihao Li,Zuozhu Yin,Yuhua Chen,Chenggang Yang,Yidan Luo,Mingshan Xue
Through the reasonable design of the microstructure of superhydrophobic coatings, the solid-liquid contact area between the substrate and the liquid can be reduced, the penetration of corrosive medium into the liquid can be reduced, and the flow resistance can be lowered. In this paper, a bionic superhydrophobic composite coating of aluminum matrix material was prepared by the spraying method using KH550 coupling agent-modified silica (KH550@SiO 2 ) and stearic acid-modified titanium dioxide (STA@TiO 2 ) mixed with waterborne polyurethane . The performance was tested by water contact angle , drag reduction measurements, and electrochemical analysis . The composite coating has a droplet contact angle of 163.4° and a rolling angle of 4° and is extremely wettable. The synergistic effect of the air layer and coating densities resulted in excellent corrosion inhibition efficiency of the coating in a 3.5 wt % NaCl solution. In addition, the composite-coated spheres can form a continuous air cavity during water ingress, which is essential for extending the drag reduction capability of the coating in liquids. The design and preparation of superhydrophobic composite coatings have promising applications in large-area corrosion protection and voyage damping of metals.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
表面工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）