SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-026-4337-2
Silica aerogels are recognized as leading super-insulating materials due to their ultralow thermal conductivity, yet their intrinsic brittleness and poor processability restrict practical deployment in complex industrial and extreme environments. This study introduces a macro-scale 'stiff–soft' synergistic strategy, combining a macroscopically processable, soft-and-tough framework as the load-bearing component with hard-and-brittle polymethylsilsesquioxane (PMSQ) aerogels as the insulating component. A pressure-driven assembly process enables viscosity-tunable PMSQ gel inks to be controllably infused into various hollow frameworks, including honeycomb panels, wheat straws, and hollow fibers. Guided by a modified Hagen–Poiseuille model, ink viscosity is precisely matched to the geometric parameters of the hollow structures. The resulting composites achieve compressive strength of 2.5 MPa, flexural strength of 6.25 MPa, and tensile strength of 40 MPa, while maintaining excellent thermal insulation. This versatile and scalable approach offers a new design paradigm for mechanically adaptive silica aerogel composites in thermal management applications.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3628-3
The solution aggregation structures of conjugated polymers are pivotal in determining their film morphology and optoelectronic properties, yet the relationship between solution aggregation and device performance remains elusive in organic photodiode (OPD) systems. Herein, we introduce the first examination of solution aggregation structures of all-polymer OPD blends, with a focus on how molecular entanglement modulates aggregation behavior and subsequent photodiode performance of low-cost poly(3-pentylthiophene). Using small-angle neutron scattering and freeze-dried imaging, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the solution-state aggregation behavior of poly(3-pentylthiophene) and its evolution in the blend, revealing profound impacts on film morphology and device performance. With finely optimized aggregation, the resulting all-polymer OPD achieves a record-high specific detectivity of ~4×10^13 Jones at zero bias, outperforming all bulk heterojunction (BHJ)-type self-powered OPDs reported to date. This device also demonstrates remarkable thermal stability, with negligible performance degradation after over 800 h of thermal annealing at 85 °C. Furthermore, the self-powered OPD exhibits excellent performance across a broad spectral range, enabling its application in both water quality monitoring and biosensing. This work offers new insights into the solution aggregation behavior of conjugated polymers in OPDs and highlights the importance of resolving solution aggregation in optimizing device function.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3727-0
Lead halide perovskites are promising scintillators for X-ray imaging due to high X-ray absorption efficiency, excellent luminescence, and facile synthesis. However, their ionic nature challenges simultaneous high photoluminescence efficiency and environmental robustness. This work introduces a multilevel encapsulation strategy: CsPbBr3 quantum dots (QDs) are sequentially coated with Cs4PbBr6, SiO2, and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Cs4PbBr6 passivates surface defects, while SiO2 and PDMS provide barriers against moisture, heat, and radiation. The resulting CsPbBr3@Cs4PbBr6/SiO2/PDMS flexible films exhibit a photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 85%, outstanding mechanical flexibility, and durability under stretching, bending, and compressing. Films retain emission stability under elevated temperatures, prolonged X-ray irradiation, and extended water immersion. X-ray imaging demonstrates spatial resolution of 12 lp/mm, enabling distortion-free imaging of curved objects; superior water resistance allows long-term underwater imaging. This work highlights hierarchical encapsulation in balancing luminescence efficiency and stability, offering a pathway toward practical flexible perovskite scintillators.
Environmental Chemistry•2026•DOI: 10.7524/j.issn.0254-6108.2024100805
A fluorescent metal-organic framework (MOF), PCN-128, was synthesized via a solvothermal method using zirconium tetrachloride (ZrCl4) as the metal source and tetrakis[4-(4'-carboxyphenyl)phenyl]ethylene (H4ETTC) as the organic linker. The resulting material exhibited regular morphology, high crystallinity, strong luminescence, and good stability. PCN-128 was employed as a fluorescent probe for the trace detection of malachite green (MG), a banned veterinary drug, in aquaculture water and freshwater fish tissue. The probe demonstrated exceptional selectivity toward MG among 13 veterinary drugs and robust anti-interference performance against 16 anions, 16 cations, and 12 additional veterinary drugs. The method achieved a broad linear detection range from 0.0 to 7.0 μmol·L−1 with a limit of detection (LOD) of 2.73 nmol·L−1. Spike-and-recovery experiments in three aquaculture water samples and one freshwater fish sample yielded recoveries between 89.80% and 113.7%, with relative standard deviations (RSD) not exceeding 2.59%. These results confirm that the developed method is accurate, reliable, and suitable for routine monitoring of MG residues in aquaculture water and aquatic products, addressing a critical gap in food safety surveillance.
New Carbon Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1016/S1872-5805(26)61099-2
The first molecular dynamics (MD) simulation dataset is reported for the interfacial shear behavior of carbon fiber/thermoplastic composites (CFRTPs), aimed at overcoming the critical interfacial problem that limits their high-end applications such as aerospace and new energy vehicles. The study features two key advances. First, we use the newly developed CHONSi-2024 reactive force field (ReaxFF), which provides high-precision parameters specifically for CFRTP interfacial systems. Second, the atomic models are constructed based on experimental characterization data and rigorously validated across multiple parameters, including shear modulus, yield behavior, stress-strain curves, and fracture morphology, ensuring quantitative agreement with experimental results. This dataset provides a complete record of the simulations, encompassing atomic trajectories, local structural changes, interfacial stress-strain responses, and system thermodynamic behaviors. These data offer direct atomic-scale insights into the interfacial strengthening mechanisms. The generated trajectories are compatible with mainstream software for visualization and analysis. Moreover, the dataset constitutes a high-quality resource for developing machine learning force fields, building structure-property relationships, and enabling the predictive modeling and high-throughput screening of composite interfaces. This dataset is anticipated to advance the fundamental understanding of composite interfaces and facilitate the rational design of high-performance CFRTPs.
Environmental Chemistry•2026•DOI: 10.7524/j.issn.0254-6108.2025011303
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are persistent organic pollutants with environmental persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity, posing significant threats to marine ecosystems and human health. This study developed an analytical method using anhydrous sodium sulfate-alumina composite column chromatography coupled with gas chromatography-orbitrap mass spectrometry to quantify mono- to deca-BDEs in coastal seawater of Dalian, China. The total PBDE concentrations (∑PBDEs) ranged from not detected to 511.96 pg·L−1, with a mean of 163.96 pg·L−1. BDE-209 was the dominant congener, contributing 24.1% to ∑PBDEs. Spatial distribution exhibited distinct heterogeneity, with higher abundances of highly brominated PBDEs near sewage discharge outlets. Partial least squares discriminant analysis indicated that anthropogenic activities, particularly sewage discharge, were the primary sources. Ecological risk assessment revealed extremely low risk, with the highest risk quotient of 0.013 for BDE-17. These findings provide baseline data for PBDE contamination in Dalian coastal waters and underscore the need for continued monitoring of emerging contaminants.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3812-5
Anaerobic bacterial infections, prevalent in oxygen-deprived tissues, are recalcitrant to conventional antibiotics due to slow bacterial metabolism and the generation of nutrient-rich niches that foster polymicrobial biofilms. Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes), a skin commensal, exemplifies this challenge, causing acne vulgaris and implant-associated infections, with rising antibiotic resistance. This study introduces an antimicrobial peptide (AMP), WRK (sequence: WRKFRRFKFRW-NH2), which induces endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in anaerobic bacteria, exploiting their inherent low ROS tolerance. WRK exhibited potent antibacterial activity, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 4 μg mL−1 against planktonic P. acnes and a minimum biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC) of 64 μg mL−1. To enable dermal delivery, WRK was encapsulated in layered dissolving microneedles (MNs), which demonstrated adequate mechanical strength for skin penetration. In a mouse back acne model, AMP MNs significantly reduced P. acnes infection and inflammation, outperforming commercial clindamycin gel. Histological analysis confirmed reduced inflammatory cell infiltration and tissue hyperplasia in the AMP MN group. This strategy offers a promising approach for treating anaerobic infections without promoting drug resistance, addressing a critical unmet need in clinical dermatology and implant surgery.
Journal of Fuel Chemistry and Technology•2026•DOI: 10.1016/S1872-5813(26)60641-X
Polycarbonate (PC) is a widely utilized engineering plastic, but its accumulation in waste streams poses environmental and health risks due to the leaching of toxic bisphenol A (BPA). This study presents a catalyst-free methanolysis route for the chemical recycling of waste PC into BPA under mild conditions. At 160 °C, complete depolymerization of PC (100.0% conversion) was achieved with a high BPA yield of 95.0% without any catalyst or auxiliary solvent. A scaled-up experiment with 10 g PC demonstrated a facile separation process, recovering BPA with over 85.0% yield. The method proved effective for various commercial PC grades and mixed plastics, including ABS-PC blends, as well as other polyesters such as polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid, and polyethylene terephthalate. Based on SEM and GPC analyses, a probable alcoholysis depolymerization mechanism was proposed, involving initial swelling and gradual breakdown of PC into soluble macromolecules with broad molecular weight distribution, ultimately yielding BPA. This work offers a facile, green, and efficient approach for the alcoholysis recovery of polyester plastics, addressing both environmental concerns and sustainable resource utilization.
Environmental Chemistry•2026•DOI: 10.7524/j.issn.0254-6108.2025021902
Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) ultrafiltration membranes are widely used in water treatment, yet their anti-fouling performance remains a challenge. In this work, PAN was first reacted with sodium azide via click chemistry to synthesize 1,2,3,4-tetrazolium polyacrylonitrile (PAN-N). Subsequently, PAN-N was reacted with iodoacetamide (IAM), 2-iodoethanol (IH), iodoacetic acid (IA), and chlorosulfonic acid (CSA) to introduce hydrophilic groups, and anti-fouling PAN ultrafiltration membranes were fabricated via phase inversion. The membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and contact angle measurements. Results showed that the PAN-N membrane exhibited superior performance to pristine PAN, with water flux increasing from 0.9233 to 1.232 L·(m2·h·kPa)−1 and bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection from 69.23% to 82.4%. Hydrophilic modification further enhanced performance; the PAN-N-IA membrane achieved the highest water flux of 1.7347 L·(m2·h·kPa)−1 and rejection of 93.57%. Anti-fouling tests revealed that modified membranes followed the order: PAN-N-CSA > PAN-N-IA > PAN-N-IH > PAN-N-IAM > PAN-N > PAN. PAN-N-CSA and PAN-N-IA showed comparable anti-fouling performance, with total fouling indices of 56.1% and 58.47%, reversible fouling indices of 47.17% and 46.97%, and irreversible fouling indices of 8.97% and 11.47%, respectively. This work demonstrates that PAN-N-IA membranes combine high flux, high rejection, and excellent anti-fouling properties, making them promising for water treatment applications.
Chinese Journal of Environmental Engineering•2026•DOI: 10.12030/j.cjee.202511027
Aquaponics systems integrate aquaculture and hydroponics to recycle resources, yet nutrient recovery from aquaculture sludge remains inefficient. This study investigated anaerobic acidification as an alternative to conventional anaerobic digestion, which suffers from long conversion cycles. Batch experiments compared two sludge loading rates: high (13.22 kg·kg−1) and low (4.61 kg·kg−1) (mass of sludge per mass of anaerobic inoculum). Under low loading, soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) exhibited a single peak, reaching a maximum organic solid conversion of 68.2% at 70.5 h. In contrast, high loading produced three SCOD peaks with an average peak conversion efficiency of only 26.9% at 27.5 h and higher residual concentrations. Ammonia nitrogen conversion was slightly higher under low loading (64.8%) than high loading (62.2%), while orthophosphate conversion was markedly superior (95.7% vs. 76.4%). The optimal hydraulic retention time for low-loading operation was 144 h, corresponding to an organic loading rate of 0.77 kg·(kg·d)−1. Under these conditions, the produced ammonia and phosphate can be effectively recovered without adversely affecting water quality, as the biofilter converts ammonia to nitrate for plant uptake. Microbial analysis revealed that low-loading conditions favored the dominance of Acinetobacter (relative abundance 66.6%), which likely enhances organic degradation and nutrient release. These findings demonstrate that anaerobic acidification under low loading is a promising strategy for efficient nutrient recovery in aquaponics, offering a shorter conversion time and higher nutrient yields than traditional methods.
Environmental Chemistry•2026•DOI: 10.7524/j.issn.0254-6108.2025051701
This study investigated the effects of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) on the growth, mycelium morphology, copper (Cu2+) removal rate, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and intracellular enzyme activity of Aspergillus flavus TL-F3 (A. flavus TL-F3) under Cu2+ stress. Results showed that different concentrations of Cu2+ inhibited the growth of A. flavus TL-F3. The highest Cu2+ removal rate of 56.32% was observed at a Cu2+ concentration of 50 mg·L−1. Under 50 mg·L−1 Cu2+ stress, 0.25 mg·L−1 SeNPs promoted the growth of A. flavus TL-F3, increasing its biomass by 2.71%, and significantly enhanced the fluorescence intensity of EPS, Na+/K+-ATPase activity, and decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) content, reduced superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) enzyme activities. Additionally, SeNPs stimulated the glutathione (GSH-GSSG) cycle in A. flavus TL-F3, elevating glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and glutathione reductase (GR) activity by 17.2% and 23.94%, respectively, and increasing reduced glutathione (GSH) content by 18.59%, and decreasing the GSH/GSSG ratio, thereby effectively alleviating Cu2+ toxicity. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated that surface functional groups of A. flavus TL-F3, including carboxylic acid, alcohol, phenol, and phosphate/sulfate functional groups, might bind with Cu2+, enhancing its tolerance to Cu2+. This study enriches the theoretical knowledge of microorganism-heavy metal interactions and provides deeper insights into microbial heavy metal resistance mechanisms.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-026-4101-5
Single-atom catalysts (SACs) represent a frontier in catalytic science, offering theoretically 100% atom utilization, tunable electronic structures, and coordination microenvironments, with broad prospects in energy conversion and high-end chemical synthesis. However, atomic-scale challenges—disordered active site distribution, constrained electronic structures, metal atom agglomeration, limited loading capacity, and insufficient coordination environment precision—severely restrict performance optimization and practical deployment. This review systematically analyzes the mechanistic interconnections among these challenges, framing them as a multi-level, coupled systemic problem rather than isolated issues. It summarizes recent regulation strategies including support engineering, coordination regulation, spatial confinement, and dynamic synthesis, emphasizing the value of multi-strategy synergy for performance breakthroughs. Future research directions include developing in-situ characterization with high spatial and temporal resolution, exploring multi-site synergistic catalytic mechanisms, and constructing standardized databases and rational design platforms. These efforts aim to enable large-scale advances in clean energy and green chemical processes.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-4104-4
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are promising adsorbents for gas adsorption and separation, yet identifying optimal structures among their vast design space requires efficient high-throughput screening. Conventional machine-learning predictors rely heavily on specific gas-related features, which are time-consuming and limit scalability, leading to inefficiency and labor-intensive processes. Here, we propose COFAP, a universal COFs adsorption prediction framework that extracts multi-modal structural and chemical features via deep learning and fuses these complementary features through a cross-modal attention mechanism. Without relying on explicit gas-specific thermodynamic descriptors, COFAP achieves state-of-the-art prediction performance on the hypoCOFs dataset under the conditions investigated, outperforming existing approaches. Based on COFAP, we found that high-performing COFs for gas separation concentrate within a narrow range of pore size and surface area. A weight-adjustable prioritization scheme is also developed to enable flexible, application-specific ranking of candidate COFs. Superior efficiency and accuracy render COFAP directly deployable in crystalline porous materials.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-026-4208-8
Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are emerging as a cost-effective alternative to lithium-ion batteries due to the abundance of sodium resources. Among cathode materials, P2-type layered oxides (Na_xTMO_2) offer high ionic conductivity and rate capability but suffer from low initial sodium content and Na+/vacancy ordering, leading to structural degradation and capacity fading. This study proposes a synergistic strategy combining high sodium content with Li/Mg co-doping to enhance the cycling stability of P2-type cathodes. The high sodium content increases the sodium reservoir, reducing the depth of desodiation for a given capacity, while Li/Mg co-doping mitigates Na+/vacancy ordering and stabilizes the crystal structure. The optimized cathode exhibits significantly improved cycling performance, retaining 82.3% of its initial capacity after 500 cycles at 1C, compared to 65.4% for the undoped counterpart. Furthermore, the co-doped material demonstrates enhanced rate capability, delivering 112 mAh/g at 5C, and suppressed phase transitions, as evidenced by in-situ X-ray diffraction. This work provides a rational design pathway for high-performance P2-type cathodes, addressing key bottlenecks in SIB commercialization.