Superhydrophobic photothermal coatings are promising for multifunctional applications due to the efficient use of solar energy, but the current challenge is to seek one easy-to-prepare material with high photothermal performance. Herein, inspired by mussel adhesion and lotus leaf surfaces, we developed superhydrophobic photothermal coatings with hierarchical structure by depositing melanin-like polydopamine (PDA) and dip-coating polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/hydrophobic fumed silica (SiO2) sequentially. Benefitting from the efficient photothermal conversion performance of PDA, the coated fabric can rapidly warm up to 100 °C under 100 mW/cm2 sun irradiation. Meanwhile, the coatings show excellent superhydrophobic properties (WCA of 163°), which not only prevent the adhesion of the contaminant from maintaining a long-term and efficient photothermal performance but also help the fabric to own outstanding passive anti-icing and active deicing performances. Furthermore, the superhydrophobic properties of the coatings can be maintained after sandpaper abrasion, repeat tape-peeling, and ultrasonication. In addition, superior UV protection of the coatings can meet the long-term service conditions under outdoor sunlight. The PDA-based superhydrophobic photothermal coatings are believed to inspire new strategies for solar-driven multifunctional applications such as personal thermal management, anti-icing/deicing of variously shaped components, photothermal antibacterial, and so on.

Crystal size plays an essential role in the performance of polymers. Generally, direct processing of common spherulites into nanocrystals (NCs) is hardly applied since polymer spherulites always shape into fibrous crystals and are hard to flow again. In this study, polylactide (PLA) lamellae of spherulites are first diluted by amorphous PLA. Then, PLA NCs are constructed in situ by intense stress, which is transferred by the amorphous polylactide in a high elastic state. The NCs and their network formed in bulk endow pure polylactide with excellent shape memory features. A strong shape recovery initiation force (around 4−5 MPa) and an enhancement of 41.6% in the shape recovery ratio with 30 wt % NCs in PLA are achieved compared with traditional PLA. This study presents a new common methodology for the industrial production of polymer NCs.

The dispersion of individual multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by solvent-free methods is always a difficult case. The polymer masterbatch fabricated by melt processing is a straightforward and solventfree form to store high content of dispersed fillers stably. However, it is difficult for ordinary polymer melt processing methods to reduce the primary agglomerates of MWCNTs to nanometer size and even more impossible to achieve the dispersion of individual MWCNTs in high viscous polymer melt without the use of solvents. This study utilizes the forced flow field of amorphous polylactide in high elastic state to generate strong stress and unrecoverable shaping. The dispersion of up to 30 wt % individual MWCNTs was achieved. Interestingly, high dielectric constant (18.6 at 10.2 Hz) and low dielectric loss (0.30 at 10.2 Hz) features could be acquired by just increasing the content of individual MWCNTs to 5 wt %. The dispersion mechanism was also proposed. The processing method is suggested as an easy and green method for efficient dispersion and extremely long-term storage of individual MWCNTs.