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Wood possesses several advantageous qualities including innocuity, low cost, aesthetic appeal, and excellent biocompatibility, and its naturally abundant functional groups and diverse structural forms facilitate functionalization modification. As the most sustainable bio-based material, the combination of wood with triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) stands poised to significantly advance the cause of green sustainable production while mitigating the escalating challenges of energy consumption. However, the inherent weak polarizability of natural wood limits its development for TENGs. Herein, we present the pioneering development of a flexible transparent wood-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TW-TENG) combining excellent triboelectrical properties, optical properties, and wood aesthetics through sodium chlorite delignification and epoxy resin impregnation. Thanks to the strong electron-donating groups in the epoxy resin, the TW-TENG obtained an open-circuit voltage of up to ~127 V, marking a remarkable 530% enhancement compared to the original wood. Furthermore, durability and stability were substantiated through 10,000 working cycles. In addition, the introduction of epoxy resin and lignin removal endowed the TW-TENG with excellent optical characteristics, with optical transmittance of up to 88.8%, while preserving the unique texture and aesthetics of the wood completely. Finally, we show the application prospects of TW-TENGs in the fields of self-power supply, motion sensing, and smart home through the demonstration of a TW-TENG in the charging and discharging of capacitors and the output of electrical signals in different scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photochromic hydrogels have great potential for inkless printing, smart display devices, anti-counterfeiting and encryption. However, the short information storage time limits their large-scale application. In this study, a sodium alginate/polyacrylamide photochromic hydrogel with ammonium molybdate as the color change factor was prepared. The addition of sodium alginate was beneficial to the improvement of the fracture stress and elongation at break. In particular, when the content of sodium alginate was 3%, the fracture stress increased from 20 kPa without sodium alginate to 62 kPa. Different photochromic effects and information storage times were achieved by regulating the calcium ion and ammonium molybdate concentration. And the hydrogel with an ammonium molybdate immersion concentration of 6% and calcium chloride immersion concentration of 10% can store information for up to 15 h. At the same time, the hydrogels were able to maintain their photochromic properties over five cycles of "information writing – erasure" and achieved "hunnu" encryption. Therefore, the hydrogel shows excellent information controllable erasure properties and encryption functions, indicating its broad application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have been employed in the functionalization research of fiber-based materials due to their distinctive physicochemical properties. We used citric acid and urea as precursors and combined with hydrothermal method to prepare green and non-toxic carbon quantum dots (NCQDs), which were loaded into four-color twisted bamboo fiber bundles and possessed photoluminescence effect by simple impregnation method. Based on the verification of the structure and fluorescence properties of NCQDs, the fluorescent twisted bamboo fiber tows were comparatively analyzed for their chemical composition, microscopic morphology, mechanical properties, color difference, and thermal stability. The results showed that the four groups of fluorescent twisted bamboo fiber tows emitted uniform and bright blue fluorescent effects under UV light irradiation, and increased the tensile strength by 19.77% ~ 39.27% and the sexual modulus by 66.11% ~ 88.78% compared with the original twisted bamboo fiber tows. The impregnated carbon quantum dot solution enhances the functionality of the fiber bundle while enriching the color expression. It is expected to be a potential application material in the fields of smart marking, fluorescent anti-counterfeiting, interior decoration, and home textile industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]