Photovoltaic (PV) technology plays a pivotal role in energy transformation processes, especially for sustainable energy systems. However, the conversion efficiency of the PV cells is adversely affected by increasing temperature, leading to a reduction in their overall performance. In this study, a self-hygroscopic polyvinyl alcohol/graphene (SPG) cooling film, comprising a graphene layer and a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel layer with lithium bromide (LiBr), is introduced to passively reduce the working temperature of the PV cells. The graphene layer, as a heat-conducting layer, can efficiently conduct heat from the heat source to the self-hygroscopic PVA hydrogel layer used as an evaporation cooling layer. In addition, the introduction of LiBr endows the PVA hydrogel with an excellent self-hygroscopic property. The SPG cooling film demonstrates an outstanding cooling performance under the synergistic effect of the graphene film and the self-hygroscopic PVA hydrogel. In the outdoor experiments, the SPG cooling film can reduce the temperature of the PV cells by 20.6°C and increase its average output power from 74 to 93 W/m², about a 25.7% increase. This cooling film demonstrates significant potential for enhancing cooling performance in electronic devices and could be widely used in the thermal management of PV cells.

Organoids are tissue analogues formed through in vitro three-dimensional culture of stem cells, possessing specific spatial structures. Organoids have become integral to various biomedical fields, including disease pathogenesis, model construction, regenerative and precision medicine, drug screening, tissue and organ development, toxicology, and pathological analysis. However, the diversity of organoid types and variations in their production processes have led to inconsistencies in their application for assessment and analysis. To date, no comprehensive standards or guidelines for evaluating organoids have been established. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is extensively employed in biomedical image analysis, data processing, and molecular structure prediction, demonstrating benefits in the assessment of organoids. This review will examine the application of AI across various aspects of organoid assessment, such as omics, histology, morphology, functional properties, and drug screening, with the goal of offering new perspectives on organoid assessment.

Molecular optoelectronics constitutes a pivotal aspect of molecular electronics, striving to facilitate information communication and molecular computing via light–matter interactions. Plasmonics, meanwhile, holds a central position in molecular photonics and nanoelectronics, bridging the nanoscopic and mesoscopic length scales. By confining light to dimensions far beneath the diffraction limit, the interplay between plasmons and molecular junctions finds applications in switching, sensing, trapping, and energy harvesting. Prior research has established plasmonic cavities as potent optical tweezers for near-field trapping of biomolecules such as DNA or linearly conjugated molecular junctions, accomplishing this without causing irreversible molecular damage. However, controlling through-space π–π interactions between monomers without altering their chemical properties and conformations remains a formidable challenge.

The development of smart materials capable of underwater self-healing, mechanical robustness and damage-healing sensing attributes holds great promise for applications in marine energy exploitation. However, achieving excellent humidity self-healing, superior adhesion, and effective damage sensing and monitoring properties simultaneously is challenging because the disturbance of water molecules to dynamic-interaction reconstruction. Herein, inspired by gecko's toes, an ultra-robust environmental adaptative self-healing supramolecular elastomer is designed by molecular engineering of water-insensitive dynamic network, which possesses efficient self-healing and visual damage sensing capabilities. Through coupling design of hierarchical hydrogen bonds, humidity-tolerant catechol coordination and photothermal sensitivity moiety, the elastomer achieves high Young's modulus (157.72 MPa) and superior self-healing efficiency (84.68%). Moreover, the autonomous association between catechol groups and steel surface endows the resultant elastomer with outstanding adhesion force (12.82 MPa) in humid conditions. Furthermore, this elastomer can be fabricated as a patch covered on steel substrates. The damage-healing dynamics and interfacial failure characteristics are visually demonstrated by the reversible fracture and reconstruction of iron-catechol coordination bonds, realizing real-time damage sensing and monitoring. This study provides a novel strategy for the design of next-generation smart protective materials in harsh marine environment, and expected for ensuring the stable operation of marine energy mining equipment.

Two-dimensional conjugated polymers (2DCPs) have received great interest in smart devices due to their unique physical properties associated with flexibility, nanosized thickness, and correlated quantum size effect. Control of interlayer interactions of multilayer 2DCPs is crucial for modulating the confinement of charge carriers, heat, and photons to give remarkable properties because of the breaking of symmetry. However, to date, it is unclear how the multilayers of 2DCPs affect their physical properties. In this article, we for the first time perform a density functional theory calculation for the interlayer slipping effect on in-plane electronic properties of few-layer 2DCPs. Based on five homopolymers formed by C─C bonds with various stacking configurations beyond the inclined and serrated ones, results show that a moderate electric field causes the valence (conduction) band of few-layer 2DCPs to exhibit distinctive electrical characteristics which are dominated by the outermost two layers on hole (electron) enriched side. Analysis based on recombined molecular orbitals reveals that band properties are sensitive to the interlayer offsets when they result from the interference among multiple orbitals from each building block. This result provides a new guideline for manipulating charge transfer and spintronic properties of few-layer 2DCPs through an electric field to advance their various applications.

Fentanyl (Fen) analogs, clinically used anesthetic adjuvants, are often trouble with overdose-induced adverse effects due to rapid entry into the brain plus short retention time. Advanced approaches that can relieve related life-threatening symptoms without compromising their anesthetic efficacy are urgently needed to satisfy these special requirements. Herein, we propose that utilization of a well-matched macrocycle, terphen[3]arene sulfate (TP3S) as a molecular-level brake for Fen via the pharmacokinetic mode to execute this task. NMR and titration experiments confirm that TP3S possessed strong complexation ability toward Fen with an association constant of (1.36 ± 0.12) × 10⁶M⁻¹. Then, Transwell assays demonstrate that TP3S itself is unable to cross the blood–brain barrier, and codosed with Fen could effectively decelerate its velocity of entering the brain. Respiration-related evaluations and pharmacodynamics analyses reveal that administration of such a brake alleviates Fen-induced respiratory depression without losing its effectiveness. The therapeutic index of Fen/TP3S is calculated to be ~57% higher than that of Fen alone, and through pharmacokinetic studies, it has been clarified that ameliorating Fen's therapeutic outcome stemmed from reducing the initial brain concentration of Fen and maintaining its effective dose for a longer time. This supramolecular approach could also act on other opioids as long as strong binding was achieved.

Molecular electronics has emerged and evolved within the context of the miniaturization of silicon-based microchips, with the purpose to achieve conducting functions by integrating individual molecules into circuits through a “bottom-up” approach, but the exploration of intrinsic physical phenomena and operational principles is still in the infancy stage. One of the biggest challenges arises from the fundamental difference in charge transport modes between conventional macroscopic and molecular microscopic circuits. The former follows Ohm's law, while the latter operates via quantum transport. Undoubtedly, a deep understanding of the intrinsic physical mechanisms governing complex molecular circuits is essential for moving molecular-scale devices from the laboratory to large-scale production. Here, we review the fields from a molecular topology perspective and propose a straightforward definition to differentiate single-channel and multi-channel molecular circuits. We detail previously reported models and analyze their structure–property relationships. We also compare the conductance of molecules with multiple channels to those with single channels, giving special attention to the impact of noncovalent channels, such as through-space conjugation. Lastly, we discuss the opportunities and challenges for single-molecule systems with multiple channels, highlighting the advantages of through-space channels in molecular devices and envisioning their potential applications.

Perovskite materials, with their outstanding optoelectronic properties, low cost, solution-processability, and scalability, have emerged as promising candidates in the field of sensors. Despite extensive exploration into the photoelectric properties and traditional applications (e.g., gas sensing) of perovskite sensors, there has been limited focus on the fabrication processes that dominate their performance and emerging application directions. The flourishing development of perovskite sensors should comprehend the challenges in fabrication processes (e.g., stability, uniformity, and scale-up production) of perovskite sensors and further improve the sensing performance in conjunction with the working principles, extending their application fields. Herein, a comprehensive overview primarily focuses on the significant challenges faced by perovskite sensors in emerging application fields, including performance enhancement and process optimization. The key performance parameters and working principles of perovskite sensor are analyzed first. Then we review the effective design strategies and solutions proposed in recent research, while providing insights into optimizing sensor design to enhance sensing performance for precise detection. Moreover, some emerging applications of perovskite sensors, such as smart biomedical diagnosis, wearable devices, and artificial intelligence, are explored. Current challenges and future trends are also addressed, emphasizing the growing potential of perovskite sensors in advancing sensor technology innovation and interdisciplinary applications.

Materials capable of tunable optical absorption and fluorescence properties in response to multiple external stimuli, while providing a readable signal, have garnered significant scientific interest. Such materials hold promise for applications in wearable electronics, anticounterfeiting technologies, self-powered light sources and displays, human–machine interfaces, and intelligent sensing systems. A highly effective approach to achieving multi-stimuli optical responsiveness is to integrate various functionalities into a single structure, such as reversible electrochemistry, ion and electronic charge transport, photoluminescence, and supramolecular organization (e.g., mesomorphism). Here, we introduce a new class of thermotropic smectic ionic liquid crystals, composed of the bistriflimide salts of π-conjugated fluorenoviologen dications. The dications feature a central fluorene core functionalized in position 2,7 with two pyridine moieties, whose nitrogen atoms are alkylated with promesogenic alkyl chains of varying lengths. In their bulk liquid crystalline phases, these materials exhibit ON/OFF electrofluorochromism (under UV photoexcitation), with voltage-triggered fluorescence quenching and a shift from yellow to dark electrochromism. Additionally, they display thermofluorochromism, showing a striking fluorescence color change from green to blue on going from the crystalline solid phase at room temperature to the liquid crystalline phases at high temperatures.

Despite great advancements in organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs), their applications remain predominantly restricted to three-electrode organic electro-chemical transistors (OECTs), which rely on an additional electrolyte layer to balance ionic and electronic transport, resulting in indirect coupling of charge carriers. While direct coupling has the potential to greatly simplify device architectures, it remains underexplored in OMIECs due to the inherent imbalance between electronic and ionic conductivities. In this study, we introduce a straightforward approach to achieve balanced OMIECs and employ them as channel materials in two-electrode organic electrochemical memristors. These devices provide clear evidence of direct coupling between electronic and ionic carriers and exhibit exceptional performance in synaptic device applications. Our findings offer new insights into charge carrier transport mechanisms in OMIECs and establish organic electrochemical memristors as a promising new class of organic electronic devices for next-generation neuromorphic applications.