SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3531-2
Antifogging coatings are critical for transparent optical components, yet existing solutions struggle to balance durability and energy efficiency. We present a scalable printing technology for fabricating uniform nanoparticle (NP) coatings with an Au@SiO2 core-shell architecture. The Au core provides efficient photothermal conversion, while the SiO2 shell ensures robust interfacial adhesion to diverse substrates and imparts hydrophilicity. Leveraging these properties, the coatings suppress moisture condensation upon light exposure. The coatings exhibit exceptional mechanical stability, retaining antifogging performance after soaking in water for 1 week or wiping with a glass cloth over 100 times. This work offers a sustainable, energy-efficient solution for long-term antifogging applications, with potential in optical devices, automotive glass, and medical instruments. Our approach provides a scalable platform for functional NP coatings and opens new avenues for next-generation antifogging materials.
The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering•2026•DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225185
Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), widely used as an insulating gas in high-voltage electrical equipment, possesses a global warming potential (GWP) 25,200 times that of CO2, necessitating efficient degradation technologies. This study employed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate the thermal catalytic degradation of SF6 in a fixed-bed reactor, integrating models for porous media, heat transfer, turbulence, and chemical kinetics. The simulations revealed significant radial non-uniformities in pressure, velocity, temperature, and species concentration distributions, with temperature identified as the dominant factor influencing degradation efficiency. Radial temperature gradients caused uneven reaction rates, with degradation rates near the wall substantially exceeding those at the central axis, thereby reducing overall SF6 conversion. To address this, structural optimizations were implemented, including reducing the reactor tube diameter and incorporating inert porous media with high thermal conductivity at both ends of the catalytic section. These modifications enhanced radial heat transfer, homogenized the temperature field, and improved the uniformity of reaction rates and species concentrations. Parametric studies on inlet gas velocity showed that both excessively low and high flow rates were detrimental: low velocities led to underutilization of the downstream catalyst and increased energy consumption, while high velocities deteriorated heat transfer and exacerbated radial temperature gradients. The optimal inlet velocity range was determined to be 0.4–0.8 m/s for a reactor tube inner diameter of 10 mm, balancing catalyst utilization, energy consumption, and degradation efficiency. This research provides data-driven guidance for the design and scale-up of SF6 catalytic degradation reactors.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3928-4
Circularly polarized afterglow (CPA) materials provide an advanced optical signature to light emission, offering great potential for advanced photonic technologies. However, practical implementation remains challenging due to the lack of satisfactory performance, that is, high luminescence dissymmetry factor (g_CPA), long visualization time, and good processability. Here, we develop processable, full-color CPA materials composed of cholesteric liquid crystal polymers (CLCPs) and inorganic phosphors embedded in polymers, achieving a high g_CPA value of up to 0.74 and a long visualization time of 7 min. The materials are constructed with a bilayer structure comprising CLCPs and inorganic luminophors such as Y2O2S:Eu,Mg,Ti, SrAl2O4:Eu,Dy, and Sr2MgSi2O7:Eu. The CLCPs are synthesized from polymerizable liquid crystal monomer RM257, chiral dopants R/S5011, dipropylamine, photoinitiator Irgacure 651, cross-linker PETMP, and chain extender. The resulting materials exhibit excellent circularly polarized optics, enabling the implementation of circular polarization differential imaging (CPDI), where images are generated by subtracting two images captured through left- and right-handed circularly polarized filters. This work demonstrates the unique application of CPA in imaging, opening a new pathway for the use of purely inorganic solid-state luminophors in chiral functional materials.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2026•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-4008-2
Lung cancer, particularly non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality, with conventional therapies hampered by poor tumor specificity, low drug accumulation, and suboptimal efficacy. To address these challenges, we rationally designed a tumor-targeted, ferrocene-bearing, covalently immobilizable theranostic probe, dIR-CDF, for near-infrared (NIR) imaging-guided photodynamic-ferroptosis synergistic therapy. The probe exploits the overexpression of sulfenated proteins in the tumor microenvironment to specifically target integrin αvβ3-positive NSCLC cells and undergo covalent anchoring via the reaction between 1,3-cyclohexanedione and sulfenic acid, thereby enhancing tumor accumulation and retention. Under 808 nm irradiation, dIR-CDF generates singlet oxygen (1O2) for photodynamic therapy (PDT), while the sustained release of ferrocene catalyzes Fenton reactions to produce hydroxyl radicals (·OH), inducing ferroptosis. The synergistic action of PDT and ferroptosis amplifies lipid peroxidation and disrupts antioxidant defenses, leading to efficient suppression of NSCLC tumors in living mice. This work presents a universal and powerful theranostic platform for precise cancer diagnosis and treatment, with the covalent targeting strategy offering enhanced specificity and retention.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2025•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3437-6
Interfacial solar-driven vapor generation offers a sustainable route to freshwater, yet practical deployment is constrained by salt crystallization, high material costs, and thermal losses. This work reports a sandwich wettability structure (PNMF) comprising a polypyrrole-coated hydrophobic top layer, a hydrophilic melamine foam interlayer, and a tunable hydrophobic bottom layer. The PPy coating absorbs broadband solar radiation and retains heat in situ; the hydrophilic interlayer supplies water through interconnected microporous channels, forming confined water clusters that reduce evaporation enthalpy. The bottom layer's central hydrophobicity regulates water transport to balance supply and evaporation, while its hydrophobic edges provide self-floatability and minimize heat loss. Under 1 sun, the PNMF evaporator achieves 2.71 kg m−2 h−1 with ~90% solar-thermal conversion efficiency over 24 cycles. In 10 wt% NaCl simulated seawater, no salt crystals formed after 12 h, and the evaporation rate remained stable at 2.62–2.87 kg m−2 h−1 over 20 days. Under natural autumn sunlight (average irradiation <0.4 kW m−2, temperatures <24 °C), a portable device produced approximately 3 kg m−2 over 11 h, with purified water salinity below 0.14‰. The simple, low-cost design addresses salt accumulation and durability bottlenecks, offering a scalable pathway for decentralized freshwater production.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2025•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3393-8
SO2 gas therapy offers sustained assistance for augmenting the efficacy of ROS-based modalities due to its powerful tumor microenvironment-reversing capabilities. However, inefficient delivery and insufficient generation of SO2 have greatly limited the efficacy of SO2 therapy. Herein, we designed a programmed-responsive SO2/nanozyme synergistic therapeutic nanomedicine based on the polypeptide-type copolymer of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(L-lysine) (PEG-b-PLL). By taking advantage of the abundant amine groups on the PLL blocks, a dual-locked SO2 releasing system was fabricated by grafting SO2 prodrug onto the PLL blocks through GSH-responsive covalent bonds and crosslinking the remaining amine groups with disulfide-connectors to form an outer stimulation-responsive shell. Such a dual encapsulation effectively prevented the premature release of SO2 in normal cells and guaranteed its timely and sustained release, making the SO2 therapeutic processes finely coordinate with the catalytic processes of nanozymes loaded in the micellar core. The well-matching of SO2 and nanozyme resulted in the efficacious remodeling of the tumor redox microenvironment, thus significantly enhancing the overall efficacy of chemodynamic therapy (CDT). This optimized multimodal cooperation strategy provides delicate control for improving the synergistic therapeutic efficiencies, which is anticipated to advance the ROS-based cancer treatments.
SCIENCE CHINA Materials•2025•DOI: 10.1007/s40843-025-3611-3
Supramolecular materials exhibiting reversible circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) are of great interest for their potential applications in the development of 3D display technology and information encryption. In this work, we synthesize a pair of molecular cage enantiomers constructed from (2R)/(2S)-diaminocyclohexane-functionalized naphthalenediimide units ((4R/S)Cy-NDIDA) and fluorescent tris(4-formylphenyl)amine (TPA) components. The cage exhibits extremely weak fluorescence emission in both liquid and solid states. Notably, the introduction of tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (TFPB) as a guest molecule gradually activates the photoluminescence (PL) and CPL signals of the chiral cage via host-guest interaction. Furthermore, photochromic diarylethene (DAE) is incorporated into the system. The reversible isomerization of DAE under light irradiation enables dynamic control of Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) interactions with the host-guest complex, resulting in switchable fluorescence quenching and recovery. This precise strategy for controlling dynamic CPL switching of the chiral molecular cage offers a novel strategy for the development of supramolecular CPL systems.