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Phase change materials (PCMs) with ideal light-to-thermal conversion efficiency play an important role in solar energy storage and conversion. Hence, we report the fabrication of a novel composite PCMs (CPCMs) device based on ZnO nanorods deposited indium tin oxide (ITO) glass loading with fatty amines. ZnO nanorods were deposited on the ITO glass using a three-electrode electrodeposition method, and 1-Hexadecylamine (HDA) was loaded on the ITO glass via spin-coating, followed by spraying polypyrrole (ppy) on the surface of CPCM device to improve thermal conductivity and solar absorption. The as-prepared CPCM device exhibits excellent light-to-thermal conversion efficiency, achieving a high conversion efficiency of 90.2% obtained at 1sun owing to its high light absorption (80%), enhanced thermal conductivity (improved by 57.8%), and the unique vertical aligned nanorods structure which could significantly decrease tortuosity, thereby reducing thermal route and lowering thermal response time. Furthermore, the electro-to-thermal conversion efficiency of the CPCMs device has also been investigated and the results show that it can reach up to 69.8% under a low voltage of 5 V, indicating that the CPCM device has a high potential in the field of electro-to-thermal conversion. Based on the benefits listed above, the CPCM device may serve an ideal platform for a wide range of solar energy storage and conversion applications.

The accumulation of non-degradable microplastics (MPs) originated from the mass production and huge consumption of plastics of modern industry in the water environment has resulted in severe pollution problems globally. Herein, we report for the first time the preparation of holey Ti

Inspired by the hierarchically dendritic structure of plant root and its extraordinary ability of grabbing soil, polyurethane (PU) fibers with such bio-mimic structure were fabricated by non-solvent induced precipitation under turbulent force to grab multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in this work, forming interpenetrating segregated network (IPSN) with CNTs coated on hierarchically dendritic polyurethane (PU) fibers (HDPUFs) and filled into voids between entangled HDPUFs. Prepared CNT/PU composites illustrate an ultrahigh maximum CNT loading of 80 wt% with good flexibility, while only 10% could be achieved for common segregated structure. Meanwhile, a low percolation threshold of 0.25 wt% and a maximum conductivity of 25 S/cm is achieved. Benefiting from significantly reduced insulating polymer coating on CNTs, the electrical conductivity of CNT/HDPUF composites at low CNT loading (≤7 wt%) is orders of magnitude higher than that of CNT/PU composites containing randomly dispersed CNTs with similar filler content. Simultaneously, the specific electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding efficiency (SE) of CNT/HDPUF composite reaches up to 10526.1 dB cm2/g thanks to their high electrical conductivity and low density, which has been rarely reported previously for CNT-based composites. This work provides a simple and low-cost method to fabricate thin, lightweight, and flexible composite with high filler content, high electrical conductivity and outstanding electromagnetic shielding performance.

PEDOT:PSS has been a major area of interest in the field of thermoelectrics in recent years. Extensive research has shown that doping or various post-washing treatment can effectively improve the conductivity . This article proposes PEDOT:PSS sheet as the building block to fabricate functional polymer composites based on PEDOT:PSS, thus, expand the contact area between PEDOT:PSS and secondary treatment agent to improve the efficiency of doping or post-treatment. On this basis, single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) was added to optimize the comprehensive thermoelectric performance of the composites. With a rather low SWCNT content of 30 wt%, PEDOT:PSS sheet/SWCNT composite film with layered structure achieves conductivity of 3085.4 S cm −1 and PF value of 224 μW m−1 K−2. The preparation of such sheet PEDOT:PSS provides a new possibility for the preparation of functional polymer composites.

We describe the process of retinal development in mandarinfish Siniperca chuatsi from larvae to young fish. The developmental characteristics of the retinal structure and related cells were identified. Siniperca chuatsi were found to exhibit an altricial mode of retinal development that required considerable time to be completed after hatching. The retina was classed as a pure cone type during the early developmental stage. In the subsequent developmental stages, however, double cones gradually occupied the majority of the cone cells, while rod cells represented the majority of the photoreceptor cells. The outer segment (OS) of the rod cells were significantly longer compared with other morphological features, the OS of the two kinds of cone cells were significantly elongated and the diameters of the inner segment (IS) and OS of the double cone cells were significantly narrower in the later developmental stages. Combined with the scattered arrangement of cone cells at the different stages, the retina was found to have sacrificed a considerable part of visual acuity in the developmental process. The distribution of cone cells was observed to have gradually become regionalised during development. The findings of the present study also indicated that S. chuatsi have a high photosensitivity under dim light conditions as a result of specialised structures of the OS of photoreceptor cells and an increased number of rod cells. The loose arrangement of the cone mosaic presumably resulted in a poor imaging quality and, to some extent, the regionalisation of the cone-cell distribution compensated for the above shortcomings, which would enhance the ability of S. chuatsi to perceive targets in important directions for effective predation behaviour.

The construction of high-performance materials with superior light-to-thermal conversion efficiency is of great importance for harvesting and utilization of solar energy. Hence, we report the creation of novel composite phase change materials (CPCMs) CPCMs by incorporating three kinds of organic phase change materials (PCMs), i.e. 1-Tetradecylamine (TDA), 1-hexadecanamine (HDA) and Octadecylamine (ODA), into hollow carbon nanospheres (HCNS) via a simple impregnation treatment for efficient light-to-thermal transition. Owing to their carbon in nature, the HCNS show better light absorption of higher than 90%. After incorporation of organic PCMs, their light absorption could still attain 62–70%, which can compete with the existing CPCMs. Beneficial from their abundant porosity and high specific surface areas, organic PCMs can be spontaneously diffused and immersed into the porous architecture of HCNS. In this way, the as-resulted CPCMs containing with TDA, HDA and ODA show high phase change enthalpy of 61.23J/g, 119.5J/g and 101.8J/g, respectively. The CPCMs also exhibit better thermal conductivity and excellent thermal stability, e.g., the enthalpy of HAD based CPCMs remains nearly unchanged even after 100 times of melting/freezing cycles. Under 1 sun irradiation, the light-to-thermal conversion efficiency of CPCMs containing with TDA, HDA and ODA were measured to be 73.04%, 74.46% and 71.74%, respectively, Thus showing great potential as a kind of promising photothermal conversion devices for solar or thermal energy storage applications.

This paper presented the contribution of core/shell TiO2@SiO2 nanoparticles to the hydration properties of Portland cement and the contribution was compared with that of nano-TiO2. Both nanoparticles were used to partially replace cement at 1 wt%. The mechanical property and microstructure of the cement pastes were experimentally characterized using compressive strength and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. Specially, thermodynamic modeling was also applied to predict the phase assemblages and calculate the corresponding volumes. The results showed that the paste with 1 wt% TiO2@SiO2 developed a much higher compressive strength than the paste with or without nano-TiO2 added at each curing age. Both SEM and mapping analyses showed that obvious agglomeration of nano-TiO2 could be observed in nano-TiO2 modified cement paste, which decreased its efficiency in the cement paste. However, nano-TiO2 was well distributed when TiO2@SiO2 was added because of its limiting effect on the agglomeration of nano-TiO2, further densifying the microstructure. The calculated hydrates volumes by thermodynamic modeling also indicated that TiO2@SiO2 would result in producing most hydrates of all the pastes, thus contributing to a denser microstructure and a much higher compressive strength development.