Microsphere‐Assisted Robust Epidermal Strain Gauge for Static and Dynamic Gesture Recognition

A novel and robust epidermal strain gauge by using 3D microsphere arrays to immobilize, connect, and protect a multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) pathway is presented. During the solvent deposition process, MWNTs sedimentate, self‐assemble, and wrap onto surface of polystyrene (PS) microspheres to construct conductive networks, which further obtain excellent stretchability of 100% by combining with commercially used elastomer. Benefiting from its 3D conductive pathway defined by microspheres, immobilized MWNT (I‐MWNT) network can be directly used in practical occasions without further packaging and is proved by tape tests to be capable of defend mechanical damage effectively from external environment. By parameter optimization, the strain sensor with 3 µm PS spheres obtains stable resistive responses for more than 1000 times, and maintains its gauge factor (GF) of 1.35. This thin‐film conductive membrane built by this effective construction method can be easily attached onto fingers of both robot and human, and is demonstrated in sensitive epidermal strain sensing and recognizing different hand gestures effectively, in static and dynamic modes, respectively.     

Metal Oxide Nanocomposites: A Perspective from Strain,Defect, and Interface

Vertically aligned nanocomposite thin films with ordered two phases, grown epitaxially on substrates, have attracted tremendous interest in the past decade. These unique nanostructured composite thin films with large vertical interfacial area, controllable vertical lattice strain, and defects provide an intriguing playground, allowing for the manipulation of a variety of functional properties of the materials via the interplay among strain, defect, and interface. This field has evolved from basic growth and characterization to functionality tuning as well as potential applications in energy conversion and information technology. Here, the remarkable progress achieved in vertically aligned nanocomposite thin films from a perspective of tuning functionalities through control of strain, defect, and interface is summarized.     

A Gradient Heterostructure Based on Tolerance Factor in High‐Performance Perovskite Solar Cells with 0.84 Fill Factor

A gradient heterosturcture is one of the basic methods to control the charge flow in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, a classical route for gradient heterosturctures is based on the diffusion technique, in which the guest ions gradually diffuse into the films from a concentrated source of dopants. The gradient heterosturcture is only accessible to the top side, and may be time consuming and costly. Here, the “intolerant” n‐type heteroatoms (Sb³⁺, In³⁺) with mismatched cation sizes and charge states can spontaneously enrich two sides of perovskite thin films. The dopants at specific sides can be extracted by a typical hole‐transport layer. Theoretical calculations and experimental observations both indicate that the optimized charge management can be attributed to the tailored band structure and interfacial electronic hybridization, which promote charge separation and collection. The strategy enables the fabrication of PSCs with a spontaneous graded heterojunction showing high efficiency. A champion device based on Sb³⁺ doped film shows a stabilized power‐conversion efficiency of 21.04% with a high fill factor of 0.84 and small hysteresis.     

Magnetic Nanomaterials for Advanced Regenerative Medicine: The Promise and Challenges

The recent emergence of numerous nanotechnologies is expected to facilitate the development of regenerative medicine, which is a tissue regeneration technique based on the replacement/repair of diseased tissue or organs to restore the function of lost, damaged, and aging cells in the human body. In particular, the unique magnetic properties and specific dimensions of magnetic nanomaterials make them promising innovative components capable of significantly advancing the field of tissue regeneration. Their potential applications in tissue regeneration are the focus here, beginning with the fundamentals of magnetic nanomaterials. How nanomaterials—both those that are intrinsically magnetic and those that respond to an externally applied magnetic field—can enhance the efficiency of tissue regeneration is also described. Applications including magnetically controlled cargo delivery and release, real‐time visualization and tracking of transplanted cells, magnetic regulation of cell proliferation/differentiation, and magnetic activation of targeted ion channels and signal pathways involved in regeneration are highlighted, and comments on the perspectives and challenges in magnetic nanomaterial‐based tissue regeneration are given.     

Advances in the Application of Magnetic Nanoparticles for Sensing

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are of high significance in sensing as they provide viable solutions to the enduring challenges related to lower detection limits and nonspecific effects. The rapid expansion in the applications of MNPs creates a need to overview the current state of the field of MNPs for sensing applications. In this review, the trends and concepts in the literature are critically appraised in terms of the opportunities and limitations of MNPs used for the most advanced sensing applications. The latest progress in MNP sensor technologies is overviewed with a focus on MNP structures and properties, as well as the strategies of incorporating these MNPs into devices. By looking at recent synthetic advancements, and the key challenges that face nanoparticle‐based sensors, this review aims to outline how to design, synthesize, and use MNPs to make the most effective and sensitive sensors.     

Self‐Healing,Adhesive, and Highly Stretchable Ionogel as a Strain Sensor for Extremely Large Deformation

Fabricating a strain sensor that can detect large deformation over a curved object with a high sensitivity is crucial in wearable electronics, human/machine interfaces, and soft robotics. Herein, an ionogel nanocomposite is presented for this purpose. Tuning the composition of the ionogel nanocomposites allows the attainment of the best features, such as excellent self‐healing (>95% healing efficiency), strong adhesion (347.3 N m^?1), high stretchability (2000%), and more than ten times change in resistance under stretching. Furthermore, the ionogel nanocomposite–based sensor exhibits good reliability and excellent durability after 500 cycles, as well as a large gauge factor of 20 when it is stretched under a strain of 800–1400%. Moreover, the nanocomposite can self‐heal under arduous conditions, such as a temperature as low as ?20 °C and a temperature as high as 60 °C. All these merits are achieved mainly due to the integration of dynamic metal coordination bonds inside a loosely cross‐linked network of ionogel nanocomposite doped with Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles.     

A Review of Recent Applications of Ion Beam Techniques on Nanomaterial Surface Modification: Design of Nanostructures and Energy Harvesting

Nanomaterials have gained plenty of research interest because of their excellent performance, which is derived from their small size and special structure. In practical applications, to acquire nanomaterials with high performance, many methods have been used to modulate the structure and components of materials. To date, ion beam techniques have extensively been applied for modulating the performance of various nanomaterials. Energetic ion beams can modulate the surface morphology and chemical components of nanomaterials. In addition, ion beam techniques have also been used to fabricate nanomaterials, including 2D materials, nanoparticles, and nanowires. Compared with conventional methods, ion beam techniques, including ion implantation, ion irradiation, and focused ion beam, are all pure physical processes; these processes do not introduce any impurities into the target materials. In addition, ion beam techniques exhibit high controllability and repeatability. Here, recent progress in ion beam techniques for nanomaterial surface modification is systematically summarized and existing challenges and potential solutions are presented.     

Regulating Surface and Grain‐Boundary Structures of Ni‐Rich Layered Cathodes for Ultrahigh Cycle Stability

The wide applications of Ni‐rich LiNi_1‐x‐yCo_xMn_yO₂ cathodes are severely limited by capacity fading and voltage fading during the cycling process resulting from the pulverization of particles, interfacial side reactions, and phase transformation. The canonical surface modification approach can improve the stability to a certain extent; however, it fails to resolve the key bottlenecks. The preparation of Li(Ni_0.4Co_0.2Mn_0.4)_1‐xTi_xO₂ on the surface of LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O₂ particles with a coprecipitation method is reported. After sintering, Ti diffuses into the interior and mainly distributes along surface and grain boundaries. A strong surface and grain boundary strengthening are simultaneously achieved. The pristine particles are fully pulverized into first particles due to mechanical instability and high strains, which results in serious capacity fading. In contrast, the strong surface and the grain boundary strengthening can maintain the structural integrity, and therefore significantly improve the cycle stability. A general and simple strategy for the design of high‐performance Ni‐rich LiNi_1‐x‐yCo_xMn_yO₂ cathode is provided and is applicable to surface modification and grain‐boundary regulation of other advanced cathodes for batteries.     

Coupling PEDOT on Mesoporous Vanadium Nitride Arrays for Advanced Flexible All‐Solid‐State Supercapacitors

Tailored construction of advanced flexible supercapacitors (SCs) is of great importance to the development of high‐performance wearable modern electronics. Herein, a facile combined wet chemical method to fabricate novel mesoporous vanadium nitride (VN) composite arrays coupled with poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) as flexible electrodes for all‐solid‐state SCs is reported. The mesoporous VN nanosheets arrays prepared by the hydrothermal–nitridation method are composed of cross‐linked nanoparticles of 10–50 nm. To enhance electrochemical stability, the VN is further coupled with electrodeposited PEDOT shell to form high‐quality VN/PEDOT flexible arrays. Benefiting from high intrinsic reactivity and enhanced structural stability, the designed VN/PEDOT flexible arrays exhibit a high specific capacitance of 226.2 F g^?1 at 1 A g^?1 and an excellent cycle stability with 91.5% capacity retention after 5000 cycles at 10 A g^?1. In addition, high energy/power density (48.36 Wh kg^?1 at 2 A g^?1 and 4 kW kg^?1 at 5 A g^?1) and notable cycling life (91.6% retention over 10 000 cycles) are also achieved in the assembled asymmetric flexible supercapacitor cell with commercial nickel–cobalt–aluminum ternary oxides cathode and VN/PEDOT anode. This research opens up a way for construction of advanced hybrid organic–inorganic electrodes for flexible energy storage.