Supramolecular Framework Constructed by Dendritic Nanopolymer for Stable Flexible Perovskite Resistive Random-Access Memory.

The 3D supramolecular framework (3D-SF) is constructed in this work through the hydrogen bond assisted self-assembly of spherical dendritic nanopolymer to regulate the flexibility, stability, and resistive switching (RS) performance of perovskite resistive random-access memory (RRAM). Herein, the 3D-SF network acts as the perovskite crystallization template to regulate the perovskite crystallization process due to its coordination interaction of functional groups with the perovskite grains, presenting the uniform, pinhole-free, and compact perovskite morphology for stable flexible RRAM. The 3D-SF network in situ stays at the perovskite intergranular boundaries to crosslink the perovskite grains. The RS performance of 3D-SF-modified perovskite RRAM device is evidently improved to the ON/OFF ratio of 105 , the cycle number of 500 times, and the data retention time of 104 s. The 50-days exposure of unencapsulated RRAM device at ambient environment still makes the ON/OFF ratio to be kept at ≈104 , indicating the potential of long-term stable multilevel storage in the high-density data storage. The bending action under different radius also does not change the RS performance due to the excellent bending-resistant ability of 3D-SF-modified perovskite film. This work explores a novel polymer additive strategy to construct the 3D supramolecular framework for stable flexible perovskite optoelectronic devices.

Luminescent/Temperature-Sensing Properties of Multifunctional Rare-Earth Upconversion Kevlar Nanofiber Composite under 1550 nm.

The unique properties of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are responsible for their diverse applications in photonic materials, medicine, analytics, and energy conversion. In this study, water-soluble rare-earth upconversion nanomaterials emitting green, yellow, and red light under 1550 nm excitation were synthesized. These nanomaterials were then integrated into water-soluble Kevlar nanofibers (KNFs) to fabricate ultra-thin composite films exhibiting favorable mechanical characteristics. The characterization of the products, along with their luminescent, mechanical, and temperature-sensing properties, was examined. The results indicate that the composite material exhibited varying colors based on the doped nanoparticles when subjected to 1550 nm excitation. The composite showed highly sensitive temperature-sensing properties, excellent luminescent characteristics, and superior mechanical strength. This study suggests that KNFs are effective carriers of UCNPs. This study offers a reference for the utilization of rare-earth upconversion in anti-counterfeiting displays, wearable health monitoring, and remote temperature sensing.

Flexible stretchable electrothermally/photothermally dual-driven heaters from nano-embedded hierarchical CuxS-Coated PET fabrics for all-weather wearable thermal management.

The multifunctional photoelectronic devices are recently attracting much more attention due to their potential enlarged applications. The flexible stretchable electrothermally/photothermally dual-driven heaters for all-weather wearable thermal management are presented in this work with nano-embedded hierarchical CuxS-coated PET fabrics. Herein, the hierarchical nano-embedded CuxS film is fabricated via a simple chemical bath method for high electrical conductivity and highly efficient inelastic collision of electro/photo-generated carriers. The hierarchical nano-embedded CuxS morphology produces the low sheet resistance of 1.26 Ω sq-1 and the super low total heat transfer coefficient of 3.256 × 10-5 W/oC·mm2, which lead to the high-efficient electro/photo-dual-driven heating effect in the CuxS@PET fabrics. The saturated temperature on the as-fabricated flexible wearable heaters reaches up to 172 °C. The thermal conversion devices also bear the excellent stability, reproducibility, stretchability, controllability and corrosion-resistant characteristics. Interestingly, their excellent thermal conversion performance could be achieved by freely exchanging the driving power sources, such as electricity-supplying equipment, 635-nm laser, infrared physiotherapy lamp and solar simulator, which provides a necessary precondition for the all-weather applications of flexible wearable heaters. The as-fabricated electro/photo-dual-driven heaters on the CuxS@PET fabrics have the promising applications in wearable electronics, all-weather self-heating facilities, out/in-vivo physiotherapy, and so on.

Swelling-reconstructed chitosan-viscose nonwoven fabric for high-performance quasi-solid-state supercapacitors.

Fabrics are often used as freestanding substrates for energy storage devices owing to their hierarchical porous structure and excellent mechanical flexibility. However, it is still a challenge to achieve a high loading mass of electroactive materials for outstanding electrochemical performance. In this work, with the help of high swelling property of chitosan, the chitosan-viscose nonwoven fabric (CVF) is successfully reconstructed to expand its specific surface area for flexible conductive substrates in the supercapacitors. Then, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are coated on the surface of crosslinked chitosan-viscose nonwoven fabric (c-CVF) to form the conductive framework. Subsequently, polypyrrole (PPy) is deposited by in-situ interfacial polymerization on the above conductive MWCNT/c-CVF substrate. The optimized PPy/MWCNT/c-CVF composite electrode shows not only a high electrical conductivity of 285.9 ± 1.2 S·cm-1, but also a prominent specific capacitance of 10112.9 mF·cm-2 at 2 mA·cm-2. Moreover, the prepared composite electrode also exhibits a high flexibility and good rate capability, in which the 70.3% capacitance is retained when the current density increases from 2 mA·cm-2 to 10 mA·cm-2. Besides, the quasi-solid-state symmetric supercapacitor, being assembled with the optimized composite fabric electrodes, produces the maximum areal specific capacitance of 1748.0 mF·cm-2 at 2 mA·cm-2 and the outstanding energy density of 155.4 µWh·cm-2 at a power density of 0.88 mW·cm-2. This work provides an effective approach to reconstruct the blended nonwoven fabric structure for high-performance flexible conductive substrate in the supercapacitors.

A Polyanionic Strategy to Modify the Perovskite Grain Boundary for a Larger Switching Ratio in Flexible Woven Resistive Random-Access Memories.

The intergranular interface modification of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites (OHP) is an important issue to regulate the flexibility, stability, and resistive switching (RS) performance of resistive random-access memories (RRAMs). A novel strategy of polymer additives for OHP intergranular interface modification is explored in this work with the polyanionic backbone to improve the distribution of cage-shaped cavity molecules at the perovskite grain boundaries. Specifically speaking, poly(1-adamantylammonium acrylate) (PADAm) is first synthesized through the acid-base reaction of polyacrylic acid with 1-adamantylamine to simultaneously realize the introduction of a cage-shaped cavity molecule and the polyanionic backbone. Herein, organic ammonium cations 1-adamantylammonium (ADNH3+) in PADAm are applied as the cage-shaped cavity molecules to tune the dielectric property by being anchored at the perovskite grain boundaries. Meanwhile, polyacrylic anions in PADAm play the role of the polyanionic backbone to produce the more uniform distribution of ADNH3+. Simultaneously, the flexibility and stability of OHP RRAM devices are also improved due to the introduction of the polyanionic backbone. Consequently, the 4% ADNH3I-modified planar device exhibits the stable nonvolatile RS behavior with an on/off ratio of ∼104, even with one-month exposure under an ambient environment. Importantly, the introduction of PADAm in the flexible fibrous crosspoint of functional fiber Al@MAPbI3:PADAm and bare Al fiber further increases the on/off ratio to 108 due to the effectively improved distribution of hollow cage-shaped ADNH3+ at the perovskite intergranular interfaces together with the application of the fibrous crosspoint device configuration. Especially, these excellent crosspoint RRAM devices can be integrated into the woven fibrous RRAM array in the thermal plastic packaging configuration. In addition, the excellent multilevel RS behavior can also be realized in the woven fibrous RRAM array, indicating potential high-density data storage. This work provides a novel strategy of polymer additives bearing the polyanionic backbone to improve the flexibility, stability, and RS performance of perovskite RRAM devices.

Recyclable low-temperature phase change microcapsules for cold storage.

Recyclable low-temperature phase change microcapsules (LTPCMs) have the potential applications in the short-distance cold chain transportation due to their reliable reusability in cold storage. Herein, LTPCMs are synthesized via in-situ suspension copolymerization of styrene and methyl methacrylate in absence of harm substances, providing the non-crosslinking copolymer shells. n-Dodecane, n-tridecane and n-tetradecane, inducing the microphase separation of non-crosslinking copolymers, are successfully encapsulated to achieve n-do-LTPCMs, n-tri-LTPCMs and n-tetra-LTPCMs, which respectively bear the high phase change enthalpy of 110.53 J·g-1 at -8.69 °C, 38.33 J·g-1/93.71 J·g-1 at -17.61 °C/-4.96 °C and 166.79 J·g-1 at 8.59 °C and subsequently show the cold-discharging periods of 30 min, 40 min and 120 min. The multiple circulation of cold-discharging process indicates the excellent recyclability for cold storage owing to their unchanged cold-discharging period. Especially, n-tetra-LTPCM-65 bears the best comprehensive cold-storing performance in all the previously reported LTPCMs, such as narrow cold-discharging temperature range of 3-4 °C, long cold-discharging period of 69-120 min and low cold-discharging capacity of 33.4 J·g-1·K-1. This work successfully provided the recyclable LTPCMs for cold storage in the short-distance cold chain transportation.

Covalently Connecting Crystal Grains with Polyvinylammonium Carbochain Backbone To Suppress Grain Boundaries for Long-Term Stable Perovskite Solar Cells.

Grain boundaries act as rapid pathways for nonradiative carrier recombination, anion migration, and water corrosion, leading to low efficiency and poor stability of organometal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this work, the strategy suppressing the crystal grain boundaries is applied to improve the photovoltaic performance, especially moisture-resistant stability, with polyvinylammonium carbochain backbone covalently connecting the perovskite crystal grains. This cationic polyelectrolyte additive serves as nucleation sites and template for crystal growth of MAPbI3 and afterward the immobilized adjacent crystal grains grow into the continuous compact, pinhole-free perovskite layer. As a result, the unsealed PSC devices, which are fabricated under low-temperature fabrication protocol with a proper content of polymer additive PVAm·HI, currently exhibit the maximum efficiency of 16.3%. Remarkably, these unsealed devices follow an "outside-in" corrosion mechanism and respectively retain 92% and 80% of the initial PCE value after being exposed under ambient environment for 50 days and 100 days, indicating the superiority of carbochain polymer additives in solving the long-term stability problem of PSCs.