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Flexible electronic devices are attracting much attention on account of their great potential in artificial intelligence, electronic skin, and biomedicine. However, the poor stretchability, conductivity, and machinability of flexible materials limit the application of flexible electronic devices in practical environments. Herein, hydrogels with excellent mechanical, electrical, and processable properties are synthesized by introducing deep eutectic solvent (DES) and MXene into a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix, which shows more than 2700% tensile strain, and 1.21 S m−1 conductivity. Interestingly, hydrogels also exhibited 3D printable properties, enabling the fabrication of sensors with complex structures in a short period of time. Besides, the serpentine lines strain sensor is successfully prepared by digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing and assembled into a bidirectional strain rosette sensor and omnidirectional strain rosette sensor, which could recognize the direction and magnitude of stress. More importantly, the omnidirectional strain sensor can accurately distinguish the signal responses of different directions and sizes generated by ping‐pong players swinging the racket, showing excellent strain recognition ability. In brief, the hydrogels designed are expected to realize the manufacture of large‐scale and low‐cost flexible sensors through a simple preparation process, which provides a new idea for the manufacture of flexible electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For practical applications in the fields of aerospace and robotic engineering, flexible energy storage devices must be stable under environmental temperatures and different deformed situations. In this work, a mechanically stable supercapacitor (SC) at harsh ambient temperatures is synthesized by in situ polymerization of polyaniline(PANI) onto a double network hydrogel electrolyte from cross‐linked polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) and polyacrylamide/acrylic acid (PAM/AA) networks. The highly integrated structure endows the supercapacitor with unprecedented mechanical performance. The devices can endure 608% tensile strain and be stretched up to 50% without noticeable hysteresis, demonstrating fatigue and fracture resistance under thousands of cyclic loads. Benefiting from an all‐flexible configuration through seamless integration of the PANI electrode, the supercapacitor presents a high specific capacitance of 95.8 mF cm–2. It can also work as an all‐flexible device and maintain its stable output under complex deformations, even physical damages. Furthermore, the device delivers excellent environmental adaptability by steady electrochemical performance after operating at extreme temperatures from −60 to 100 °C. Such a versatile supercapacitor presents a potential application in integrated flexible electronic systems by powering functional devices in harsh environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main observation and conclusion: With the increasing demand of sustainable and eco‐friendly resources, it is very attractive to use waste leaves for activated carbon (AC) preparation that can be used in supercapacitors. Considering the practically collected leaves are commonly in mixed nature, and extra efforts are needed to sort these mixtures, we here report the first preparation of AC using mixed leaves from different plants, including Platanus acerifolia (PA), Firmiana platanifolia (FP) and Pistia stratiotes (PS), and compared the results with single leaves‐derived AC materials. These leave‐derived AC samples were characterized with FESEM, EDS, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, and electrochemical tests. The AC derived from mixed leaves (PA3FP1PS2AC) showed a good specific capacitance of 246 F·g−1 at 1 A·g−1 in aqueous 3 mol·L–1 KOH. This sample further showed the largest specific capacitance of 201 F·g−1 at 5 A·g−1, as compared with the non‐mixed AC samples, and a good stability of 100.0% capacitance retention over 1000 cycles. Utilizing mixed leaves for AC preparation is not only demonstrated to be a promising approach of low cost and high‐performance AC production for supercapacitor applications, but may also help environmental protection by reducing the invasive species problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aramid fiber‐reinforced rubber composites (AFRCs) have attracted considerable attention due to their excellent mechanical properties. These mechanical properties provide the composites with a certain degree of anisotropy due to the fiber orientation distribution (FOD) in the AFRCs, thereby allowing them to flexibly meet requirements based on different scenarios. However, the quantitative determination of FOD in AFRCs continues to be a challenge. In this study, the triple ion‐beam cutting technique was proposed to obtain high‐quality polished cross‐sections of the AFRCs. An image processing technique was used to separate the rubber matrix and the fiber in the optical micrograph. The fiber orientation information was extracted based on the shape of the fiber section. The FODs of the AFRCs were described using the probability function. Finally, the mechanical property was evaluated using a 2D finite element analysis. The agreement between the experimental and numerical results validated the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coniothyrium minitans is an important sclerotial and hyphal parasite of the plant pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Previously, a conidiation-deficient mutant, ZS-1N22225, was screened from a T-DNA insertional library of C. minitans. CmVps39, a homologue of Vam6p/Vps39p that plays a critical role in vacuolar morphogenesis in yeast, was disrupted by a T-DNA insertion in this mutant. CmVps39 is composed of 1071 amino acids with an amino-terminal citron homology domain and a central clathrin homology domain, as observed for other Vam6p/Vps39p family proteins. Abnormal fragmented vacuoles were observed in ΔCmVps39 under light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, and ΔCmVps39 showed impairment in autophagy. ΔCmVps39 also exhibited significantly reduced hyphal development, poor conidiation and decreased sclerotial mycoparasitism. In addition, deletion of CmVps39 affected osmotic adaptation, pH homeostasis and cell wall integrity. Taken together, our results suggest that CmVps39 has an essential function in vacuolar morphology, autophagy, fungal development and mycoparasitism in C. minitans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]