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Advances in microelectronics have led to the development of on-chip intelligent microsystems that can digitalize the physical world, offering functions of sensing, data communication, and intelligent response to stimuli. Either mismatched form factors or limited energy density of available batteries compromises their integration. We report a microimprint fabrication for on-chip Zn−air microbatteries, which bypasses the complication of the catalyst incorporation on the chip at a target position. The on-chip integration of a bifunctional catalyst covalent organic framework with cobalt catalytic unitsenables the onchip Zn−air microbattery to outperform the Zn−air primary cell, showing 3 times more volumetric energy density. It is wirelessly chargeable, and its lifetime capacity is around twice longer than that for commercially available on-chip lithium ion microbatteries. The on-chip Zn−air microbattery can drive various electronic systems. Our approach bridges a long-standing gulf between advanced materials synthesis and their on-chip integration and paves the way toward high-performance on-chip Zn−air batteries.

A passive cooling strategy without any electricity input has shown a significant impact on overall energy consumption globally. However, designing tunable daytime radiative cooler to meet requirement of different weather conditions is still a big challenge, especially in hot, humid regions. Here, a novel type of tunable, thermally insulating and compressible cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) aerogel coolers is prepared via chemical cross-linking and unidirectional freeze casting process. Such aerogel coolers can achieve a subambient temperature drop of 9.2 °C under direct sunlight and promisingly reached the reduction of ∼7.4 °C even in hot, moist, and fickle extreme surroundings. The tunable cooling performance can be realized via controlling the compression ratio of shape-malleable aerogel coolers. Furthermore, energy consumption modeling of using such aerogel coolers in buildings in China shows 35.4% reduction of cooling energy. This work can pave the way toward designing high-performance, thermal-regulating materials for energy consumption savings.

Laboratory plasmas inherently exhibit temperature and density gradients leading to complex investigations. We show that plasmas generated by laser ablation can constitute a robust exception to this. Supported by emission features not observed with other sources, we achieve plasmas of various compositions which are both uniform and in local thermodynamic equilibrium. These properties characterize an ideal radiation source opening multiple perspectives in plasma spectroscopy. The finding also constitutes a breakthrough in the analytical field as fast analyses of complex materials become possible.

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One-dimensional nanomaterials including cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and gold nanorods (GNRs) are widely used in optical materials due to their respective inherent features: birefringence with accompanying light retardation and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Herein, we successfully combine these properties of both nanorods to generate synergistic and readily tunable structural colors in hybrid composite polymer films. CNCs and GNRs are embedded either in the same or in separate films after unidirectional alignment in dynamic hydrogels. By synergistically leveraging CNCs and GNRs with diverse amounts in hybrid films or stacked separate films, wide-ranging structural colors are obtained, far beyond those from films solely with aligned CNCs or GNRs. Higher GNR contents enhance light absorption at 520 nm with promoted magenta colors, while more CNCs affect the overall phase retardation with light absorption between 400 and 700 nm between crossed polarizers. Moreover, adjusting the angles between films solely with CNCs or GNRs via a stacking/rotating technique successively manipulates colors with flexible film combinations. By rotating the films with aligned GNRs (0–180°), light absorption can traverse from ∼500 to 650 nm. Thus, tuning the adjustable synergism of birefringence of CNCs and SPR of GNRs provides great potential for structural colors, which enlightens inspirations for designing functional optical materials.

We report on atmospheric pressure argon plasma-based surface treatment and hybrid laser-plasma ablation of barite crown glass N-BaK4 and heavy flint glass SF5. By pure plasma treatment, a significant surface smoothing, as well as an increase in both the surface energy and the strength of the investigated glass surfaces, was achieved. It was shown that for both glasses, hybrid laser plasma ablation allows an increase in the ablation depth by a factor of 2.1 with respect to pure laser ablation. The ablated volume was increased by an averaged factor of 1.5 for N-BaK4 and 3.7 for SF5.

In this Letter, we report on the near-surface modification of fused silica by applying a hydrogenous atmospheric pressure plasma jet at ambient temperature. A significant decrease in UV-transmission due to this plasma treatment was observed. By the use of secondary ion mass spectroscopy, the composition of the plasma-modified glass surface was investigated. It was found that the plasma treatment led to a reduction of a 100 nm thick SiO2 layer to SiOx of gradual depth-dependent composition. For this plasma-induced layer, depth-resolved characteristic optical parameters, such as index of refraction and dispersion, were determined. Further, a significant plasma-induced increase of the concentration of hydrogen in the bulk material was measured. The decrease in transmission is explained by the plasma-induced near-surface formation of SiOx on the one hand and the diffusion of hydrogen into the bulk material on the other hand.