The demand for low-temperature cured conductive silver pastes increases rapidly due to the development of advanced electronic fields, such as flexible electronics. Lowering curing temperatures of conductive silver pastes is generally realized using low-boiling-point solvents. However, such solvents have a low viscosity, leading to the sedimentation of the conductive phase. Increasing the content of the highly viscous binder phase helps solve this issue, but it will lower the electric conductivity. Herein, the trade-off between curing temperature and conductivity of conductive silver pastes was overcome by applying nano-silver particles as the sedimentation inhibitor while bifunctional epoxidized cardol (E-Cardol), with flexible C₁₅ side chains that can significantly enhance the toughness, as the binder. Experiments were performed to determine chemical compositions, reveal morphologies, and measure conductive resistivity values. Conductive silver pastes with a curing temperature of 140 °C and a silver content of 65 wt.% were fabricated, exhibiting a resistivity of 3.10 × 10⁻⁵ Ω·cm, comparable to that of conventional low-temperature cured silver pastes with the silver content of 80 wt.%. Moreover, this silver paste also exhibited excellent adhesion performance and enhanced anti-folding property.

A novel bifunctional electrocatalyst for water splitting was constructed with the CoSe/MoSe₂ heterojunction encapsulated within a nitrogen-doped carbon matrix (Co₁Mo₂Se/Co‒N‒C). This catalyst was synthesized via a facile one-step high-temperature calcination process. By optimizing the molar ratio of n(Co)/n(Mo) and the calcination temperature, a unique architecture was achieved featuring uniformly dispersed nanoparticles, well-defined heterointerfaces, and isolated Co atoms embedded in the carbon layer. Such structural features facilitated efficient transfer of electrons and maximized exposure of active sites. Electrochemical evaluations in 1.0 mol·L⁻¹ KOH demonstrated that Co₁Mo₂Se/Co‒N‒C exhibited excellent hydrogen evolution reaction performance, requiring an overpotential of only 63 mV to reach 10 mA·cm⁻² with a Tafel slope of 60 mV·dec⁻¹, comparable to that of commercial Pt/C. For oxygen evolution reaction, the catalyst achieved an overpotential of 328 mV at 10 mA·cm⁻² and a Tafel slope of 97 mV·dec⁻¹. Furthermore, a full water splitting cell based on this catalyst reached 10 mA·cm⁻² at an applied voltage of 1.623 V. These results highlight synergistic effects of the heterojunction and the nitrogen-doped carbon matrix, offering a promising strategy for the sustainable hydrogen production.

A new method of incorporating nano-sized titanium dioxide (nano-TiO₂) particles onto the shell of photochromic microencapsulated phase change materials was introduced, in order to address issues of easy degradation of photochromic dyes’ core components caused by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and residual organic emulsifiers. Using nano-TiO₂ as the Pickering emulsion stabilizer and cross-linked polyurethane as the shell material, a composite protective structure was constructed to encapsulate core materials with phase-change and photochromic properties, thereby forming photochromic phase change microcapsules (TPT-MPCMs) with UV protection and thermal insulation. Characterization results show that the core‒shell structured TPT-MPCMs possessed high light transmittance, with a particle size of 5‒15 μm and a latent heat of 116.2 J·g⁻¹. The highly cross-linked shell formed by xylitol and isophorone diisocyanate effectively protected the core from thermal degradation up to 180 °C, while the nano-TiO₂ shell surface allowed maintaining the UV responsiveness of microcapsules after exposure to intense UV irradiation for 5 h. This strategy significantly improves the long-term stability and service life of photochromic microcapsules under harsh environments, opening up broad prospects for their applications in fields such as outdoor anti-counterfeiting labels, intelligent temperature-controlled coatings, and multifunctional smart textiles.

To address critical challenges of protein template denaturation caused by intense exothermicity and prolonged reaction time when using the traditional protein molecular imprinting technology, a novel imprinting strategy was proposed. This study successfully achieved the rapid and controllable in-situ synthesis of polyacrylamide/calcium alginate (PAM/CaAlg) hydrogel films under near-ambient temperature conditions, employing a silver ions (Ag⁺)-catalyzed ammonium persulfate–sodium bisulfite redox system with acrylamide (AM) as the monomer, N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as the crosslinker, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the template. The optimized molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) films demonstrated substantial enhancement of the BSA adsorption capacity following the removal of templates, reaching a maximum equilibrium adsorption capacity (Q_e) of 50.4 mg·g⁻¹ while maintaining a stable imprinting efficiency (IE) of 2.7. Competitive adsorption experiments verified the exceptional selectivity of MIP films towards the BSA recognition. Additionally, the incorporation of Ag⁺ ions endowed both MIP and non-imprinted polymer (NIP) films with remarkable antibacterial properties. This work establishes a straightforward and effective methodology for developing advanced protein-imprinted hydrogels that simultaneously exhibit high adsorption capacity, superior selectivity, and significant antibacterial activity.

Silica (SiO₂) aerogels have excellent physical and thermal properties with high-performance and broad application prospects. In order to obtain SiO₂ aerogels with high thermal insulation performance and explore key process parameters of their preparation, SiO₂ aerogels were prepared via combining sol–gel and freeze-drying processes using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as the precursor. Effects of the pH value and the content of deionized water (DIW) on the microstructures and thermal properties of the SiO₂ aerogel were systematically investigated. Results showed that when the pH was 8.0 and the molar ratio of TEOS to DIW was 1:7, the SiO₂ aerogel had the best structure and the lowest thermal conductivity, exhibiting the best thermal insulation effect. In addition, the synthesis mechanism of such sol–gel freeze-dried SiO₂ aerogels was analyzed in depth, and the structural evolution process was also described. This study lays a theoretical foundation for the controllable preparation and process design of SiO₂ aerogels in the future, and has certain guiding significance for promoting their application in the field of efficient thermal insulation.

Self-oscillating chemomechanical redox-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gels containing terpyridine-iron complexes were developed. Two types of gels containing the complexes as pendant groups or as cross-linking agents were designed and prepared. All the obtained gels exhibited pronounced chemomechanical oscillations resulting from the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction within their structure. They periodically swelled and contracted upon oxidation and reduction of the terpyridine–iron complex under mild conditions and at low mineral acid concentrations. The periodic changes in linear dimensions of the gels reached 17%. It was found that the propagating chemical wave moved along the cylindrical gel causing autonomous peristaltic motion due to local swelling. Based on the obtained gel, a lever-type actuator was created demonstrating periodic lifting of the lever. The gels were characterized through scanning electron microscopy, and the dependence of their structure and chemomechanical properties on the catalyst concentration was investigated. These gels hold great promise for creating soft and self-moving muscle-like actuators, devices capable of transmitting and interpreting signals through traveling chemical waves, and sensor systems that respond to changes in oxidation-reduction states.