Architected porous metals in electrochemical energy storage

Porous metallic structures are regularly used in electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices as supports, current collectors, or active electrode materials. Bulk metal porosification, dealloying, welding, or chemical synthesis routes involving crystal growth or self-assembly, for example, can sometimes provide limited control of porous length scale, ordering, periodicity, reproducibility, porosity, and surface area. Additive manufacturing has shown the potential to revolutionize the fabrication of architected metals, allowing complex geometries not usually possible by traditional methods, by enabling complete design freedom of a porous metal based on the required physical or chemical property to be exploited. We discuss properties of porous metal structures in EES devices and provide some opinions on how architected metals may alleviate issues with electrochemically active porous metal current collectors, and provide opportunities for optimum design based on electrochemical characteristics required by batteries, supercapacitors or other electrochemical devices.     

Fabrication of buried waveguide microstructure using gas‐assisted micro/nanoimprinting with soft mold

Due to the limitations on the choice of wavelengths available for light source, nanograde structures are facing technological bottlenecks and their method of preparation using current lithography and imaging technology is extremely costly. The idea is thus born to develop a nanopressuring and manufacturing technology, in order to further develop a low‐cost and more reliable technology to manufacture nanodevices in full scale. This study combines the characteristics of soft lithography, photo‐resist, and gas‐assisted pressuring, as well as studies the use of gas‐assisted pressuring and soft mold to emboss photo‐resist to manufacture optical waveguide devices, such that the nanopressuring technology may be more mature. Study results show that polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is able to accurately emboss and replicate nanograde buried waveguide structures, by using even pressure gas to achieve full contact with the surface of the substrate thus greatly increasing the effective pressuring area. Also, PDMS soft molds are easier to make with short embossing time to effectively reduce cost. Another advantage of combining gas‐assisted pressuring with PDMS soft molds in the manufacturing process is that PDMS soft molds possess low free energy on the surface and are difficult for resist to adhere. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于粒子辅助水滴模板法制备仿生复眼结构的研究

将微粒“皮克林乳化效应”(Pickering emulsions)和水滴模板法(breath figure method)有机结合,探索通过建立粒子辅助的水滴模板法,实现纳米粒子在蜂窝状多孔膜内壁的自组装复合,构建微纳复合的多级仿生结构.并进一步利用聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)复制转移技术,获得类似于复眼结构的多级微纳复合界面仿生结构.     

Solvent-resistant photocurable liquid fluoropolymers for microfluidic device fabrication [corrected

We report the first fabrication of a solvent-compatible microfluidic device based on photocurable "Liquid Teflon" materials. The materials are highly fluorinated functionalized perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs) that have liquidlike viscosities that can be cured into tough, highly durable elastomers that exhibit the remarkable chemical resistance of fluoropolymers such as Teflon. Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) elastomers have rapidly become the material of choice for many recent microfluidic device applications. Despite the advantages of PDMS in relation to microfluidics technology, the material suffers from a serious drawback in that it swells in most organic solvents. The swelling of PDMS-based devices in organic solvents greatly disrupts the micrometer-sized features and makes it impossible for fluids to flow inside the channels. Our approach to this problem has been to replace PDMS with photocurable perfluoropolyethers. Device fabrication and valve actuation were accomplished using established procedures for PDMS devices. The additional advantage of photocuring allows fabrication time to be decreased from several hours to a matter of minutes. The PFPE-based device exhibited mechanical properties similar to those of Sylgard 184 before and after curing as well as remarkable resistance to organic solvents. This work has the potential to expand the field of microfluidics to many novel applications.     

Teflon films for chemically-inert microfluidic valves and pumps

We present a simple method for fabricating chemically-inert Teflon microfluidic valves and pumps in glass microfluidic devices. These structures are modeled after monolithic membrane valves and pumps that utilize a featureless polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane bonded between two etched glass wafers. The limited chemical compatibility of PDMS has necessitated research into alternative materials for microfluidic devices. Previous work has shown that spin-coated amorphous fluoropolymers and Teflon-fluoropolymer laminates can be fabricated and substituted for PDMS in monolithic membrane valves and pumps for space flight applications. However, the complex process for fabricating these spin-coated Teflon films and laminates may preclude their use in many research and manufacturing contexts. As an alternative, we show that commercially-available fluorinated ethylene-propylene (FEP) Teflon films can be used to fabricate chemically-inert monolithic membrane valves and pumps in glass microfluidic devices. The FEP Teflon valves and pumps presented here are simple to fabricate, function similarly to their PDMS counterparts, maintain their performance over extended use, and are resistant to virtually all chemicals. These structures should facilitate lab-on-a-chip research involving a vast array of chemistries that are incompatible with native PDMS microfluidic devices.     

基于水滴模板法的微纳复合超疏水结构制备的研究

利用粒子辅助水滴模板法的实施获得规则蜂窝状图案化多孔结构模板,并进一步利用聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)复制转移技术获得表面具有微米尺寸蜂窝状突起阵列的反向图案化结构.以这种图案化突起结构作为微米尺寸所提供的微米级粗糙度为基础,设计了2种的简单的二次纳米结构的引入过程,最终实现了微米级阵列和纳米级粗糙度的复合.第一种方法借助银镜反应来实现纳米银结构的化学沉积,最终在PDMS阵列表面获得了致密的纳米银颗粒沉积层,并成功获得了表面接触角达166度的超疏水性质.第二种方法利用了聚电解质/二氧化硅粒子层层静电自组装的方法引入纳米结构,结果在仅仅进行了2个组装循环的条件下即可获得超疏水性质的表面复合结构.通过简单的实验设计试图提供一种基于水滴模板法的微纳复合超疏水结构的普适性制备方法.     

Ultrastretchable and conductive core/sheath hydrogel fibers with multifunctionality

Conductive hydrogels with ionic compounds possess great potential for the development of soft smart devices. A dielectric scarfskin is typically required for these devices to prevent short circuiting, leading to devices with lower stretchability than the hydrogel. Henceforth, commonly used dielectric materials, such as PDMS and Ecoflex, cannot be largely stretched. Hydrogel devices with ultrastretchability are required to accommodate hostile application environments. Herein, we propose a hydrogel fiber coated with a dielectric layer that can be stretched to over 2000% of its initial length. The fiber remains conductive when stretched to ~1300%. In addition, the core/sheath hydrogel fiber can be endowed with a variety of functional properties, such as electroluminescence (EL), photoluminescence (PL), and magnetic‐responsiveness, demonstrating scalability of the resultant fiber. The present work can pave the way for numerous next‐generation soft devices, such as smart textiles and wearable electronics. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 272–280     

多孔碳材料的制备

多孔碳材料不仅具有碳材料化学稳定高、导电性好等优点,由于多孔结构的引入,还具有比表面积高、孔道结构丰富、孔径可调等特点,在催化、吸附和电化学储能等方面都得到了广泛的应用。本文综述了微孔、介孔、大孔及多级孔碳等多孔碳材料的最新研究进展,重点介绍了多孔碳孔道结构的调控,并对多孔碳材料的应用进行了展望。     

柔性可穿戴传感器件与储能器件的发展现状与挑战

随着人们生活质量与对可穿戴监测设备需求的提高以及物联网、人工智能和人机交互等科技水平的发展,能够对人体生命体征信号采集、转化与识别的可穿戴柔性电子装置成为连接智能生物与非智能机械装置的桥梁. 可穿戴柔性电子器件对人体生命体征信号的采集包括人体脉搏、温度、皮肤应变、呼吸和心跳等指标. 本文总结概述了近年来可穿戴柔性传感器对人体生命信号采集的现状以及存在的问题和挑战,并对可穿戴柔性供能器件做了简要的总结和展望.     

Three-dimensional interconnected microporous poly(dimethylsiloxane) microfluidic devices

This technical note presents a fabrication method and applications of three-dimensional (3D) interconnected microporous poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfluidic devices. Based on soft lithography, the microporous PDMS microfluidic devices were fabricated by molding a mixture of PDMS pre-polymer and sugar particles in a microstructured mold. After curing and demolding, the sugar particles were dissolved and washed away from the microstructured PDMS replica revealing 3D interconnected microporous structures. Other than introducing microporous structures into the PDMS replica, different sizes of sugar particles can be used to alter the surface wettability of the microporous PDMS replica. Oxygen plasma assisted bonding was used to enclose the microstructured microporous PDMS replica using a non-porous PDMS with inlet and outlet holes. A gas absorption reaction using carbon dioxide (CO(2)) gas acidified water was used to demonstrate the advantages and potential applications of the microporous PDMS microfluidic devices. We demonstrated that the acidification rate in the microporous PDMS microfluidic device was approximately 10 times faster than the non-porous PDMS microfluidic device under similar experimental conditions. The microporous PDMS microfluidic devices can also be used in cell culture applications where gas perfusion can improve cell survival and functions.     

Highly Ordered 3D Porous Graphene Sponge for Wearable Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor Applications

Wearable sensors with excellent flexibility and sensitivity have emerged as a promising field for healthcare, electronic skin, and so forth. Three-dimensional (3D) graphene sponges (GS) have emerged as high-performance piezoresistive sensors; however, problems, such as limited flexibility, high cost, and low sensitivity, remain. Meanwhile, device-level wearable pressure sensors with GS have rarely been demonstrated. In this work, highly ordered 3D porous graphene sponges (OPGSs) were first successfully prepared and controlled through an emulsion method, and then a device-level wearable pressure sensor with high flexibility and sensitivity was assembled with a gold electrode and polydimethylsiloxane into a reliable package. The pH values were carefully controlled to form a stable emulsion and the OPGSs showed a highly ordered 3D structure with ultralow density, high porosity, and conductivity; this resulted in a gauge factor of 0.79–1.46, with 50 % compression strain and excellent long-term reproducibility over 500 cycles of compression–relaxation. Moreover, the well-packaged pressure sensor devices exhibited ultrahigh sensitivity to detect human motions, such as wrist bending, elbow bending, finger bending, and palm flexing. Thus, the developed pressure sensors exhibited great potential in the fields of human-interactive applications, biomechanical systems, electronic skin, and so forth.     

Bioinspired Gradient Stretchable Aerogels for Ultrabroad-Range-Response Pressure-Sensitive Wearable Electronics and High-Efficient Separators

Broad-range-response pressure-sensitive wearable electronics are urgently needed but their preparation remains a challenge. Herein, we report unprecedented bioinspired wearable electronics based on stretchable and superelastic reduced graphene oxide/polyurethane nanocomposite aerogels with gradient porous structures by a sol-gel/hot pressing/freeze casting/ambient pressure drying strategy. The gradient structure with a hot-pressed layer promotes strain transfer and resistance variation under high pressures, leading to an ultrabroad detection range of 1 Pa–12.6 MPa, one of the broadest ranges ever reported. They can withstand 10 000 compression cycles under 1 MPa, which can't be achieved by traditional flexible pressure sensors. They can be applied for broad-range-response electronic skins and monitoring various physical signals/motions and ultrahigh pressures of automobile tires. Moreover, the gradient aerogels can be used as high-efficient gradient separators for water purification.     

Ultra-Sensitive and Ultra-Stretchable Strain Sensors Based on Emulsion Gels with Broad Operating Temperature

Hydrogels with mechanical elasticity and conductivity are ideal materials in wearable devices. However, traditional hydrogels are fragile upon mechanical loading and lose functions in climate change because the internal water undergoes freeze and dehydration. Herein, we synthesize stable emulsions at high and low temperatures by introducing glycerol into the W/W emulsions. Then the high-stable emulsions are used as templates to produce the freestanding emulsion gels with enhanced mechanical strength and conductivity. The introduction of glycerol endows emulsions and emulsion gels with high and low temperature resistance (−20 to 90 °C). The fabricated strain sensors based on emulsion gels show high sensitivity (gauge factor=6.240), high stretchability (1081 %), fatigue resistance, self-healing and adhesion properties, realizing the repeatable and accurate detection of various human motions. These high-performance and eco-friendly emulsion gels can be promising candidates for next-generation artificial skin and human-machine interface.     

Determining thermo‐mechanical properties of polydimethylsiloxanes from their strain‐induced spectral fingerprints

Adaptive properties and complex shapes of modern day soft matter components create a challenge for materials applications where mechanical properties of intricate fabricated components cannot be determined from conventional invasive and destructive mechanical tests. In particular, challenges arising from variable mechanical properties of polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMSs) constantly attract wide‐scale attention in the fields of material sciences, biological systems, and microfluidics. Herein, a noninvasive and nondestructive strain‐induced infrared spectroscopic method (S‐FTIR) is developed. S‐FTIR is a method that maps thermo‐mechanical response of PDMS to its strain‐induced spectral fingerprint. From the results of this study, strong correlations of up to 95% between spectral fingerprint of PDMS and its corresponding nonlinear thermo‐mechanical response is seen. Given the nature of these results, it is expected that S‐FTIR will provide an interesting new analytical approach to understand soft materials and allow for the characterization of micro and nanoscale devices composed of these polymeric materials as well. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 359–367     

A novel fabrication technique to minimize poly(dimethylsiloxane)‐microchannels deformation under high‐pressure operation

PDMS is one of the most common materials used for the flow delivery in the microfluidics chips, since it is clear, inert, nontoxic, and nonflammable. Its inexpensiveness, straightforward fabrication, and biological compatibility have made it a favorite material in the exploratory stages of the bio‐microfluidic devices. If small footprint assays want to be performed while keeping the throughput, high pressure‐rated channels should be used, but PDMS flexibility causes an important issue since it can generate a large variation of microchannel geometry. In this work, a novel fabrication technique based on the prevention of PDMS deformation is developed. A photo‐sensible thiolene resin (Norland Optical Adhesive 63, NOA 63) is used to create a rigid coating layer over the stiff PDMS micropillar array, which significantly reduces the pressure‐induced shape changes. This method uses the exact same soft lithography manufacturing equipment. The verification of the presented technique was investigated experimentally and numerically and the manufactured samples showed a deformation 70% lower than PDMS conventional samples.     

植物基多孔炭材料在超级电容器中的应用

植物基多孔炭具有发达的孔结构、大的表面积、较为成熟的制备工艺、丰富的来源、低廉的价格,是目前商业应用范围最广的超级电容器电极材料。然而在实际应用中仍然存在着质量/体积比容量较低、倍率性能差等问题。本文针对先进电容器件的高能量密度、优异功率性能的要求,首先介绍了近年来发展的植物基多孔炭的制备方法,讨论了植物前驱体的组成和结构对其产物结构的影响以及与其电化学性能之间的构效关系,特别总结了近年来植物基超大比表面积多孔炭、中孔炭、层次化多孔炭的制备方法和电容储能性能。针对大比表面积多孔炭用于超级电容器时的体积性能不佳这一关键问题,本文还总结了提高植物基多孔炭体积电化学性能的方法。最后,对植物基多孔电极材料存在的问题进行了分析与总结,并展望了其研究前景。     

氢氧化钾活化制备超级电容器多孔碳电极材料

具有高比表面积、良好导电性的多孔碳材料在超级电容器中有着广泛的应用前景. 大量的研究工作致力于通过物理或者化学手段合成并调控多孔材料的微观结构. 在众多多孔碳材料的制备方式中,氢氧化钾作为一种高效的活化剂,常用于制备具有良好孔径分布和高比表面积多孔碳电极材料. 本文主要结合作者课题组的研究工作,着重概述利用氢氧化钾活化sp²碳纳米材料制备多孔碳材料的机理过程、结构形貌的转变以及所得材料的电化学性能,希望对发展新型的高性能基多孔碳材料的超级电容器电极材料有所帮助.     

Effects of raw material texture and activation manner on surface area of porous carbons derived from biomass resources

Porous carbons have been prepared from biomass resources, such as cornstalks, rice straws, pine needles and pinecone hulls, through a simple carbonization and KOH solution activation process. The pore sizes of the obtained porous carbons are mainly distributed in the range of 1-2 nm, whereas the surface areas of the materials vary from 1000 to more than 3000 m(2) g(-1) depending on the raw materials and preparation conditions. It is found that the biomass texture and the activation manner play key roles in determination of surface areas of the porous carbons. In addition, the amount of activation agent, the activation temperature and the activation time also affect the surface area of the porous carbons but to a less extent. The obtained porous carbons with high surface areas show good performance when used as Pt-catalyst supports for cinanamaldehyde hydrogenation.     

多孔膦酸盐的研究进展

多孔膦酸盐是一类新型的多孔材料,同时也是一个新兴的研究领域。有机膦配体的多样性和可衍生性赋予这类材料许多独特的性能,因而使其备受关注。本文综述了多孔膦酸盐的合成方法和孔道特征,分析了该领域存在的问题和发展方向。     

Sponge-inspired multisensory hydrogel

The preparation of smart sensors with multiple sensory systems, reusable property, and high sensitivity remains a challenge. Here, inspired by a sponge, we develop a multisensory PCA–poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/borax–LiCl hydrogel (named PPL hydrogel) with low cost and simple fabrication process using sodium polyacrylate (PAAS), PVA, and lithium chloride (LiCl) to address this challenge. PPL hydrogel has a sponge-like porous structure and can repeatedly “absorb” and “drain” water, while maintaining good tensile (strain up to 1442%) and electrical conductivity. PAAS builds the main skeleton of PPL hydrogels and provides the basis for building the pore structure, PVA enhances the mechanical properties of the crosslinked network, while LiCl ionic solution further improves the conductivity, which can reach 8.8 s m⁻¹ and be increased nearly 42 times better than without LiCl. Therefore, this makes PPL hydrogel a very sensitive sensing system for wearable devices that can be used to detect signals from the human body. Additionally, PPL hydrogel is also capable of detecting temperature due to its temperature-sensitive properties. Moreover, PPL hydrogel can also roughly identify the basic properties of different solvents. Our simple, low-cost and multisensory PPL hydrogel offers promising opportunities for multisensory sensors, even functional/smart materials, flexible/wearable devices, and medical care.