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Sulfide-based all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs) have attracted unprecedented attention in the past decade due to their excellent safety performance and high energy storage density. However, the sulfide solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) as the core component of ASSLBs have a certain stiffness, which inevitably leads to the formation of pores and cracks during the production process. In addition, although sulfide SSEs have high ionic conductivity, the electrolytes are unstable to lithium metal and have non-negligible electronic conductivity, which severely limits their practical applications. Herein, a grain boundary electronic insulation strategy through in situ polymer encapsulation is proposed for this purpose. A polymer layer with insulating properties is applied to the surface of the Li5.5PS4.5Cl1.5(LPSC) electrolyte particles by simple ball milling. In this way, we can not only achieve a dense electrolyte pellet but also improve the stability of the Li metal anode and reduce the electronic conductivity of LPSC. This strategy of electronic isolation of the grain boundaries enables stable deposition/stripping of the modified electrolyte for more than 2000 h at a current density of 0.5 mA cm–1in a symmetrical Li/Li cell. With this strategy, a full cell with Li(Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1)O2(NCM811) as the cathode shows high performance including high specific capacity, improved high-rate capability, and long-term stability. Therefore, this study presents a new strategy to achieve high-performance sulfide SSEs.

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Power system requires developing more flexible sources to handle the variability and stochastic of ever-increasing renewable energy. Retrofitting conventional coal-fired power plants (CPPs) is a viable and promising pathway for providing large-scale flexibility at this stage. Typical flexibility retrofit technologies mainly include reducing minimum load, improving ramping capability, and speeding up startups/shutdowns. They involve multiple subsystems of CPPs and coupled technical issues, and they have different flexibility-enhancing effects. This paper focuses on scheduling the multi-technical flexibility retrofits of CPP fleets in long-term operation to enhance the flexibility of power systems cost-effectively. It proposes performing optional flexibility retrofit within CPP maintenance periods and introduces a maintenance preference window to largely reduce the scheduling complexity. Also, it formulates the characteristics and relationship models of multiple typical flexibility retrofit options using a mixed- integer linear programming (MILP) approach. Then, a comprehensive coordination strategy of maintenance and multi-technical flexibility retrofits of CPPs is developed. Moreover, chance-constrained optimization handles the short-term uncertainty of renewable energy and loads, and linearization techniques are employed to accelerate the solution. Numerical results validate the effectiveness of the proposed methods and demonstrate the potential of flexibility retrofitting for CPPs.

The temperature rise in wireless charging systems (WCS) limits their reliability and material lifespan, hindering the development of wireless charging technology. This article proposes a thermal design and optimization method for the magnetic coupler in WCSs. The proposed method uses electromagnetic–thermal simulation to predict the steady-state temperature of the magnetic coupler and employs multiobjective optimization to select suitable parameters. First, the losses in the WCS are analyzed, and a thermal model is established. The necessary electrical and thermal parameters for the modeling process are derived. Second, the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II performs the multiobjective Pareto optimization on the established optimization model. Finally, a set of parameters with excellent performance is selected from the optimization results, and an experimental prototype is constructed to validate the proposed method's correctness.

ABSTRACTSimulation of indoor temperature provides important references for thermal environment not only for buildings at design stage but also for existing buildings. The current thermal environment simulation software tools suit for buildings at design stage, however not for an existing building. A model is proposed to simulate indoor temperature combining Optimization multivariable grey prediction model (OGM(1,N)) and Elman neural network. The proposed model is trained by short-term field measured data. A unit is assembled to measure and record thermal parameters in a case natural ventilated building at half-hourly intervals during 7:00 May 29 and 6:30 June 2010. Programming in Matlab implements the proposed model and referenced models. The maximum mean deviation is 0.46°C, the maximum standard mean square deviation is 0.65°C. Three referenced indoor temperature simulation models, OGM(1,N), Elman neural network, and Designer’s Simulation Toolkit are executed, respectively, in case building to provide comparison. Compared with referenced models, the proposed model has higher accuracy and stronger robustness. It is expected that this study provides important references for thermal environment assessment in existing buildings using short-term field measured data.

Leaching of PbSO4is one of the key steps of waste lead paste via hydrometallurgical process, but its low efficiency and high cost of reagents need to be improved. Sodium glutamate was used as a leaching reagent to leach PbSO4from waste lead paste for the first time. Through the coordination reaction between sodium glutamate (Glu) and PbSO4, the leaching ratio of PbSO4could reach nearly 100 %. The Glu-containing species mainly exist in the form of HGlu-in the leaching solution, and Pb2+could combine with the carboxylic groups and the amine group from HGlu-to form a ternary ring chelate with a stable binding energy of −7.5416 eV. Furthermore, the rate-limiting step of PbSO4leaching by sodium glutamate was the internal diffusion. Then, high-purity PbCO3(99.9896 %) could be obtained from the Glu-Pb solution by using sodium carbonate, and sodium glutamate was regenerated simultaneously. Finally, the effectiveness and stability of the process were verified by sodium glutamate recirculation process, and the PbSO4leaching ratio from waste lead paste remained at above 97.31 % within 10 round of recirculation. These findings achieved the high efficiency recovery of waste lead paste, deep purification of impurities and recycling of leaching agents under mild conditions.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrogenation to produce high value-added chemicals is one of the effective ways to utilize CO2resources. Although significant progress has been made in the CO2hydrogenation to long chain α-olefins over Fe-based catalysts, precise regulation of the dynamic phase transformation and surface reconstruction during the reaction remains a challenge. In this review, research progress related to the active phases in the CO2hydrogenation to long chain α-olefins is reviewed. The reaction mechanism and the dominant deactivation mechanism of the catalyst, the stability of the active phases, and the relationship between the active phases and the chain growth capacity are summarized and analyzed in detail. Meanwhile, the current problems to be solved and the possible solutions in the future are put forward. This review aims to provide a theoretical basis for the development and design of efficient and stable Fe-based catalysts.

Cordyceps acid is an active component of Cordyceps cicadaeand has a variety of medicinal uses, including anti-tumor effects, the prevention of cerebral hemorrhaging and myocardial infarction, and the inhibition of a wide range of bacteria. The objectives of this study were to identify C. cicadaefungi and optimize the culture conditions to obtain a high yield of cordycepic acid. First, a wild C. cicadaewas identified by morphological observation and rDNA sequence analysis. Secondly, the optimal fermentation conditions were determined using a single-factor method, a Plackett–Burman design, and a Box–Behnken response surface. Finally, using the yield of fruit bodies and the content of cordyceps acid as indices, combined with a single-factor experiment and a response surface design, the best combination of conditions for cultivation was determined. The results showed that the best combination was as follows: sucrose 2%, tryptone 2%, KH2PO40.4%, MgSO4·7H2O 0.4%, an initial pH of the fermentation liquid of 7.0, 5% inoculum, fermentation for 4.5 d, a ratio of medium to liquid of 1:1.7, illumination intensity 150 Lux, illumination time 15 h per day, and 70% humidity. The content of cordycepic acid in the fruiting bodies developed in cultivation was 2.07-fold higher than that in the wild C.cicadae. This study provides a theoretical basis for the large-scale cultivation of C. cicadaewith a high concentration of cordycepic acid.

To desensitize wireless charging systems (WCSs) to misalignment and to achieve a stable output voltage without using additional control methods, a laminated magnetic coupler (LMC) optimized by the balanced particle swarm optimization (BPSO) method is proposed to improve the performance of WCSs. First, the output characteristics of the LCC-S compensated WCS are analyzed to illustrate the working principle of the LMC. Next, the misalignment characteristics of the LMC, which employs the magnetic integration technique and coil self-decoupling method, are analyzed. Then, the operating principle of the BPSO method is analyzed and used to optimize the LMC in terms of the mutual inductance and anti-misalignment range. Finally, experimental results indicate that the optimized LMC achieves high-efficiency constant voltage charging within a reasonable horizontal misalignment range. When compared to commonly used methods (such as the exhaustive method) for optimizing magnetic couplers, the BPSO method avoids complex algorithms and a heavy computation burden.

Due to the various pH liquid environment in nature, the pH-responsive lubricating hydrogel is widely investigated and developed for tissue interface substitute. However, the applied liquid environment will lead to poor mechanical property and weaken the pH-responsive capability. In this work, a carbon dots-enhanced pH-responsive lubricating hydrogel is developed by combining a pH-responsive section of dynamic PVA-borax network into a PAAm covalent polymer network. The formed hydrogel presents a partial gel-sol transition under controlled pH environments. At low pH environments (<6.0), the formed lubricating layer originated from dynamic disassembly of PVA-borax hydrogel, and brings the lubricating properties on the hydrogel surface. Moreover, the mechanical strength and lubrication properties are well promoted by introducing the carbon dots into the hydrogel, the blue sol layer can be observed more visually under the fluorescence microscope. The pH-response also exhibits well reversibility. The prepared hydrogel broadens the idea for designing pH-responsive soft materials for soft lubricating actuator or robot.

A semi-convertible hydrogel with reversible photoresponsive supramolecular lubricating ability is demonstrated by integrating a responsive supramolecular system of α-cyclodextrins/polyethylene glycol (α-CD/PEG) and competitive guest 1-[p-(phenylazo)benzyl]pyridinium bromide (AzoPB) within a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and polyacrylamide (PAAm) framework. The competitive host-guest interaction between α-CD/PEG supramolecular network and AzoPB after UV and visible-light irradiation enables the appearance and disappearance of the sol-state layer on the hydrogel surface while the PVA and PAAm consistently keeps the framework. This semi-convertible process realizes the reversible photoresponsive lubricating ability and variable toughness. We envision that this finding will offer a possible way for fabricating novel smart devices far beyond lubrication, leading to an emerging branch of interdisciplinary materials science that integrates supramolecular chemistry, hydrogel, and surface science.

ABSTRACTA pixel-based spectral matching method using enhanced vegetation index (EVI) time series from GaoFen-1 (GF-1) Satellite was developed based on spectral similarity value (SSV) and iterative thresholding to map irrigated areas for varying and scattered croplands at high resolution in order to improve understanding of dynamic irrigation pattern. The approach was tested in a typical irrigation district in Northwest China, resulting in 16-m irrigated area maps of the major crops (wheat and maize) for 2015–2018. The results showed an overall accuracy of 92.67% with a Kappa Coefficient of 0.89, producer’s accuracy of 97.42%, and user’s accuracy of 92.65% for the irrigated area. This method does not require a large number of ground-truth data as training samples, resulting in fast calculation speed, which is different from other supervised classification methods. After obtaining the standard spectrum of the study area, the irrigated areas can be continuously mapped for multi-years. Comparing with the existing global products, these high-resolution maps can depict small and fragmented irrigated croplands effectively with higher accuracy, which benefit local water management, food security analysis, and drought impact assessment, providing the prototype for the regions with fragmented croplands which requires high-resolution products.

Antibiotic resistance is increasing to dangerous levels across the globe. A growing list of bacterial infections that lead to blood poisoning or foodborne diseases are becoming challenging to treat due to the loss of antibiotic efficacy. Studies on the antibacterial performance of Ag nanoparticles and other transitional metal oxides have gained increasing attention as an alternative therapeutic strategy. In this study, NiCo2O4and Ag/NiCo2O4composites with different contents of Ag were synthesized through a simple co-precipitation method. The composites were assessed via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results demonstrated that the morphology of NiCo2O4was unaffected by the addition of Ag. The NiCo2O4and Ag/NiCo2O4composites with different contents of Ag showed a suitable size of approximately 10 nm. The NiCo2O4and Ag/NiCo2O4composites displayed potent activity against a range of disease-causing bacteria. The Ag/NiCo2O4composites with low Ag content displayed weak antibacterial activity.

In order to improve the tribological performance of the physical vapor-deposited AlCrN coatings, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)/poly tetra fluoroethylene (PTFE) coatings were fabricated on the AlCrN coatings surface through the thermal spraying method. The microstructure, adhesive strength, hardness, and tribological properties were investigated. Reciprocating sliding tests against SiC ball were executed with a ball-on-plate tribometer. Results showed that the adhesive strength between the AlCrN–MoS2/PTFE composite coatings and substrate was increased by about 15% compared with single AlCrN coatings. Compared with the single MoS2/PTFE coatings, the hardness of the AlCrN–MoS2/PTFE composite coatings surface was increased by about 15%. The MoS2/PTFE layer can availably reduce the friction coefficient of single AlCrN layer, and the AlCrN–MoS2/PTFE composite coatings exhibited the lowest and the most stable friction coefficient. In addition, the MoS2/PTFE layer existed on the wear track and accumulated on both the sides, which was the main reason that the friction coefficient was still lower compared with the samples without MoS2/PTFE coatings.

Aqueous ZIBs are one of the most promising next-generation rechargeable batteries because of the high capacity, high hydrogen evolution overpotential, and chemically stable reversible plating/stripping of the zinc electrode in the mild aqueous electrolyte. However, there are limited cathode materials that can store Zn2+reversibly with superior cycling and rate capability. Herein, hierarchically porous nanorods composed of twinborn α-(Mn2O3–MnO2) heterostructures are proposed as a robust cathode for Zn storage. Thanks to the hierarchically porous nanorod morphology and the abundant interface of the heterostructures involving a built-in electric field, the as-obtained twinborn α-(Mn2O3–MnO2) electrode delivers a high capacity of 170 mA h g–1for 2000 cycles at 500 mA g–1and shows an excellent rate capability of up to 1.5 A g–1with a capacity of 124 mA h g–1. The inspiring results achieved exhibit the enormous potential of the high-performance heterostructure cathode for fast and stable ZIBs.

To expand the industrial application of cemented carbide, micro-EDM was utilized to machine microhole-textures on the carbide surface; graphite powder was burnished into the textured microholes. The tribological properties of the microhole-textured tool combined with graphite were investigated and compared with the conventional one by carrying out reciprocating sliding friction tests and dry machining tests. Results exhibited that the microhole-textured tool combined with graphite possessed a much lower friction coefficient than that of the conventional one in sliding tests. The cutting forces, average friction coefficient at the tool–chip interface, and rake face wear of the textured tool were reduced, and the workpiece surface quality was also slightly improved. The worn regions of carbide specimen were examined and studied, and the possible effect mechanisms for the enhancement of friction and wear properties mainly consisted of the formation of uneven graphite film by friction extrusion, reduction of actual contact length, entrapment of wear debris and supply of graphite lubricant.

智能响应性可以将丰富的功能集成到微流体器件中; 同时在刺激前后稳定的润湿区域赋予微流体器件稳定的功能表达. 因此在微流体器件领域, 如何构建具有多重响应的多梯度润湿表面仍然是目前面临的一个巨大挑战. 本文应用原子转移自由基聚合方法在硅基底上制备聚(N-异丙基甲基丙烯酰胺)-b-(N-异丙基丙烯酰胺)-co-2-(甲基丙烯酰氧基)乙基磷酸)聚合物刷. 通过对温度和pH值的控制, 在聚 合物表面实现了浸润性的多级梯度变化. 同时, 伴随着温度和pH值的变化, 聚合物刷表面的粘附力也表现为多级梯度变化. 这种多重响应的多级梯度变化的聚合物刷将为多功能微流体和生物分析器件的构建提供一种新方法.

Hybrid porous tilting pad bearings with the advantages of gas porous bearings and tilting pad bearings exhibited excellent rotor-supporting performance with high accuracy and stability. Under hybrid lubrication, the transient adaptive motion of the tilting pads was important for the rotordynamic characteristics. A novel fluid–structure interaction model of hybrid porous tilting pad bearings was developed to investigate the transient hydro forces and the pad's adaptive motion. The rotordynamic coefficients of the hybrid porous tilting pad bearings were identified using the rotor harmonic trajectory. The computational fluid dynamics-fluid–structure interaction model was validated with the experimental data. The effects of eccentricity ratios, rotor speeds, supply pressures, pivot radial stiffnesses, and dampings on the pad adaptive motion and the rotordynamic coefficients were evaluated. The pad self-adaption motions significantly influenced the supporting and vibration-absorbing characteristics of hybrid porous tilting pad bearings.

According to the carbon dioxide (CO2) characteristics of weak absorption in the ultraviolet and visible (UV-VIS) bands, a measurement method based on spatial decomposed parallel computing of traditional differential optical absorption spectroscopy is proposed to measure CO2vertical column concentration in ambient atmosphere. Firstly, American Standard Profile is used to define solar absorption spectrum, and the spectrum acquisition of the incident light converged by the telescope is described as observed parameters. On these bases, spectrometer line model is established. Then, atmospheric radiation transmission is simulated using parallel computing, which obviously reduces the computational complexity while balancing the interference that participates in the fitting. Simulation analyses show that the proposed method can reduce the computational complexity, and run time is reduced by 1.18 s compared with IMLM and IMAP-DOAS in the same configuration. The proposed method can also increase accuracy, with its inversion error reduced by 5.3% and residual reduced by 0.8% than differential optical absorption spectroscopy. The spatial decomposed parallel computing method has advantages in processing CO2, and it can be further used in the research of carbon sink.

In this paper, we report all-hydrogel-state nano-biopolymer actuator based on nanocomposite ionic electrolyte layer with GO / MCNTs fibers and poly (Chitosan/glycerin/acetic acid), which revealed excellent flexibility, water retention, as well as superior electrochemical properties under different doping rates of MCNTs and GO. Our microporous ionic electrolyte membrane showed the uniform interconnectivity, high conductivity, and excellent mechanical properties due to the strong intermolecular interaction of Cs-MCNTs-GO, which efficiently reduced aggregation during the fabrication process. The proposed device can achieve large peak to peak deformation displacement (up to 4.08 mm) and bending force (up to 12 mN), and deliver remarkable specific capacitance (from 44.6 to 106.1 F/cm2), quick response speed (approximately 20s), high ionic conductivity (17.5 uS/cm), small impedance (1.136 ), and excellent power density (from 0.18 to 0.25 W/g), outperforming than many gel-based actuators reported before. These findings suggest that the explored excellent ionic conductivity and flexibility of ionic polymer electrolyte holds great promise in the further study of high-performance actuators.

Although bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and WNT signaling play pivotal roles in bone development, homeostasis, and regeneration, the applications of proteins to stimulate corresponding signaling pathways showed limited outcomes in the repair and regeneration of bone defects that might be attributed to the reciprocal interventions of these pathways. In order to satisfy the combinational and sequential activation of BMP and WNT pathways, inspired by the heterogeneous hydrogel-liked structures of Brasenia, heterogeneous alginate/chitosan hydrogels were fabricated and spatially loaded with FK506 and BIO to achieve sustained and sequential release of the activators. Alkaline phosphatase staining, alizarin red staining and qRT-PCR results suggested that FK506 and BIO enhanced osteoblastic differentiation in vitrowhen used separately. Besides, by mixing and matching the activators and the hydrogel layers, a superior releasing mode that a combination of early FK506 release and following BIO release was identified viaboth in vitroand in vivoexplorations for most efficient bone regeneration. These results suggested that drug-loaded heterogeneous hydrogels possess great potentials in treating bone loss defects for future clinical practice.

Inspired by the rolling of water droplets on lotus leaves, we developed a novel, magnetic field-controlled patterning method for water-soluble proteins and other functional materials on superhydrophobic platforms. This simple method can be used to fabricate biochips and open micro-fluidic devices in a simple way.

The effects of acid deposition on pine forest ecosystems in Longli of Guizhou Province, southwestern China are studied using indoor experiments and model simulations. Indoor experiments are designed to explore the aluminum toxicity on pine seedlings, and the long-term soil acidification model (LTSAM) and a terrestrial biogeochemistry model (CENTURY) are used to simulate the influences of acid deposition on pine forest ecosystems. The indoor experiment results of aluminum toxicity show that aluminum ions in solution limit plant growth and acid deposition enhances this effect by facilitating the release of aluminum ions from the soil. Pine seedling biomass and root elongation decrease as the aluminum concentration increases. The results of model simulations show that the soil chemistry varies significantly with different changes in acid deposition. When the acid deposition increases, the pH value in the soil solution decreases and the soil Al3+concentration increases. The increased acid deposition also has negative impacts on the forest ecosystem, i.e., decreases plant biomass, net primary productivity (NPP) and net CO2uptake. As a result, the soil organic carbon (SOC) decreases because of the limited supply of decomposition material. Thus acid deposition need be reduced to help protect the forest ecosystems.

With the rapid growth of the electric vehicle industry, the demand for battery fault detection methods is also growing. Effective battery defect detection methods help maintain the performance of the battery pack. In this research, a reconstruction-based model for internal short circuit (ISC) detection in battery packs is presented by combining transformer and long short-term memory (LSTM). LSTM is added to the model to improve the encoding results of the transformer. The optimized decoders have a positive effect on the fitting ability of the model. In this model, the voltage data of the battery packs are taken as input and residual signals are generated by the differences between the reconstructed and true values to detect the ISC. The online parameter update method is proposed to increase the ability of the neural network model to screen out fault signals more efficiently, and the false-positive clipping method is employed to enhance detection accuracy. A large amount of data, including ISC, was collected from the laboratory to test the sensitivity and robustness. The verification results show that our model has better fitting ability and sensitivity. The parameter update method and false-positive clipping method help improve the adaptability and robustness. Our detection method achieves 96.05%, 98.57%, and 96.40% accuracy in ISC detection of 1 ohm, 5 ohms, and 10 ohms respectively.

Attributed to high theoretical capacity and abundant reserves, Si/C anodes have been commercialized in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, the shortcomings of poor interfacial compatibility, low rate performance, and bad stability remain to be overcome. In this paper, a facile method for the synthesis of silicon/iron oxide/carbon (Si/Fe3O4/C) composites by ball-milling in a supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) fluid medium is proposed. This method utilizes the diffusion characteristics, extremely low viscosity, and excellent mass transfer properties of supercritical fluids. Under the infiltration of an scCO2fluid, mesophase carbon microspheres (MCMB) are exfoliated into graphite flakes and achieve good interfacial fusion with silicon and Prussian blue during ball-milling. The Prussian blue is transformed into Fe3O4by subsequent heat treatment under a nitrogen atmosphere, and Fe3O4introduced in this way enhances the lithium-storage capacity, cycling stability, and rate performance significantly of Si/C anodes. As an anode for LIBs, the reversible capacity of Si/Fe3O4/C reaches 1363 mA h g–1after 600 cycles at 1 A g–1. This study provides an idea for the design and fabrication of Si-based anode materials with high capacity and long cycle life.

In this contribution, superhydrophilic chitosan-based scaffolds with ultrafast spreading property were fabricated and used to improve the trapped efficiency of cells. The ultrafast spreading property allowed cells to be trapped into the internal 3D porous structures of the prepared scaffolds more quickly and effectively. Cell adhesion, growth, and proliferation were also improved, which could be attributed to the combination of UV irradiation and ultrafast spreading property. The construction of ultrafast spreading property on the scaffold surface will offer a novel way to design more effective scaffold in tissue engineering that could largely shorten the therapeutic time for patients.

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High-capacity alloy anodes are promising for increasing the energy density of emerging potassium-ion batteries (PIBs), although their practical application is hindered by their fast capacity fading due to the universal limitation of their severe volume changes. Herein, without costly nanostructure design, a simple and yet effect approach of coupling the binder and the electrolyte is introduced to maintain the electrode/interface stability of alloy anodes against large volume changes. Thanks to the physically mechanical strength of cross-linked carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) binder and the chemically stable solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer derived from 3 M potassium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (KFSI) in dimethyl ether (DME), a microsized SnSb/C anode, prepared by a scalable ball milling process, delivered a high capacity of ~419 mAh/g with capacity retention of 84.3% for 600 cycles at 50 mA/g, and 340 mAh/g with 80.7% capacity retention for 800 cycles at 1000 mA/g. These encouraging results achieved with simple electrode and electrolyte engineering can unlock the enormous potential of high capacity alloy anodes for practical application in PIBs, and can be applicable to other anode materials and other metal-ion batteries.

An irresponsive but very hydrophobic molecule—fluoroalkylsilane—can be used to cooperate with PNIPAAm to obtain tunable and enhancedly responsive wettability, and thus largely extend the application scope of PNIPAAm film.

The design of smart full-hydrogel actuators constructed with natural carbohydrate polymers applied in biomedical and tissue engineering is very important but challenging. Herein, inspired by the efficient transportation of nerve impulses from human muscle, a very simple and natural enhancement strategy was proposed for the preparation of high-efficiency ion transportation channels and high-performance cellulose-all-hydrogel electroactive human-like muscles. Simulating the mechanisms that nerve excitation in human muscle are transmitted through, e.g., releasing ions into efficient channels, co-doped conductive nanoparticles of manganese dioxide (MnO2)/polyaniline/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)/reduced graphene oxide (r-GOx) are applied to construct ionic electrolyte membrane (IEM) with superconductive ion channels based on a natural cellulose polymer as a skeleton template, and the obtained product demonstrated outstanding ion transportation efficiency, mechanical properties and electrochemical properties. Bioinspired artificial muscles prepared by IEM exhibit excellent actuation performance including superfast response speed, deflection displacement (16.284 mm), and output force (4.153 mN). These advantages are largely attributed to the superconductive ion channels formed by the codoping of conductive nanoparticles, and this anisotropic feature also contributes to the increase in porosity and specific surface area within the IEM. This study reveals that the bioinspired idea of developing efficient ion transportation channels provides an innovative inspiration for accelerating the actuation performance of artificial muscles.

In this paper, we report all-hydrogel-state nano-biopolymer actuator based on nanocomposite ionic electrolyte layer with GO / MCNTs fibers and poly (Chitosan/glycerin/acetic acid), which revealed excellent flexibility, water retention, as well as superior electrochemical properties under different doping rates of MCNTs and GO. Our microporous ionic electrolyte membrane showed the uniform interconnectivity, high conductivity, and excellent mechanical properties due to the strong intermolecular interaction of Cs-MCNTs-GO, which efficiently reduced aggregation during the fabrication process. The proposed device can achieve large peak to peak deformation displacement (up to 4.08 mm) and bending force (up to 12 mN), and deliver remarkable specific capacitance (from 44.6 to 106.1 F/cm2), quick response speed (approximately 20s), high ionic conductivity (17.5 uS/cm), small impedance (1.136 Ω), and excellent power density (from 0.18 to 0.25 W/g), outperforming than many gel-based actuators reported before. These findings suggest that the explored excellent ionic conductivity and flexibility of ionic polymer electrolyte holds great promise in the further study of high-performance actuators.

We present a simple and economical method to produce a potential open microfluidic polymeric device. Biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces were prepared on polystyrene using a phase separation methodology. Patterned two-dimensional channels were imprinted on the superhydrophobic substrates by exposing the surface to plasma or UV-ozone radiation. The wettability of the channels could be precisely controlled between the superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic states by changing the exposure time. The ability of superhydrophilic paths to drive liquid flows in a horizontal position was found to be significantly higher than for the case of hydrophilic paths patterned onto smooth surfaces.