Despite recent advance in bioinspired adhesives, achieving strong adhesion and sealing hemostasis in aqueous and blood environments is challenging. A hyperbranched polymer (HBP) with a hydrophobic backbone and hydrophilic adhesive catechol side branches is designed and synthesized based on Michael addition reaction of multi-vinyl monomers with dopamine. It is demonstrated that upon contacting water, the hydrophobic chains self-aggregate to form coacervates quickly, displacing water molecules on the adherent surface to trigger increased exposure of catechol groups and thus rapidly strong adhesion to diverse materials from low surface energy to high energy in various environments, such as deionized water, sea water, PBS, and a wide range of pH solutions (pH = 3 to 11) without use of any oxidant. Also, this HBP adhesive (HBPA) exhibits a robust adhesion to fractured bone, precluding the problem of mismatched surface energy and mechanical properties. The HBPA's adhesion is repeatable in a wet condition. Intriguingly, the HBPA is capable of gluing dissimilar materials with distinct properties. Importantly, introducing long alkylamine into this modular hyperbranched architecture contributes to formation of an injectable hemostatic sealant that can rapidly stop visceral bleeding, especially hemorrhage from deep wound.

Water-Triggered Hyperbranched Polymer Universal Adhesives: From Strong Underwater Adhesion to Rapid Sealing Hemostasis.

Environmentally-friendly aqueous Li (or Na)-ion battery with super-long life is built for large-scale energy storage. Current rechargeable batteries generally display limited cycle life and slow electrode kinetics and contain environmentally unfriendly components. Furthermore, their operation depends on the redox reactions of metal elements. We present an original battery system that depends on the redox of I−/I3− couple in liquid cathode and the reversible enolization in polyimide anode, accompanied by Li+ (or Na+) diffusion between cathode and anode through a Li+/Na+ exchange polymer membrane. There are no metal element–based redox reactions in this battery, and Li+ (or Na+) is only used for charge transfer. Moreover, the components (electrolyte/electrode) of this system are environment-friendly. Both electrodes are demonstrated to have very fast kinetics, which gives the battery a supercapacitor-like high power. It can even be cycled 50,000 times when operated within the electrochemical window of 0 to 1.6 V. Such a system might shed light on the design of high-safety and low-cost batteries for grid-scale energy storage.

Environmentally-Friendly Aqueous Li (or Na)-Ion Battery with Fast Electrode Kinetics and Super-Long Life

Electrochromism is the phenomenon of certain materials reversibly changing their colours or optical properties through redox reactions under an applied electric field, which has found applications in smart windows, displays and so on. The past four decades have witnessed the rapid development of electrochromic technology; however, it remains severely developmentally challenged due to its limited practical applications. Predictably, as a colour control technology that gives visual information readable by the naked eye, electrochromism should have much wider applications by applying the visualization technique to various functional devices. Indeed, some recent research findings show that integrating electrochromic technology with other advanced technologies has imparted a new strong impetus for the further development of electrochromic technology. However, a systematic review of the literature on the fusing of electrochromic technology with other advanced technologies is still lacking, demonstrating the urgent need for further studies, although there are some review papers on electrochromic energy storage devices. In this review, we systematically discuss the recent advances in the fusing of electrochromic technology with other advanced technologies, including wearable technology, thermal control technology, energy storage technology, energy harvesting technology and sensing technology. The integration modes, design principles and performance optimization for different types of interdisciplinary electrochromic devices are highlighted. Finally, an outlook concerning future trends and issues in the research field is also provided.

Fusing electrochromic technology with other advanced technologies: A new roadmap for future development

Marine animals, such as leptocephalus and jellyfish, can sense external stimuli and achieve optical camouflage in the aquatic environment. Fabricating an intelligent soft sensor that can mimic the capabilities of transparent marine animals and function underwater can enable transformative applications in various novel fields. However, previously reported soft sensors struggle to meet the requirements of adhesion, self-healing ability, optical transparency, and stable conductivity in the aquatic environment. Herein, high-performance ionogels by virtue of ion-dipole and ion-ion interactions between fluorine-rich poly(ionic liquid) and ionic liquid are designed. The hydrophobic dynamic viscoelastic networks provide excellent properties for ionogels, including optical transparency, adjustable mechanical properties, underwater self-healing ability, underwater adhesiveness, conductivity, and 3D printability. A mechanically compliant and visually invisible underwater soft sensor based on ionogel is developed. This sensor can achieve optical camouflage, human-body-motion detection, and barrier-free communication in the aquatic environment. A novel contactless sensing mechanism based on changing the electron transfer pathway is proposed. Several interesting functions, such as detection of water environment changes, recognition of objects, delivery of information, and even identification of human standing posture can be realized. Importantly, the ionogel sensor can avoid fatigue and physical damage in the sensing process.

Underwater Communication and Optical Camouflage Ionogels

Self-charging power systems integrating energy harvesting technologies and batteries are attracting extensive attention in energy technologies. However, the conventional integrated systems are highly dependent on the availability of the energy sources and generally possess complicated configuration. Herein, we develop chemically self-charging aqueous zinc-ion batteries with a simplified two-electrode configuration based on CaV6O16·3H2O electrode. Such system possesses the capability of energy harvesting, conversion and storage simultaneously. It can be chemically self-recharged by the spontaneous redox reaction between the discharged cathode and oxygen from the ambient environment. Chemically self-recharged zinc-ion batteries display an initial open-circuit voltage of about 1.05 V and a considerable discharge capacity of about 239 mAh g−1, indicating the excellent self-rechargeability. Impressively, such chemically self-charging zinc-ion batteries can also work well at chemical or/and galvanostatic charging hybrid modes. This work not only provides a route to design chemically self-charging energy storage, but also broadens the horizons of aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Self-charging power systems integrating energy generation and storage are receiving consideration attention. Here the authors report an aqueous Zn-ion battery that can be self-recharged by the spontaneous redox reaction between cathode and oxygen from ambient environment without external power supply.

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A chemically self-charging aqueous zinc-ion battery.

Bringing Hetero-Polyacid-Based Underwater Adhesive as Printable Cathode Coating for Self-Powered Electrochromic Aqueous Batteries

The fabrication of peptide assemblies to mimic the functions of natural proteins represents an intriguing aim in the fields of soft materials. Herein, we present a kind of novel peptide-based adhesive coacervate for the exploration of the environment-responsive underwater adhesion. Adhesive coacervates are designed and synthesized by self-assembled condensation of a tripeptide and polyoxometalates in aqueous solution. Rheological measurements demonstrate that the adhesive coacervates exhibit shear thinning behavior, which allows them to be conveniently delivered for interfacial spreading through a narrow gauge syringe without high pressure. The complex coacervates are susceptible to pH and metal ions, resulting in the occurrence of a phase transition from the fluid phase to the gel state. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrates that the microscale structures of the gel-like phases are composed of interconnected three-dimensional porous networks. The rheological study reveals that the gel-like assemblies exhibited mechanical stiffness and self-healing properties. Interestingly, the gel-like samples show the capacity to adhere to various wet solid substrates under the waterline. The adhesion strength of the peptide-based gel is quantified by lap shear mechanical analysis. The fluid coacervate is further exploited in the preparation of "on-site" injectable underwater adhesives triggered by environmental factors. This finding is exciting and serves to expand our capability for the fabrication of peptide-based underwater adhesives in a controllable way.

Coassembly of Short Peptide and Polyoxometalate into Complex Coacervate Adapted for pH and Metal Ion-Triggered Underwater Adhesion.

Light-powered and transient peptide two-dimensional assembly driven by trans-to-cis isomerization of azobenzene side chains.

Coacervates are commonly thought to be formed from the liquid-liquid phase separation of macromolecules, such as oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, proteins or peptides. Unlike conventional systems, we here show an entirely novel coacervate obtained from the self-assembly of arginine (Arg) and K8[α-SiW11O39] (SiW11) in water. The formation of the coacervate Arg/SiW11 is confirmed by combined techniques, including turbidity, rheology, optical microscopy, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Assessment of the rheological response reveals that the complex coacervate exhibits shear thinning behaviour. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, elemental analysis and thermogravimetric analysis are used to characterize the coacervate. The thermodynamic parameters of the coacervation are monitored by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), which identifies that the formation of the coacervate by mixing of Arg and SiW11 is driven by a combination of entropic and enthalpic effects. The resultant coacervate shows a typical upper critical solution temperature (UCST) phenomenon, which is strongly dependent on the concentration of the species. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the coacervation could be tuned by stoichiometry and pH. A phase diagram for the complexation of Arg and SiW11 thus has been constructed using turbidity measurements. Such a phase diagram is a very useful tool for the preparation of coacervates from a specific combination of Arg and SiW11. Finally, the acid induced gelation of the coacervate has been explored to fabricate an anticorrosive coating to protect a copper plate from exposure to acid vapour.

Aqueous self-assembly of arginine and K8SiW11O39: fine-tuning the formation of a coacervate intended for sprayable anticorrosive coatings.

The invention relates to a composite water-based conductive adhesive based on carbon material/heteropoly acid/amino acid and a preparation method of the composite water-based conductive adhesive, andbelongs to the technical field of materials science The preparation method comprises the following steps: firstly, sufficiently grinding a mixture of carbon materials and heteropoly acid according toa solid grinding method; then, adding natural amino acid into the ground powder and continuing to grind, so that the amino acid is respectively connected with the heteropoly acid and the carbon material through non-covalent interaction; finally, synergistically assembling the three components according to a method of combining aqueous phase heating with ultrasonic treatment to obtain the composite water-based conductive adhesive based on carbon material/heteropoly acid/amino acid, wherein the composite water-based conductive adhesive, based on 100% by weight, comprises 1%-6% of carbon material, 62%-79% of heteropoly acid, 13%-20% of amino acid, and 6%-9% of trace hydrochloric acid or sodium hydroxide and water The composite water-based conductive adhesive based on carbon material/heteropoly acid/amino acid provided by the invention is simple in preparation process, mild in condition, free of surface treatment on the carbon material, and simple and effective in synthesis method; the obtained conductive adhesive shows good adhesion and electrical conductivity in a water environment or air

Composite water-based conductive adhesive based on carbon material/heteropoly acid/amino acid and preparation method of composite water-based conductive adhesive

Zhanglei Du

Papers

Bringing Hetero-Polyacid-Based Underwater Adhesive as Printable Cathode Coating for Self-Powered Electrochromic Aqueous Batteries

Coassembly of Short Peptide and Polyoxometalate into Complex Coacervate Adapted for pH and Metal Ion-Triggered Underwater Adhesion.

Light-powered and transient peptide two-dimensional assembly driven by trans-to-cis isomerization of azobenzene side chains.

Aqueous self-assembly of arginine and K8SiW11O39: fine-tuning the formation of a coacervate intended for sprayable anticorrosive coatings.

Composite water-based conductive adhesive based on carbon material/heteropoly acid/amino acid and preparation method of composite water-based conductive adhesive