IrO₂ nanoparticles highly dispersed on N-doped carbon nanotubes pave a promising way to deploy an efficient cathode catalyst for ultralong-life Li–CO₂ batteries.

Carbon aerogels have been widely studied due to their high specific surface areas, strong adsorption capabilities and good thermal properties, which can be used to develop shape-stabilized phase change materials (PCMs). The porous framework of carbon aerogels plays a crucial role in enhancing the performance of composite PCMs. Here we report a lightweight and high strength three-dimensional (3D) carbon aerogel by using inexpensive biomass xanthan gum (XG) to eliminate the structural collapse and shrinkage observed in traditional polyimide (PI) carbon aerogels. The high stability of XG allows uniform dispersion of TiO₂ nanoparticles in the framework, endowing the carbon aerogel with high light–thermal transfer performance. PEG 6000 was encapsulated using the high strength PI/XG/TiO₂ carbon aerogel via vacuum impregnation, creating multi-functional carbon aerogel-based form-stable PCMs (CA-FSPCMs) with excellent thermal performance. The CA-FSPCMs demonstrated latent heat values up to 160.38 J g⁻¹, with excellent thermal reliability even after 100 thermal cycles. Furthermore, their light–thermal conversion and storage efficiency exceeded 94.23%, and their thermal conductivity improved up to 0.82 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ thanks to the PI/XG/TiO₂ carbon aerogel. We also evaluated the morphology, anti-leakage performance, mechanical properties and thermal response properties of the CA-FSPCMs. The heat energy storage and release capabilities of the fabricated CA-FSPCMs are very promising for applications in temperature regulation.

Thermal insulation and temperature control are extremely important in numerous human activities. Traditional aerogels with low thermal conductivity are known to facilitate good insulation. Boron nitride (BN) aerogels consist of nanoscale nanofiber units with plentiful porous structures, possessing excellent thermal/electrical insulation and chemical stability. However, these porous materials cannot effectively block heat transmission, despite their low thermal conductivity. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new insulation strategy and explore materials with excellent thermal insulation performance, with special attention to heat transmitted not only through air, but also through thermal regulation by thermal adsorption. Phase change materials (PCMs) are considered promising latent heat storage materials due to their large heat storage capacity, making them promising candidates for highly efficient thermal insulation. However, the flammability of organic PCMs and their susceptibility to leakage during the solid-to-liquid transition seriously limit their wide application. In this study we combined the dual-thermal insulation performance of BN fiber aerogels and PCMs and constructed novel flexible and multifunctional composites with excellent thermal insulation performance using Co-MOF nano-flower cross-linked BN aerogels as interconnected porous substrates to encapsulate paraffin wax (PW) PCMs. The composites exhibited the advantages of BN, Co-MOFs and PCMs, overcoming the drawbacks of single-component materials. The results showed that the latent-heat storage capacity of the BN/Co-MOF/PW composites reached 188.11 J g⁻¹ and the resulting thermal conductivity was as low as 0.0397 W (m⁻¹ K⁻¹), due to high thermal insulation performance. The morphology, flexibility, mechanical performance, and flame retardancy of the constructed BN/Co-MOF/PW composites were systematically investigated, ensuring that the composites could be used for thermal insulation and flame-retardant applications.

High efficiency and stability, low-cost and large-area solution processing are critical for the commercialization of organic solar cells (OSCs), and there are still great challenges to develop an appropriate cathode interlayer (CIL) for efficient and stable large-area OSCs. Herein, by ingeniously combining a cross-linkable interfacial polymer (PFOPy) and a n-type self-doped interfacial molecule (PDINN), a robust and thickness-insensitive hybrid CIL (PFOPy-N) is developed to enable high-efficiency and stable inverted OSCs. The PFOPy-N CIL shows strong solvent resistance properties due to the crosslinking characteristic of PFOPy. Moreover, the PFOPy-N CIL achieves significantly increased electrical conductivity due to the n-type self-doping characteristic of PDINN and the charge transfer between PFOPy and PDINN and simultaneously offers a further reduced work function of ITO, which synergistically enhances charge transport and extraction and reduces charge recombination in inverted OSCs. Consequently, inverted OSCs based on the PFOPy-N CIL (10 wt% PDINN) show significantly improved photovoltaic performance compared to pure PFOPy and PDINN based devices as well as ZnO based devices. Utilizing a PM6:L8-BO active layer, an optimal PFOPy-N based device exhibits an outstanding PCE of 17.65%, which is one of the highest values for inverted OSCs with an organic cathode interlayer. The PFOPy-N based devices with the CIL thickness range of 7 to 39 nm all exhibit high PCEs of over 15.06%, showing obviously increased thickness insensitivity. PFOPy-N based large-area and flexible devices also exhibit superior PCEs of 15.95% and 15.84%, respectively, indicating the great potential of the PFOPy-N CIL in large-area and flexible OSCs. Notably, the PFOPy-N based device possesses significantly higher thermal cycling stability compared to the ZnO based device, indicating the robust resistance of the PFOPy-N CIL to thermal cycling stress. The impressive results will inspire the simple and effective strategy of combining crosslinking and self-doping characteristics to develop robust and thickness-insensitive hybrid CILs for high-efficiency and stable OSCs.