Reverse Thinking of the Aggregation‐Induced Emission Principle: Amplifying Molecular Motions to Boost Photothermal Efficiency of Nanofibers**

Abstract

Development of efficient photothermal nanofibers is of vital importance, but remaining a big challenge. Herein, with reverse thinking of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) principle, we demonstrate an ingenious and universal protocol for amplifying molecular motions to boost photothermal efficiency of nanofibers. Core-shell nanofibers having the olive oil solution of AIE-active molecules as the core surrounded by PVDF-HFP shell were constructed by coaxial electrospinning. The molecularly dissolved state of AIE-active molecules allows them to freely rotate and/or vibrate in nanofibers upon photoexcitation and thus significantly elevates the proportion of non-radiative energy dissipation, affording impressive heat-generating efficiency. Photothermal evaluation shows that the core-shell nanofibers with excellent durability can reach up to 22.36% of photothermal conversion efficiency, which is 26-fold as the non-core-shell counterpart. Noticeably, such core-shell nanofiber can be used for photothermal textiles and solar steam generation (1.52 kg m-1 h-1 under 1 sun) induced by natural sunlight with green and carbon-zero emission.

Biomimetic Seawater Evaporator Based on Organic 3D Light Capture and Suspension‐Protection Mechanism for In Situ Marine Cultivation

“…This observation signifies that the emissions of the Y5 and Y7 solids were significantly quenched, thereby enhancing the nonradiative decay of the molecules and generating thermal energy (Figure 2e). [50] The inherently superior light capture capability of diatoms, attributable to their porous skeleton network structure, was the basis for the design of a novel evaporator in this study. This evaporator combines Y5/Y7 and a porous wood sponge, aiming to achieve exceptional light-harvesting/utilizing capability (Figure 3a).…”

1+1>2: Fiber Synergy in Aggregation‐Induced Emission

“…Compared with that direct incorporation in fibers, AIE-active PTAs of BPBBT (Figure 7C, i) incorporated into the oil phase shows activated intramolecular motions (Figure 7C, ii). Thus, Tang et al [26] designed a core-shell structure fibrous mat (Figure 7C, iii) by a coaxial electrostatic spinning technology, in which the oil solution played as the core layer and poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) existed as a shell layer to address above problems. Upon solar irradiation (2 min, 1 sun), the temperature of such core-shell structured fibers reached 56.1 °C, whereas the directly doped fibers achieved only 40.4 °C.…”

“…[25] On the single fiber level, the integration of a multiple functional components into a fiber provides adjustable microenvironments to manipulate the aggregate state of AIEgens. [26] On the multiple-fiber level, the assembly of multiple fibers offers entangled network to produce large-scale fabrics to endow AIEgens with amplified functions and practical values. [27] The introduction of fibers boosts the aggregate science of AIE, filling the gap between molecules and macroscopic materials and shows great potential in diverse areas (Figure 1).…”

“…For smart sensing, "AIE + Fiber" sensors show advantages of higher sensitivity, [30] rapid response, [31] high spatial resolution, [32] and portability, [33] compared with those molecule-based sensors. For photodynamic and photothermal applications, "AIE + Fiber" amplifies their performance and expands applications in antibacterial protection, [34] hot therapy, [26] and seawater sterilization. [35] In this Concept article, we focus on the latest advances on the synergy and cooperation between "AIE + Fiber" for the boosted performance that beyond AIE.…”

“…After one minute sunlight exposure, the temperature of the patch reaches at 51.2 °C which is higher than the around skin and ambient. Reproduced from ref [26]. Copyright (2020), with permission from Wiley-VCH.…”