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Superhydrophobic nanocomposite coatings, prepared using adhesive and fillers, offer advantages including ease of fabrication and suitability for large-scale applications, but compared with other types of artificial superhydrophobic surfaces, poor durability still limits these surfaces from practical applications. The utilization of micro/nanoscale particles with both intrinsic hydrophobicity and robust mechanical properties to prepare coatings should significantly contribute to enhanced durability. Herein, rough and hydrophobic particles with micro/nano hierarchical structures were prepared at first, and robust superhydrophobic surfaces were fabricated using the prepared particles and additional nanoparticles. The initially prepared particles formed a rough framework of the coating, while additional nanoparticles provided inevitable nanoscale structures. A series of mechanical tests were carried out to validate the durability, and the surface with 20 wt.% NPs exhibited the best performance, withstanding 30 tape peeling tests, a 2.47 m sandpaper rubbing test (at a pressure of 5 kPa), the impact of 200 g of grit dropped from a height of 20 cm, and a 2 h acidic immersion. These appealing materials may attract attention for self-cleaning, high-speed water impact resistance, anti-icing, and anti-fouling applications in the coatings industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In nature, some organisms have the ability to camouflage to adapt to environmental changes; they blend with the environment by changing their skin colors. Such a phenomenon is of great significance for the research of adaptive camouflage materials. In this study, we propose a novel design scheme for the study of angle-independent photonic materials and successfully prepare an electrically tunable multi-color display angle-independent inverse opal photonic gel (IOPG). After photopolymerization of hydroxyethyl methacrylate with ionizable monomer acrylic acid (AA) in a long-range disordered opal template and etching, the angle-independent inverse opal photonic gel is obtained, presenting a single structural color. The electrically responsive color changes can be achieved at different angles. The color of the disordered AA-IOPG changes from green to blue-green when applying +4 V bias voltage and from green to orange when applying −4 V bias voltage. The electrochromism of the disordered AA-IOPG is mainly due to the local pH change caused by water electrolysis under bias voltage, which leads to a change of the swelling ratio. The disordered AA-IOPG shows high color tunability and durability through repeated opposite bias voltage tests, indicating that it is a promising conductive photonic material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morphology significantly affects material's electronic, catalytic, and magnetic properties, especially for 2D crystals. Abundant achievements have been made in the morphology engineering of high‐symmetry 2D materials, but for the emerging low‐symmetry ones, such as ReS2, both the morphology control technique and comprehension are lacking. Here, the lateral shape and vertical thickness engineering of 2D ReS2 by tailoring the growth temperature and the substrate symmetry using chemical vapor deposition, is reported. The temperature increase induces an isotropic‐to‐anisotropic transition of domain shapes, as well as a monotonic decrease of the domain thickness, which promotes the electrocatalytic performance. The substrate rotational symmetry determines the shape anisotropy of polycrystalline ReS2 monolayers via a diffusion‐limited mechanism, leading to highly oriented square, triangular, and strip‐like domains synthesized on the fourfold symmetry SrTiO3 (001), threefold symmetry c‐sapphire, and twofold symmetry a‐sapphire substrates, respectively. Various stacking configurations in bilayers are unclosed at the atomic scale. Some are predicted to adopt a type‐II band alignment with great potential in photovoltaics. The results give insights into the morphological engineering of a unique class of 2D material with low in‐plane lattice symmetry and weak interlayer coupling, which are crucial for their high‐quality synthesis and industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(lactic acid)(PLA) has good application in the field of packaging because of its good biodegradability, tensile strength, and film‐forming properties. However, the disadvantages of high brittleness and high cost limit the wider application of PLA. PLA/lignin‐modified polyvinyl acetate (L‐PVAc) composites with excellent toughness were prepared by melt blending PLA with modifier L‐PVAc. The mechanical properties, thermal properties and morphology of the composites were characterized to evaluate the effect of L‐PVAc content on the properties of the composites. The results showed that the introduction of L‐PVAc could increase the impact strength, elongation at break, glass transition temperature, melting temperature and the degree of crystallinity of PLA/L‐PVAc composites. When the L‐PVAc content reached up to 20.0 wt%, the impact strength, elongation at break, glass transition temperature, melting temperature and the degree of crystallinity of the composites were increased by 298.2%, 167.5%, 3.8%, 1.8%, and 78.8%, respectively compared to pure PLA due to the good toughness of PVAc and heterogeneous nucleation of lignin. This research can promote the high‐value utilization of lignin and the application of PLA in the fields of clothing, agriculture, medical and hygiene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]