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Poly(p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole) nanofiber (PNF) paper is facing unprecedented challenges in enhancing the interaction between the PNFs and improving its hydrophobicity. In this work, a sol-gel film transformation approach was developed to fabricate high-strength PNF paper. Iron ions formed coordination bonds between PNFs to obtain a preforming three-dimensional, interconnective nanofiber network. Subsequently, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) particles were sprayed onto the surface of the paper, followed by thermal treatment to obtain double-layered PTFE-P/PNF nanocomposite paper. The nanocomposite paper presents incredible tensile strength (271.6 MPa, increased by 52.9%), folding endurance, super-hydrophobicity, and self-cleaning performances. Moreover, it exhibits low dielectric constant (2.06) and dielectric loss tangent (0.0133) values. According to the wave-transparent model for a double-layered dielectric established by Maxwell's equations, the wave-transparent coefficients of electromagnetic waves incident from both sides of the paper are 97.6% (PNF side) and 96.0% (PTFE/P(S-co-BCB-co-MMA) side), respectively. The PTFE-P/PNF nanocomposite paper possesses great potential in the fields of wave-transparent applications., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Intelligent responsive devices are crucial for a variety of applications ranging from smart electronics to robotics. Electro-responsive cholesteric liquid crystals (CLC) have been widely applied in display panels, smart windows, and so on. In this work, we realize the mechanical stimuli-triggered optical responses of the CLC by integrating it with a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), which converts the mechanical motion into alternating current electricity and then tunes the different optical responses of the CLC. When the voltage applied on the CLC is relatively low (15-40 V), the TENG drives the switching between the bistable planar state and focal conic state of the CLC, which shows potential applications in self-powered smart windows or E-paper displays. When the voltage supplied by the TENG is larger than 60 V, a self-powered optical switch is demonstrated by utilizing the transformation between focal conic state and instantons homeotropic state of the CLC. This triboelectric-optical responsive device consumes no extra electric power and suggests a great potential for future smart electronics., Competing Interests: Conlfict of interest The authors declare that they have no conlfict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

With the rapid development of wearable intelligent devices, low-cost wearable strain sensors with high sensitivity and low detection limit are urgently demanded. Meanwhile, sensing stability of sensor in wet or corrosive environments should also be considered in practical applications. Here, superhydrophobic microcracked conductive paper-based strain sensor was fabricated by coating conductive Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene on printing paper via dip-coating process and followed by depositing superhydrophobic candle soot layer on its surface. Owing to the ultrasensitive microcrack structure in the conductive coating layer induced by the mismatch of elastic modulus and thermal expansion coefficient between conductive coating layer and paper substrate during the drying process, the prepared paper-based strain sensor exhibited a high sensitivity (gauge factor, GF = 17.4) in the strain range of 0-0.6%, ultralow detection limit (0.1% strain) and good fatigue resistance over 1000 cycles towards bending deformation. Interestingly, it was also applicable for torsion deformation detection, showing excellent torsion angle dependent, repeatable and stable sensing performances. Meanwhile, it displayed brilliant waterproof, self-cleaning and corrosion-resistant properties due to the existence of micro/nano-structured and the low surface energy candle soot layer. As a result, the prepared paper-based strain sensor can effectively monitor a series of large-scale and small-scale human motions even under water environment, showing the great promising in practical harsh outdoor environments. Importantly, it also demonstrated good applicability for spatial strain distribution detection of skin upon body movement when assembled into electronic-skin (E-skin). This study will provide great guidance for the design of next generation wearable strain sensor., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Designing and fabricating cheap and active bifunctional materials is crucial for the development of renewable energy technologies. In this article, three-dimensional nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials (NDPC-X, in which X represents the pyrolysis temperature) were fabricated by simultaneous carbonization and activation of polypyrrole-coated paper towel protected by a silica layer followed by acid etching. The material had a high specific surface area (1,123.40 m 2 /g). The as-obtained NDPC-900 displayed outstanding activity as a catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as well as an electrode with a high specific capacitance in a supercapacitor in an alkaline medium. The NDPC-900 catalyst for the ORR exhibited a more positive reduction peak potential of -0.068 V (vs. Hg|HgCl 2 ) than that of Pt/C (-0.121 V), as well as better cycling stability and stronger methanol tolerance. Moreover, the NDPC-900 had a high specific capacitance of 379.50 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g, with a retention rate of 94.5% after 10,000 cycles in 6 mol/L KOH electrolyte when used as an electrode in a supercapacitor. All these results were attributed to the effect of a large surface area, which provided electrochemically active sites. This work introduces an effective way to use biomass-derived materials for the synthesis of promising bifunctional carbon material for electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices., (Copyright © 2018 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The construction of flexible platform possessing the functions of immobilizing, separating, rinsing, and high-throughput analysis plays a significant role in biological and clinical research. Herein, hollow-channel technique was integrated with lab-on-paper for the simultaneous determination of two different concentrations of Zn 2+ based on the origami principle, in which microfluidic channels were first patterned on a cellulose paper using commercial solid-state wax printer. Hollow-channels were created by laser cutting method as the role of both injecting ending and reaction tank. After screen printing three electrodes system, the resulting planar paper sheets were then folded into steric structures and functionalized by in-situ synthesized reduced graphene oxide. As a proof-of-concept, such lab-on-paper device was employed in the ratiometric electrochemical monitoring of zinc ion from the environment and HepG2 cells extract, by combining with co-catalysis of porous metal-organic frameworks and hemin/G-quadruplex toward H 2 O 2 in the linear range of 0.1-7,000nmol/L. The results indicated that integrating hollow-channel with steric lab-on-paper offered a new methodological approach for the development of metal ions monitoring research. It is believed that it could be useful for various point-of-care related research fields, such as, on-site environmental monitoring, food safety, and disease diagnosis., (Copyright © 2017 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

There is a pressing demand for the development of novel birefringent crystals tailored for compact optical components, especially for crystals exhibiting large birefringence across a range of temperatures. This has commonly been achieved by introducing various deformable groups with high polarizability anisotropy. In this study, we combined both rigid and deformable groups to synthesise a new birefringent crystal, Al 2 Te 2 MoO 10 , which demonstrates an exceptional birefringence value of 0.29@550 nm at room temperature. Not only is this higher birefringence than that of commercial crystals, but Al 2 Te 2 MoO 10 exhibits excellent birefringence stability over a wide temperature range, from 123 to 503 K. In addition, the first-principles theory calculations and structural analyses suggest that although the rigid AlO 6 groups do not make much contribution to the prominent birefringence, they nonetheless played a role in maintaining the structural anisotropy at elevated temperatures. Based on these findings, this paper proposes a novel structural design strategy to complement conventional approaches for developing optimal birefringent crystals under various environmental conditions., (Copyright © 2024 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Lung cancer is an exceedingly malignant tumor reported as having the highest morbidity and mortality of any cancer worldwide, thus posing a great threat to global health. Despite the growing demand for precision medicine, current methods for early clinical detection, treatment and prognosis monitoring in lung cancer are hampered by certain bottlenecks. Studies have found that during the formation and development of a tumor, molecular substances carrying tumor-related genetic information can be released into body fluids. Liquid biopsy (LB), a method for detecting these tumor-related markers in body fluids, maybe a way to make progress in these bottlenecks. In recent years, LB technology has undergone rapid advancements. Therefore, this review will provide information on technical updates to LB and its potential clinical applications, evaluate its effectiveness for specific applications, discuss the existing limitations of LB, and present a look forward to possible future clinical applications. Specifically, this paper will introduce technical updates from the prospectives of engineering breakthroughs in the detection of membrane-based LB biomarkers and other improvements in sequencing technology. Additionally, it will summarize the latest applications of liquid biopsy for the early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of lung cancer. We will present the interconnectedness of clinical and laboratory issues and the interplay of technology and application in LB today., (Copyright © 2024 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aerosols greatly influence precipitation characteristics, thereby impacting the regional climate and human life. As an indispensable factor for cloud formation and a critical radiation budget regulator, aerosols can affect precipitation intensity, frequency, geographical distribution, area, and time. However, discrepancies exist among current studies due to aerosol properties, precipitation types, the vertical location of aerosols and meteorological conditions. The development of technology has driven advances in current research, but understanding the aerosol effects on precipitation remain complex and challenging. This paper revolves around the following topics from the two perspectives of Aerosol-Radiation Interaction (ARI) and Aerosol-Cloud Interaction (ACI): (1) the influence of different vertical locations of absorbing/scattering aerosols on the atmospheric thermal structure; (2) the fundamental theories of ARI reducing surface wind speed, redistributing water vapour and energy, and then modulating precipitation intensity; (3) different aerosol types (absorbing versus scattering) and aerosol concentrations causing different precipitation diurnal and weekly variations; (4) microphysical processes (cloud water competition, invigoration effect, and evaporation cooling) and observational evidence of different effects of aerosols on precipitation intensity, including enhancing, inhibiting, and transitional effects from enhancement to suppression; and (5) how meteorology, water vapor and dynamics influencing the effect of ACI and ARI on precipitation. In addition, this review lists the existing issues and future research directions for attaining a more comprehensive understanding of aerosol effects on precipitation. Overall, this review advances our understanding of aerosol effects on precipitation and could guide the improvement of weather and climate models to predict complex aerosol-precipitation interactions more accurately., (Copyright © 2024 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The emergence of exotic quantum phenomena in frustrated magnets is rapidly driving the development of quantum many-body physics, raising fundamental questions on the nature of quantum phase transitions. Here we unveil the behaviour of emergent symmetry involving two extraordinarily representative phenomena, i.e., the deconfined quantum critical point (DQCP) and the quantum spin liquid (QSL) state. Via large-scale tensor network simulations, we study a spatially anisotropic spin-1/2 square-lattice frustrated antiferromagnetic (AFM) model, namely the J 1x -J 1y -J 2 model, which contains anisotropic nearest-neighbor couplings J 1x ,J 1y and the next nearest neighbor coupling J 2 . For small J 1y /J 1x , by tuning J 2 , a direct continuous transition between the AFM and valence bond solid phase is observed. With growing J 1y /J 1x , a gapless QSL phase gradually emerges between the AFM and VBS phases. We observe an emergent O(4) symmetry along the AFM-VBS transition line, which is consistent with the prediction of DQCP theory. Most surprisingly, we find that such an emergent O(4) symmetry holds for the whole QSL-VBS transition line as well. These findings reveal the intrinsic relationship between the QSL and DQCP from categorical symmetry point of view, and strongly constrain the quantum field theory description of the QSL phase. The phase diagram and critical exponents presented in this paper are of direct relevance to future experiments on frustrated magnets and cold atom systems., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The exponential growth of stationary energy storage systems (ESSs) and electric vehicles (EVs) necessitates a more profound understanding of the degradation behavior of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), with specific emphasis on their lifetime. Accurately forecasting the lifetime of batteries under various working stresses aids in optimizing their operating conditions, prolonging their longevity, and ultimately minimizing the overall cost of the battery life cycle. Accelerated aging, as an efficient and economical method, can output sufficient cycling information in short time, which enables a rapid prediction of the lifetime of LIBs under various working stresses. Nevertheless, the prerequisite for accelerated aging-based battery lifetime prediction is the consistency of aging mechanisms. This review, by comprehensively summarizing the aging mechanisms of various components within LIBs and the battery degradation mechanisms under stress-accelerated conditions, provides a reference for evaluating the consistency of battery aging mechanisms. Furthermore, this paper introduces accelerated aging-based lifetime prediction models and offers constructive suggestions for future research on accelerated lifetime prediction of LIBs., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)