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The developing electric vehicles and portable electronics urgently require rechargeable lithium batteries with high energy density and high safety. Lithium‐sulfur (Li‐S) batteries have shown significant advantages in their high energy density. However, the use of traditional polymer binders faces significant challenges, such as soluble polysulfides, large volume changes, and electrode flammability, resulting in performance degradation and safety hazards. Here, a polymeric aluminophosphate (AP) is for the first time proposed as an inorganic polymer binder to simultaneously realize high energy density, long cycling stability, and reliable safety of Li‐S batteries. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of polar P‐O and Al‐O chain segments, the AP binder provides strong mechanical adhesion, anchors polysulfides, and promotes the redox kinetics of sulfur electrodes. The AP binder also ensures high flame retardancy for sulfur electrodes at an extremely low dosage of 2 wt%. Consequently, the retardant sulfur electrode can be operated stably with high specific capacities (1190 mAh g−1), high capacity retention rates (>99.1%) during 500 cycles, and excellent rate capability (3 C). Based on the entire cell, the soft‐packaged Li‐S full battery provides high capacities (3.6 mAh cm−2), high cell energy density (415 Wh kg−1 and 297 Wh L−1), and high capacity retention rates (>99.8%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A highly thermo-conductive hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) ink is designed to modify natural plant fibers. • A simple but effective dip-coating strategy is developed for preparing h-BN wrapped fiber sponges. • The sponges possess outstanding fire resistance and mechanical property. • The sponges are ideal structural materials for safe building application. Renewable and biodegradable plant fiber sponges (PFS) can be used as substitutes for some petroleum-based polymers. They could make a positive contribution to the daily carbon footprint. However, the natural fire hazard of PFS could result in a severe safety concern and restrict their application. Herein, a highly thermo-conductive hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) ink with anisotropic thermal conductivity was developed as a fire retardant to modify the PFS (defined as PFS@h-BN) through a simple but effective dip-coating strategy. The additive h-BN nanosheets can be homogeneously deposited on plant fibers' surfaces to form a good protective barrier, improving their fire resistance at high temperatures. Compared to the PFS, a 29.0% enhancement in limiting oxygen index value, fourfold prolongation in time to ignition, 500s enhancement in time to flameout, 21.0% reduction in the peak heat release rate, 35.1% decrease in the total smoke release, and 1.47 MPa enhancement in compression strength (ε = 80%) of PFS@h-BN were achieved. The obtained PFS@h-BN meet the requirements of environmentally friendly, scalable production, good fire safety, and mechanical performances, indicating a promising structural material for safe and energy-efficient building application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A facile and cost-effective physical foaming strategy is developed to fabricate conductive ink wrapped plant fiber sponges. With favourable mechanical and electrical properties, the as-prepared sponges can be used as highly sensitive piezoresistive sensors for detecting human physiological signals. • A water-based conductive ink is designed to modify natural plant fibers. • A carbonization-free strategy is developed for preparing conductive fiber sponges. • The sponges possess favorable mechanical and electrical properties. • The sponges are ideal piezoresistive sensors for detecting physiological signals. With increasing demand for wearable electronics, highly sensitive and flexible piezoresistive sensors (PRS) have received increasing attention. As an important component, structural materials with high compressibility and electrical conductivity are a powerful impetus for the development of PRS. Since the structural deformation occurred during high-temperature carbonization makes many three-dimensional porous structures made from low-cost biomass unsuitable for fabricating flexible PRS, we propose a convenient carbonization-free route to prepare PRS devices based on natural plant fibers. By developing and using a water-based conductive ink, the surface modification and assembly of plant fibers can be integrated into a one-pot foaming process to generate ink-modified plant fiber sponges (m -PFS). Benefiting from favorable mechanical property and sensitivity (133.3 kPa−1 in a pressure range of 10 ~ 750 Pa), the polydimethylsiloxane packaged m -PFS is demonstrated as a high-performance flexible PRS for detecting human physiological signals. This study provides new opportunities for the application of biomass in wearable electronics and human health monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the hydrophilic nature of the aluminophosphate (AP) adhesives, their application in the wood-based board (WBB) industries is rarely considered. Herein, the AP adhesives with reduced graphene oxide (AP@ r GO) were developed for the construction of hydrophobic surface, mainly for the improvement of the water resistance of AP-based WBB interface as well as their mechanical properties and fire resistance. Results indicated that there is an excellent interfacial adhesion between the AP@ r GO and fibers, making the APW@ r GO achieved a high dry bonding strength of 2.77 MPa. Utilizing the advantages of r GO network with outstanding water resistance, the WBB engineered the comparable wet bonding strength as high as 1.65 MPa, meeting the minimum requirement of the plywood standard stated in GB/T9846.3–2004. Also, AP@ r GO exhibited an excellent fire resistance properties and smoke suppression ability. Benefiting from these remarkable results, the AP@ r GO could be broadly developed for practical applications in related wood-based products. • The synthesis of AP adhesive is featured with simplicity and environment friendliness. • A hydrophobic interface was constructed by using rGO nanosheets. • The AP@GO could provide good interfacial adhesion by the covalent and hydrogen bond connections. • The APW@GO possess favorable mechanical and fire-resistant performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compressible, hydrophobic, and photothermal plant fiber sponge is developed by a simple and efficient physical foaming strategy combined with in-situ vapor and thermal reduction treatment. With favorable hydrophobicity, compressibility, and photothermal conversion capacity, the sponges can be used as an absorbent for high-efficient cleanup of viscous crude oil spill. [Display omitted] • A physical foaming strategy combined with vapor and thermal reduction strategy is developed for preparing hydrophobic plant fiber sponges. • The sponges possess good hydrophobicity, compressibility, photothermal conversion capacity, and high oil absorptive capacity. • The sponges are ideal self-heating absorbent for viscous crude oil spill cleanup. Developing solar-assisted self-heating hydrophobic absorbents for efficient cleanup of viscous crude oil spills is attracting attention. However, using a simple, environment-friendly, and scalable fabrication approach to prepare solar-heating absorbent remains a big challenge. Due to the viscosity of crude oil can enormously decrease with increasing temperature, the self-heating absorbent which can in-situ raise the temperature to decrease the viscosity of crude oil shows potential application in accelerating the absorption and recovery of crude oil. Here, a hydrophobic and photothermal reduced graphene oxide and hexamethyldisilane synergistically modified plant fiber sponge (PFS@rGO@HMDS) is developed by an easy and efficient mechanical foaming strategy combined with in-situ vapor and thermal reduction treatment. The obtained PFS@rGO@HMDS exhibits good hydrophobicity (135° in water contact angle), excellent mechanical compressibility and durability, high solar absorption (>97.84 %), and oil absorptive capacity (27.3–52.0 g/g). Benefiting from the excellent photothermal conversion capacity, the surface temperature at the equilibrium of PFS@rGO@HMDS can reach 71.2 °C under 1 sun irradiation to reduce the viscosity of crude oil and realize the rapid crude oil spill remediation. The PFS@rGO@HMDS also can be used in a continual absorbent system to accomplish the ongoing and quick repair of viscous oil spills from the seawater surface, showcasing its enormous potential for use in huge-scale oil spill clean-up and recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid and efficient clean-up of viscous crude oil spills is still a global challenge due to its high viscous and poor flowability at room temperature. The hydrophobic/oleophilic absorbents with three-dimensional porous structure have been considered as a promising candidate to handle oil spills. However, they still have limited application in recovering the high viscous oil. Inspired by the viscosity of crude oil depended on the temperature, a solar-heated ink modified plant fiber sponge (PFS@GC) is fabricated via a simple and environmentally friendly physical foaming strategy combined with in-situ ink coating treatment. After wrapping by the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the modified PFS@GC (PFS@GC@PDMS) exhibits excellent compressibility, high hydrophobic (141° in water contact angle), solar absorption (> 96.0%), and oil absorptive capacity (12.0–27.8 g/g). Benefiting from the favorable mechanical property and photothermal conversion capacity, PFS@GC@PDMS is demonstrated as a high-performance absorbent for crude oil clean-up and recovery. In addition, PFS@GC@PDMS can also be applied in a continuous absorption system for uninterrupted recovering of oil spills on the water surface. The proposed solar-heated absorbent design provides a new opportunity for exploring biomass in addressing large-scale oil spill disasters. [Display omitted] • An aqueous graphene-based is prepared to fabricate the solar-heated plant fiber sponge. • The sponges possess favorable mechanical property and photothermal conversion capacity. • The sponges are demonstrated as a high-performance absorbent for crude oil clean-up and recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]