Soft pneumatic actuators often struggle to achieve both a high degree of freedom and high bending stiffness simultaneously. In this letter, we present a bionic soft pneumatic actuator inspired by the intricate musculature of the elephant trunk, which employs a dual actuation mode of transverse-longitudinal muscles to enable flexible spatial motion. By synergistically combining three different elastic materials, the bionic soft pneumatic actuator achieves a unique structure and control method, enabling unparalleled spatial locomotion with bending motion in eight different directions. Theoretical analyses and experimental results demonstrate that the folded structure with square spaced surfaces, in conjunction with pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs), exhibits superior performance. It achieves a deformation stiffness of 500 mN/mm while maintaining a bending angle of 40°, which is more than twice that of conventional actuators. With the flexible spatial movement ability, it can be applied to flexible manipulators, adapting to the gripping of objects of different shapes and qualities, and realizing the gripping of objects with a maximum weight of more than 1000 g. This flexible actuator integrated with material, structure, actuation, and control provides a new direction for the application of bionic soft robots.

In recent years, fluorescence imaging has occupied a very important position in the life science and biomedical fields. However, achieving nanomaterials for bioimaging with both high fluorescence quantum efficiency and high stability remains a significant challenge. Herein, we synthesized mPEG_5K–PCL_10K@TFMDSA and mPEG_5K–PLLA_10K@TFMDSA nanoparticles using polymer-induced aggregation. This method significantly enhanced the luminescence efficiency of TFMDSA nanoparticles in solution, attributed to improved intermolecular interactions and restricted molecular vibrations. The resulting nanoparticles exhibited exceptional optical stability over a period of seven days and demonstrated low cytotoxicity towards HeLa cells, making them highly suitable for bioimaging applications. Cellular uptake studies indicated that these nanoparticles were more efficiently internalized by HeLa cells compared to their amorphous counterparts, likely due to their unique square morphology. Our findings highlight the potential of polymer-induced aggregation in enhancing the optical properties and stability of TFMDSA nanomaterials, suggesting their promise as biofluorescent probes for cancer diagnosis and other biomedical applications.

A novel monomer containing tetraphenylethylene-(2,6-difluorophenyl)(4-(3-(4-1,2,2-triphenyl vinyl)phenoxy)propyl)phenyl)methanone (2F-TPE) was designed and synthesized by reaction of (4-(3-bromopropyl)phenyl)(2,6-difluorophenyl)methanone and 1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1,2,2-triphenylethene. A series of high fluorescence intensity poly(aryl ether ketone) copolymers containing tetraphenylethylene (TPE–PAEK) were prepared, which is the first report of preparing PAEK featuring tetraphenylethylene groups by polycondensation. The fluorescence and thermal properties of TPE–PAEK were characterized using fluorescence spectrophotometer, differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis respectively. The results indicated that tetraphenylethylene-based copolymers possessed high fluorescence intensity at a low concentration both in solids and in water/THF mixtures. TPE–PAEK still presented strong fluorescence intensity at elevated temperature up to 90 °C. In addition, TPE–PAEK possess excellent thermal stability.

Photovoltaic (PV) park equipped with energy storage (ES) can reduce the volatility of PV output and promote the PV consumption. However, the single application of ES restricts the development of PV and ES industry. It is crucial to explore the collaborative planning of the joint system under multiple application scenarios. Therefore, a collaborative planning strategy for the PV-ES joint system in park considering multi-user bidding is proposed. Firstly, the interactive models of various users participating in the park are established according to the user categories. Users can act as electric suppliers or demanders according to their own power supply and demand. They declare prices and electricity to the PV and ES operator in park to participate in the collaborative planning of the PV and ES joint system. Secondly, the objective function is to minimize the cost of the PV and ES operator in park. Finally, based on a real PV park, the simulation analysis is carried out to verify the rationality and effectiveness of the proposed collaborative planning strategy of the PV-ES joint system in park.