This work demonstrates a simple‐structured, low‐cost magnetically modulated micromotor of MnFe2O4 pot‐like hollow microparticles as well as its facile, versatile, and large‐scale growing‐bubble‐templated nanoparticle (NP) assembly fabrication approach. In this approach, the hydrophobic MnFe2O4@oleic acid NPs in an oil droplet of chloroform and hexane assembled into a dense NP shell layer due to the hydrophobic interactions between the NP surfaces. With the encapsulated oil continuously vaporizing into high‐pressured gas bubbles, the dense MnFe2O4 NP shell layer then bursts, forming an asymmetric pot‐like MnFe2O4 micromotor by creating a single hole in it. For the as‐developed simple pot‐like MnFe2O4 micromotor, the catalytically generated O2 molecules nucleate and grow into bubbles preferentially on the inner concave surface rather than on the outer convex surface, resulting in continuous ejection of O2 bubbles from the open hole to propel it. Dexterously integrating the high catalytic activity for H2O2 decomposition to produce O2 bubbles, excellent magnetic property with the instinctive surface hydrophobicity, the MnFe2O4 pot‐like micromotor not only can autonomously move in water media with both velocity and direction modulated by external magnetic field but also can directly serve for environmental oil removal without any further surface modification. The results here may inspire novel practical micromotors.

Cu2Se based thermoelectric materials are of great potential for high‐temperature energy harvesting due to their high‐temperature figure‐of‐merit (zT). For further development of Cu2Se, both engineering and mid‐temperature figure‐of‐merit need to be improved. In this work, we report that carbon‐coated boron (C/B) nanoparticles incorporation can significantly improve both mid‐ and high‐temperature zT in Cu2Se. The nanoparticle inclusions can result in a homogeneous distribution of Cu:C:B interfaces responsible for both improvement of the Seebeck coefficient and significantly reduction in thermal conductivity. Ultrahigh mid‐ and high temperature thermoelectric performance with zT = 1.7 at 700 K and 2.23 at 1000 K as well as significantly improved engineering zT are achieved in the C/B incorporated Cu2Se with desirable mechanical properties and cycling stability. Our findings will stimulate further study and exploration for the Cu2Se based thermoelectric materials for broad applications in converting waste heat to electricity with competitive energy conversion efficiency.

Multifunctional MnFe2O4@OA/PS Janus particles (JPs) for water treatment are demonstrated in this work. They can not only encapsulate and separate oil from water, but also degrade organic dyes in water due to their amphiphilic properties, magnetic responses and high catalytic activities.

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Conducting polymer coatings and patterns are the most important forms of these materials for many practical applications, but a simple and efficient approach to these forms remains challenging. Herein, we report a universal oxidant-intermediated surface polymerization (OISP) for the fabrication of conducting polymer coatings and patterns on various substrates. A coating or pattern composed of densely packed colloidal V 2 O 5 •nH 2 O nanowires is deposited on the substrate via spin coating, dip coating, or printing, which is converted into a conducting polymer one after in situ oxidation polymerization. The polymerization occurs selectively on the V 2 O 5 •nH 2 O coatings, and high-quality polypyrrole, polyaniline, and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) coatings and patterns on planar and curved polymeric, metallic, and ceramic substrates are obtained in a fast reaction rate similar to the electrochemical polymerization. The mechanistic study reveals that the method relies on the excellent processability and formability of V 2 O 5 •nH 2 O nanowires, which is further explained by their large aspect ratio and surface activity. A flexible gas sensor array comprising three individual sensors made of different conducting polymers is fabricated using oxidant-intermediated surface polymerization, and it is successfully used to distinguish various analyte vapors. The method developed here will provide a powerful tool for the fabrication of conducting polymer-based devices.

Conducting polymer nanocoatings render plastics to possess interesting optical, chemical, and electrical properties. It nevertheless remains technically challenging to deposit uniform conducting polymer nanocoatings on ambient plastic substrates ascribed to the inert and varied chemical properties of plastics and the notorious processability of conducting polymers. Previous studies have made progress in delivering various conducting polymer thin films via oxidative chemical vapor deposition. Herein, we develop a solution-based approach to polyaniline (PANI) and PEGylated PANI nanocoatings on multiple engineering plastics followed by evaluating their antifouling performance. The procedure relies on the formation of uniform, lyotropic V2O5·nH2O thin films on plastics assisted by a surfactantsodium N-lauroylsarcosinate. Next, in situ, oxidative polymerization causes the formation of nanofibrous PANI nanocoatings. Finally, interfacial functionalization leads to PEGylated PANI nanocoatings, and the steric nanolayer effectively repels the adsorption of bovine serum albumin and the attachment of the bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. on the surface. It is worth noting that the antifouling properties rely mainly on the presence of PEGylated PANI nanocoatings, irrespective of the type of plastic substrates underneath. The current study therefore opens an avenue for the solution-based delivery of conducting polymer-based, functional nanocoatings on hydrophobic substrates in a controllable manner with the availability of further modification.

Structural damage identification based on time domain method of vibration response has been widely developed in the recent decades, however, it still confronts some difficulties, such as measurement noise and model error. This paper proposes a novel two-stage damage identification method based on fractal dimension and whale optimization algorithm (WOA). In this study, based on vibration data, the difference in curvature of fractal dimension (DCFD) is used as the damage index to identify the location of suspicious damage elements in the first stage. A new objective function is proposed based on the curvature of fractal dimension (CFD) of acceleration signal, and the WOA is used to estimate the severity of the suspicious damaged element in the second stage. Firstly, the validity of the proposed method is verified by a numerical simply supported beam, and the results exhibit good damage identification ability. Then different noise levels (5% ~ 20%) are introduced into the dynamic responses to verify its robustness, the result shows that the method is of good anti-noise ability in the first stage. Although the second stage is slightly sensitive to noise, it can still effectively identify the severity of damage. Secondly, the vibration testing of a steel I-beam is designed to verify the rationality of the method in the application of actual structure. Finally, based on the simulated vibration test data of the I-40 Bridge, the applicability of the method to complex civil structure is verified, which shows that the method still has good ability to identify the location and severity of damage in complex structure and is of great significance in practical application.

Porous materials with multiple hierarchy levels can be useful as lightweight engineering structures, biomedical implants, flexible functional devices, and thermal insulators. Numerous routes have integrated bottom‐up and top‐down approaches for the generation of engineering materials with lightweight nature, complex structures, and excellent mechanical properties. It nonetheless remains challenging to generate ultralight porous materials with hierarchical architectures and multi‐functionality. Here, the combined strategy based on Pickering emulsions and additive manufacturing leads to the development of ultralight conducting polymer foams with hierarchical pores and multifunctional performance. Direct writing of the emulsified inks consisting of the nano‐oxidant—hydrated vanadium pentoxide nanowires—generated free‐standing scaffolds, which are stabilized by the interfacial organization of the nanowires into network structures. The following in situ oxidative polymerization transforms the nano‐oxidant scaffolds into foams consisting of a typical conducting polymer—polyaniline. The lightweight polyaniline foams featured by hierarchical pores and high surface areas show excellent performances in the applications of supercapacitor electrodes, planar micro‐supercapacitors, and gas sensors. This emerging technology demonstrates the great potential of a combination of additive manufacturing with complex fluids for the generation of functional solids with lightweight nature and adjustable structure‐function relationships.