Bio‐Inspired Photonic Materials: Prototypes and Structural Effect Designs for Applications in Solar Energy Manipulation

Natural creatures have evolved elaborate photonic nanostructures on multiple scales and dimensions in a hierarchical, organized way to realize controllable absorption, reflection, or transmitting the desired wavelength of the solar spectrum. A bio‐inspired strategy is a powerful and promising way for solar energy manipulation. This feature article presents the state‐of‐the‐art progress on bio‐inspired photonic materials on this particular application. The article first briefly recalls the physical origins of natural photonic effects and catalogues the typical natural photonic prototypes including light harvesting, broadband reflection, selective reflection, and UV/IR response. Next, typical applications are categorized into two primary areas: solar energy utilization and reflection. Recent advances including solar‐to‐electricity, solar‐to‐fuels, solar‐thermal (e.g., photothermal converters, infrared detectors, thermoelectric materials, smart windows, and solar steam generation) are highlighted in the first part. Meanwhile, solar energy reflection involving infrared stealth, radiative cooling, and micromirrors are also addressed. In particular, this article focuses on bioinspired design principles, structural effects on functions, and future trends. Finally, the main challenges and prospects for the next generation of bioinspired photonic materials are discussed, including new design concepts, emerging ideas, and possible strategies.     

Fabrication techniques and applications of flexible graphene-based electronic devices

In recent years, flexible electronic devices have become a hot topic of scientific research. These flexible devices are the basis of flexible circuits, flexible batteries, flexible displays and electronic skins. Graphene-based materials are very promising for flexible electronic devices, due to their high mobility, high elasticity, a tunable band gap, quantum electronic transport and high mechanical strength. In this article, we review the recent progress of the fabrication process and the applications of graphene-based electronic devices, including thermal acoustic devices, thermal rectifiers, graphene-based nanogenerators, pressure sensors and graphene-based light-emitting diodes. In summary, although there are still a lot of challenges needing to be solved, graphene-based materials are very promising for various flexible device applications in the future.     

Advanced Thermoelectric Materials for Flexible Cooling Application

Flexible cooling devices, which aim to fulfill the essential requirement of complex working environments and enable local heat dissipation, have become the cutting-edge area of refrigeration technology. Thermoelectric (TE) material represents a promising candidate for various flexible cooling applications, including wearable personal thermoregulation devices. With the increasing interest in the Peltier effect of conductive polymers and inorganic films on flexible substrates, flexible cooling devices have undergone rapid development. Herein, the fundamental mechanisms, basic parameters, and temperature measurement techniques for evaluating the cooling performance are summarized. Moreover, recent progress on TE materials, such as flexible inorganic and organic materials for Peltier cooling studies, is reviewed. More importantly, insights are provided into the key strategies for high-performance Peltier devices. The final part details the existing challenges and perspectives on flexible TE cooling to inspire additional research interests toward the advancement of refrigeration technology.     

Flexible magnetic thin films and devices

Flexible electronic devices are highly attractive for a variety of applications such as flexible circuit boards,solar cells,paper-like displays,and sensitive skin,due to their stretchable,biocompatible,light-weight,portable,and low cost properties.Due to magnetic devices being important parts of electronic devices,it is essential to study the magnetic properties of magnetic thin films and devices fabricated on flexible substrates.In this review,we mainly introduce the recent progress in flexible magnetic thin films and devices,including the study on the stress-dependent magnetic properties of magnetic thin films and devices,and controlling the properties of flexible magnetic films by stress-related multi-fields,and the design and fabrication of flexible magnetic devices.     

Flexible energy storage devices for wearable bioelectronics

With the growing market of wearable devices for smart sensing and personalized healthcare applications,energy stor-age devices that ensure stable power supply and can be constructed in flexible platforms have attracted tremendous research in-terests.A variety of active materials and fabrication strategies of flexible energy storage devices have been intensively studied in recent years,especially for integrated self-powered systems and biosensing.A series of materials and applications for flex-ible energy storage devices have been studied in recent years.In this review,the commonly adopted fabrication methods of flex-ible energy storage devices are introduced.Besides,recent advances in integrating these energy devices into flexible self-powered systems are presented.Furthermore,the applications of flexible energy storage devices for biosensing are summar-ized.Finally,the prospects and challenges of the self-powered sensing system for wearable electronics are discussed.     

辐射冷却材料的研究进展及应用

辐射冷却是近来日益得到关注的被动冷却形式,它以外太空为冷源,无需额外消耗能量,在建筑冷却、太阳能电池降温、舒适衣物与可穿戴设备等诸多方面都有着良好的应用前景.本文对辐射冷却的发展历史与冷却原理做了简单回顾,对辐射冷却材料的种类和优缺点进行了系统介绍,并对辐射冷却材料的设计、制备、表征方法进行归纳总结,最后对相关应用领域...     

光子晶体光纤在全光网中的应用

光子晶体光纤(PCF)以其独特的光学特性和灵活设计的特点,而成为近年来研究的热点.随着各种新型PCF的问世以及研究的深入,使其应用领域不断扩大.文章对PCF在全光网中的各项应用进行了分析,重点对PCF在光纤光栅和光纤激光器、放大器、光开关、波长变换器方面的研究进展进行了介绍.     

Recent Advances in Rational Electrode Designs for High‐Performance Alkaline Rechargeable Batteries

In recent years, noticeable progress is achieved regarding alkaline rechargeable batteries (ARBs). Due to their merits of safety and low cost, ARBs are considered promising energy storage sources for large‐scale grid energy storage, electric vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles, as well as wearable and portable devices. While previous reviews have focused on specific topics associated with ARBs, providing a comprehensive review on rechargeable alkaline batteries is both timely and worthwhile. In this review, the recent progress in ARBs is summarized and the strategies underlying rational electrode designs for cathodes and anodes are highlighted, as well as their applications in full cells including flexible batteries. This review may pave the way for further designs of high‐performance alkaline batteries.     

Advanced Flexible Materials from Nanocellulose

With the increase of environmental pollution and depletion of fossil fuel resources, the utilization of renewable biomass resources for developing functional materials or fine chemicals is of great value and has attracted considerable attention. Nanocellulose, as a well-known renewable nanomaterial, is regarded as a promising nano building block for advanced functional materials owing to its unique structure and properties, as well as natural abundance. Typically, its high mechanical strength, structural flexibility, reinforcing capabilities, and tunable self-assembly behavior makes it highly attractive to fabricate flexible materials for various applications. Herein, the recent progress in the design, properties, and applications of advanced flexible materials from nanocellulose is comprehensively summarized. The preparation and properties of nanocellulose are first briefly introduced and discuss its merits in fabricating flexible materials. Then, various advanced flexible materials from nanocellulose are introduced, and the critical role of nanocellulose in constructing flexible materials is highlighted based on its intrinsic properties. After that, their applications in energy storage, electronics, sensor, biomedical, thermally insulating, photonic devices, etc., are presented. At last, the outlook of the current challenges and future perspectives for developing nanocellulose-derived flexible materials are discussed.     

Thermo-Adaptive Block Copolymer Structural Color Electronics

Flexible electronics that enable the visualization of thermal energy have significant potential for various applications, such as thermal diagnosis, sensing and imaging, and displays. Thermo-adaptive flexible electronic devices based on thin 1D block copolymer (BCP) photonic crystal (PC) films with self-assembled periodic nanostructures are presented. By employing a thermo-responsive polymer/non-volatile hygroscopic ionic liquid (IL) blend on a BCP film, full visible structural colors (SCs) are developed because of the temperature-dependent expansion and contraction of one BCP domain via IL injection and release, respectively, as a function of temperature. Reversible SC control of the bi-layered BCP/IL polymer blend film from room temperature to 80 °C facilitates the development of various thermo-adaptive SC flexible electronic devices including pixel arrays of reflective-mode displays and capacitive sensing display. A flexible diagnostic thermal patch is demonstrated with the bi-layered BCP/IL polymer blend enabling the visualization of local heat sources from the human body to microelectronic circuits.     

Silicon Carbide Terahertz Emitting Devices

In recent years, terahertz (THz) sources between 0.1 THz and 10 THz have attracted much attention for imaging and sensing applications. THz emission from radiative transitions in impurity states has been demonstrated in Si and Ge devices by either electrical or optical pumping. Compared to Si as the material for THz emission, the wide-band-gap material SiC exhibits several advantages such as a higher dopant ionization energy, which allows a higher device operating temperature. Combining with its superior material qualities such as high breakdown field and high thermal conductivity, SiC is a promising material for high-temperature and high-power THz emitting devices. This article describes recent progress in using SiC materials to increase the operating temperature and output power of dopant-based THz sources.     

Flexible MXene-Based Composites for Wearable Devices

In recent decades, flexible and wearable devices have been extensively investigated due to their promising applications in portable mobile electronics and human motion monitoring. MXene, a novel growing family of 2D nanomaterials, demonstrates superiorities such as outstanding electrical conductivity, abundant terminal groups, unique layered-structure, large surface area, and hydrophilicity, making it to be a potential candidate material for flexible and wearable devices. Numerous pioneering works are devoted to develop flexible MXene-based composites with various functions and designed structures. Therefore, the latest progress of the flexible MXene-based composites for wearable devices is summarized in this review, focusing on the preparation strategies, working mechanisms, performances, and applications in sensors, supercapacitors, and electromagnetic interference shielding materials. Moreover, the current challenges and future outlooks are also discussed.     

蓝相液晶材料与光子学器件研究进展

蓝相液晶是一种三维手性自组装软超结构材料,具有光学各向同性,选择性反射波长,快速响应等优秀特性,无论在显示还是光子器件的应用上都具有良好的发展前景,吸引了研究人员的大量关注。近十年关于蓝相液晶显示领域的研究与工程或应用发展迅猛,于此同时催生了其在光子学这个后显示领域的研究。面对来自国际上其他先进国家的竞争与压力,中国大陆的学者们奋勇迎接,经过短短数年的发展获得了一批有显示度的成果,在国内外的优秀期刊上报道了一系列富含学术性和实用性的工作。具备高热稳定性与显著电光调制特性的新型蓝相液晶材料及其光子学器件,如衍射光栅、相位调制器、透镜、激光以及光衰减器等,相继被开发出。本文追逐这些前辈留下的脚印,从材料制备、性能到光子器件设计、应用进行了概括性的回顾,旨在通过此综述激发出蓝相液晶在非显示光子学应用领域更多的研究灵感;若能起到进一步促进该领域发展的作用,笔者将感到幸甚之至!     

Sequential Nucleation and Growth of Complex Nanostructured Films

Nanostructured films with controlled architectures are desirable for many applications in optics, electronics, biology, medicine, and energy/chemical conversions. Low‐temperature, aqueous chemical routes have been widely investigated for the synthesis of continuous films, and arrays of oriented nanorods and nanotubes. More recently, aqueous‐phase routes have been used to produce films composed of more complex crystal structures. In this paper, we discuss recent progress in the synthesis of complex nanostructures through sequential nucleation and growth processes. We first review the use of multistage, seeded‐growth methods to synthesize a wide range of nanostructures, including oriented nanowires, nanotubes, and nanoneedles, as well as laminated films, columns, and multilayer heterostructures. We then describe more recent work on the application of sequential nucleation and growth to the systematic assembly of large arrays of hierarchical, complex, oriented, and ordered crystal architectures. The multistage aqueous chemical route is shown to be applicable to several technologically important materials, and therefore may play a key role in advancing complex nanomaterials into applications.     

THERMAL RADIATION PROPERTY OF A THREE DIMENSIONAL PHOTONIC CRYSTAL BASED ON MULTIPLE SCATTERING METHOD

We have studied absorption and thermal radiation for a three dimensional lossy photonic crystal of dielectric spheres by using a multiple scattering method. It is shown that such simple structures have excellent selective thermal radiative characteristics in different photonic bands. There is stronger thermal radiation at high frequency than that at low frequency. In comparison with the uniform slab without photonic crystal structure, in the photonic band gap, the thermal emission intensity is greatly suppressed and very weak, but not zero due to the penetration depth. Under the same lattice structure, the thermal emission of photonic crystal varies with the change of the radius of the spheres.     

3D Conformal Printing and Photonic Sintering of High‐Performance Flexible Thermoelectric Films Using 2D Nanoplates

Flexible thermoelectric (TE) devices hold great promise for energy harvesting and cooling applications, with increasing significance to serve as perpetual power sources for flexible electronics and wearable devices. Despite unique and superior TE properties widely reported in nanocrystals, transforming these nanocrystals into flexible and functional forms remains a major challenge. Herein, demonstrated is a transformative 3D conformal aerosol jet printing and rapid photonic sintering process to print and sinter solution‐processed Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 nanoplate inks onto virtually any flexible substrates. Within seconds of photonic sintering, the electrical conductivity of the printed film is dramatically improved from nonconductive to 2.7 × 10⁴ S m^?1. The films demonstrate a room temperature power factor of 730 µW m^?1 K^?2, which is among the highest values reported in flexible TE films. Additionally, the film shows negligible performance changes after 500 bending cycles. The highly scalable and low‐cost fabrication process paves the way for large‐scale manufacturing of flexible devices using a variety of high‐performing nanoparticle inks.     

硅微纳结构及其在新型太阳电池中的应用

综述了近年来各种硅微纳结构的特征和制备技术,介绍了其在新型太阳电池中的应用现状与前景.首先,阐述了硅微纳结构在传统p-n结、新型径向p-n结以及异质结太阳电池结构设计中的研究进展;其次,从光吸收增强、表面修饰及钝化的角度,分析了硅微纳结构太阳电池的增效措施;最后,提出了柔性硅微纳结构太阳电池开发的新思路.     

Flexible devices: from materials,architectures to applications

Flexible devices,such as flexible electronic devices and flexible energy storage devices,have attracted a significant amount of attention in recent years for their potential applications in modem human lives.The development of flexible devices is moving forward rapidly,as the innovation of methods and manufacturing processes has greatly encouraged the research of flexible devices.This review focuses on advanced materials,architecture designs and abundant applications of flexible devices,and discusses the problems and challenges in current situations of flexible devices.We summarize the discovery of novel materials and the design of new architectures for improving the performance of flexible devices.Finally,we introduce the applications of flexible devices as key components in real life.     

Recent advances in ultraviolet photodetectors

In recent years, ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) have received much attention in the various field of research due to wide range of industrial, military, biological and environmental applications. In this paper, a special focus is given to the unique advantages of different UV PDs, current device schemes and demonstrations, novel structures and new material compounds which are used to fabrication of PDs. Additionally, we investigate numerous technical design challenges and compare characteristics of the various PD structures developed to date. Finally, we conclude this review paper with some future research directions in this field.