Sunlight-controlled CO_(2) separation resulting from a biomass-based CO_(2) absorber

Renewable solid sorbents for CO_(2) capture and storage have shown great potentials for the sake of gaseous separation,tail gas treatment,environmental regulation and climate governance.However,current existed preparation and reusability of solid sorbents are generally subject to high energy consumption and complicated procedure.Herein,a light-controlled CO_(2) separation system with high working temperature resulting from natural sawdust combined with polyethyleneimine is fabricated,which involves low energy input and few operating sequences.This system shows a direct and ratiometric response to sunlight illumination by which CO_(2) can be reversibly adsorbed and released.This light-controlled CO_(2) separation process is prospective to become an attractive alternative to traditional alkaline CO_(2) collection method in terms of its convenience and low cost.As a practical demonstration,CO_(2) mixed with N_(2) is successfully separated through this light-controlled carbon capture and storage(CCS) system,which offers great promise for CO_(2) capture and enrichment with applicability across a wide range of scales.

Cold-Resistant Rubbers Based on Flexible Polymer Chains

Comprehensive Summary,As one of the three types of polymeric materials,rubber has played an irreplaceable role in various fields such as industrial production,aerospace,military,and national defense.Improving the cold resistance of rubbers and extending their service temperature range have always been one of the main focuses in rubber research.However,there have been few detailed public reports or literatures on the progress or summary of cold-resistant rubbers,creating an invisible barrier for new researchers wishing to enter this field of research.Therefore,starting from the basis of polymer physics,this review introduces the research difficulties in this field and systematically summarizes the research progress in constructing cold-resistant rubbers based on three different types of flexible polymer chains in recent years.In addition,several important properties of cold-resistant rubbers including mechanical performance,oil resistance,and self-healing ability are also discussed along with the summary of recent progresses.Finally,the future challenges and prospects of cold-resistant rubbers are discussed.

Recyclable Polyurea-Urethane Thermosets with De-Crosslinking Capability in Acetic Acid

Covalent crosslinking points within thermosets generally result in excellent mechanical properties and solvent resistance yet lead to limited degradability and recyclability.Those thermosets become degradable or recyclable if crosslinking points are cleavable or reversible.Following this principle,we report a kind of polyurea-urethane thermoset with borate ester as its crosslinking point to enable a controllable decrosslinking in response to acetate acid.Such a thermoset presents remarkable mechanical properties as well as outstanding solvent resistance capability,due to the high crosslinking density and intermolecular hydrogen bonding.Furthermore,the de-crosslinked product can be reporcessed to generate a brand new thermoplastic material.

Supramolecular Polymer Emulsifiers for One-step Complex Emulsions

Complex emulsions, such as double emulsions and high-internal-phase emulsions, have shown great applications in the fields of drug delivery, sensing, catalysis, oil-water separation and self-healing materials. Their controllable preparation is at the forefront of interface and material science. Surfactants and polymers have been widely used as emulsifiers for building complex emulsions. Yet some inherent disadvantages exist including multi-step emulsifications and low production efficiency. Alternatively, supramolecular polymer emulsifier for complex emulsions via one-step emulsification is rising as a new strategy due to the ease of preparation. In this feature article, we review our recent progresses in using supramolecular polymer emulsifiers for the preparation of complex emulsions. Double emulsions and high-internal-phase emulsions are successfully prepared via one-step emulsification with the help of different supramolecular interactions including electrostatic, hydrogen bond, coordination interaction and dynamic covalent bond, which will be particularly emphasized in detail. In the end, a comprehensive prospect is given for the future development of this field. This article is expected to provide new inspirations for preparing complex emulsions via supramolecular routes.

Self-healing Ionic Liquid-based Electronics and Beyond

Owing to the advantages of non-volatility,outstanding fluidity and easy recyclability,ionic liquid-based electronics,such as thermometer,strain sensors and thermoelectric converters,have been growing as attractive alternatives to traditionally solid electronics.The fluidic character endows the ionic liquid-based circuit with self-healing ability,satisfying the needs of longer lifetime and less waste generation for electronics,while at the same time brings the risk of leakage.Avoiding the leakage without sacrifice of self-healing ability is one of the major challenges for constructing ionic liquid-based electronic devices.In this feature article,we summarize our recent progresses in developing two types of self-healing electrical devices based on ionic liquids with little risk of leakage.One type involves the encapsulation of ionic liquids in self-healing polymers,and the other type uses ionic polymers or free-standing ionic liquids which are successfully formulated as intrinsically conductive,self-healing,and recyclable electronic devices without additional encapsulation.In the end,a comprehensive outlook is prospected for the future development of ionic liquid-based self-healing electronics,which is expected to spur more innovative work in this field.

Photothermal Polymers in Near Infrared Window

Near infrared(NIR)light occupies a significant proportion in solar energy,and it also exhibits high penetration depth in biological tissue owing to its low absorption by pigments and water.Hence,the effective utilization of NIR light is a matter of great significance for energy and biomedical applications.However,the low energy of NIR photons routinely fails to initiate effective photochemical reactions or photoelectric conversion.As an attractive alternative to exciton separation,photothermal conversion ranks as the most efficient approach to use NIR light in the pathways of non-irradiative emission.Based on our efforts in the investigation of photothermal materials and their related applications,this article highlights the factors of light harvesting and photothermal materials in regard to their benefits in improving light use efficiency particularly in NIR window.Several thermally dependent applications which are established on photothermal conversion are exemplified,such as NIR-triggered polymer annealing,control of catalytic reactions,and NIR light detection.

Antimicrobial Rubber Nanocapsule-Based Iodophor Promotes Wound Healing

Povidone–iodine has been leading the market of clinical disinfectants worldwide since the last century but has turned a blind eye to its cytotoxic effect on the cells of the human tissue.In this study,a commercial povidone–iodine,though considered an excellent antibacterial agent,was found to have a negative influence on mammal cell growth and wound healing in preclinical trials.At the early stage of wound treatment,it even severely deteriorated the wound and enlarged the wound area.However,our newly formulated iodophors,based on rubber nanoparticles,were able to discriminate between human and bacterial cells by inhibiting the cytotoxicity damage caused by iodine to mammalian tissue and vigorously,killed the bacterial cells,thereby,presenting as superior performers of wound care,compared with povidone–iodine.Wetook advantage of a redox combination of an emulsion complex loaded with iodine to solidify a trans-polyisoprene rubber into nanocapsules.Specifically,our fabricated class of rubber nanocapsules proved to be capable of promoting remarkable cell proliferation and wound recovery,thereby,serving as a promising candidate for biocompatible and healing-favored wound disinfection agents in place of povidone–iodine.

A Water-Soluble Photothermal Host–Guest Complex with pH-Sensitive Superlarge Redshift Absorption

Near infrared(NIR)absorbers for photothermal therapy are arousing great attention in tumor diagnosis and ablation.However,the inevitably wide distribution of NIR absorbers generally causes equal photothermal injuries to tumor tissues and healthy tissues.An initiative targeting strategy based on pH-sensitive redshift absorption has been proposed for NIR-induced hyperthermia only in tumor tissue.In this work,we develop a NIR absorber with superlarge redshift from the middle visible light region to NIR light region once the pH value drops.

Dynamic chemistry in ionic liquid-based conductor

Ionic liquids,as a kind of liquid conductors with the unique inherent abilities of rapid self-healing,highly adaptive deformation,reconstruction,as well as high ionic conductivity,have been highly praised and recommended as a new competitive conducting material for green electronics.However,ionic liquids are likely encountered with the leakage problems when they are integrated into electronic devices.This issue as well as the need to develop intelligent electronics stimulate the innovation of ionic liquids with response characters besides conducting performance.Some"innovative"or"functional"ionic liquids consisting dynamic chemical bonds can reversibly switch between different states in response to external stimuli.These specialized ionic liquids afford powerful supplements to minimize the issue of leakage of ionic liquid conductors from electrical circuits,and also exhibit the properties of self-healing,reprocessing,adaptive deformation,which accord with the forthcoming era of Internet of Things.This minireview systematically summarizes the progresses of ionic liquid-based conductors containing dynamic bonds,particularly highlighting their applicable merits in self-healing,stretchable,and recyclable aspects.We also discuss the challenges in the next period and describe an unambiguous future of this research area.

Utilizing 3D bioprinted platelet-rich fibrin-based materials to promote the regeneration of oral soft tissue

Oral soft tissue defects remain difficult to treat owing to the limited efficacy of available treatment materials.Although the injectable platelet-rich fibrin(i-PRF)is a safe,autologous source of high levels of growth factors that is often employed to promote the regeneration of oral soft tissue,its effectiveness is restrained by difficulties in intraoperative shaping together with the burst-like release of growth factors.We herein sought to develop a bioactive bioink composed of i-PRF,alginate and gelatin capable of promoting the regeneration of the oral soft tissue.This bioink was successfully applied in 3D bioprinting and exhibited its ability to be shaped to individual patient needs.Importantly,we were also able to significantly prolong the duration of multiple growth factors release as compared to that observed for i-PRF.The growth factor bioavailability was further confirmed by the enhanced proliferation and viability of printed gingival fibroblasts.When deployed in vivo in nude mice,this bioink was further confirmed to be biocompatible and to drive enhanced angiogenic activity.Together,these data thus confirmthe successful production of an i-PRF-containing bioink,which is suitable for the individualized promotion of the regeneration of oral soft tissue.

Second Near-Infrared Photothermal Therapy with Superior Penetrability through Skin Tissues

Photothermal therapy(PTT)triggered by second near-infrared(NIR-II)light(1000–1400 nm)has shown great potential in tumor ablation because of its good tissue penetrability.However,NIR-II PTT still cannot treat tumors underneath skin because of the light scattering effect of skin components.This research aims to promote the NIR-II penetrability of skin tissue by weakening the light scattering effect from the refractive index inhomogeneity among skin constituents.

Old inspires new: activation and stabilization of iodine in diene-based rubbers

In 1920,Hermann Staudinger put forward the concept that rubber is composed of isoprene units,which has been considered as the beginning of“macromolecular science”or“polymer science.”The past 100 years’development of polymer science has witnessed the greatness and foresight of this groundbreaking theory.On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of polymer science,this paper is dedicated to recalling a piece of research history on rubber.