Plastic photodegradation naturally takes 300–500 years, and their chemical degradation typically needs additional energy or causes secondary pollution. The main components of global plastic are polymers. Hence, new technologies are urgently required for the effective decomposition of the polymers in natural environments, which lays the foundation for this study on future plastic degradation. This study synthesizes the in-situ growth of TiO₂ at graphene oxide (GO) matrix to form the TiO₂@GO photocatalyst, and studies its application in conjugated polymers’ photodegradation. The photodegradation process could be probed by UV-vis absorption originating from the conjugated backbone of polymers. We have found that the complete decomposition of various polymers in a natural environment by employing the photocatalyst TiO₂@GO within 12 days. It is obvious that the TiO₂@GO shows a higher photocatalyst activity than the TiO₂, due to the higher crystallinity morphology and smaller size of TiO₂, and the faster transmission of photogenerated electrons from TiO₂ to GO. The stronger fluorescence (FL) intensity of TiO₂@GO compared to TiO₂ at the terephthalic acid aqueous solution indicates that more hydroxyl radicals (•OH) are produced for TiO₂@GO. This further confirms that the GO could effectively decrease the generation of recombination centers, enhance the separation efficiency of photoinduced electrons and holes, and increase the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂@GO. This work establishes the underlying basic mechanism of polymers photodegradation, which might open new avenues for simultaneously addressing the white pollution crisis in a natural environment.

Many factors can affect microwave absorption performance, including impedance matching, attenuation constant, electromagnetic (EM) loss capacity, multi-reflection and scattering and so on. In this work, corncob-derived carbon/Ni composites have been chosen to judge which factor has the greatest influence on the EM absorption behaviors, in which the surface area and pore size have been adjusted by the amount of chemical active additive. Closer impedance matching, larger attenuation constant and stronger EM loss capacity result in the good microwave absorbing behaviors of corncob-derived carbon/Ni composites when the mass ratio of KOH: corncob is 1.5. Minimal reflection loss values can reach −50.25 dB at 12 GHz and the effective bandwidth is 2.24 GHz and reflection loss values start be less than −10 dB at 1.2 mm. Through the analysis of morphology, microstructure, surface area and EM properties, it can be concluded that impedance matching is the most important for obtaining good microwave absorption performances, followed by EM loss ability and attenuation constant, and finally the multi-reflection and scattering by surface area.

In this article, we present a novel and promising approach to enhance the device performance and stability by the simple incorporation of all conjugated polythiophene diblock copolymers, poly(3-hexylthiophene)-b-poly(3-triethylene glycol thiophene) (P3HT-b-P3TEGT), into the active layer based on inverted device structures. During the spin-coating process, the triethylene glycol side chains of P3HT-b-P3TEGT would spontaneously migrate vertically towards the active layer surface and form a nanoscale self-assembled anode buffer layer, which simultaneously drives the orderly packing of donor polymer chains and vertical phase separation morphology, allowing electrons and holes to move more efficiently to the respective electrode. Moreover, the nanoscale self-assembled buffer layer can form interfacial modification and ohmic contact between the active layer and Ag (or MoO₃/Ag) electrode, reduce the contact resistance of the device, and increase the electrical conduction of the device, especially upon chelating lithium ions (Li⁺) to the triethylene glycol side chains of P3HT-b-P3TEGT. Combining the above advantages, the efficiency and stability of the polymer solar cells are enhanced. A remarkable improvement in the PCE with 7.3% (measured in air) is obtained for PBDTTT-C-T:PC₇₁BM devices.

Stretchable conductors (SCDs) are one of the essential functional elements for soft electronics, such as next-generation wearable and bio-implantable devices. However, most of the reported SCDs display a variable conductivity upon deformation, resulting in a high error level of electrical signals. Here, we develop a full-filled SCD composing an Ecoflex silicone rubber substrate and a novel conductive filler, i.e. a viscous fluid containing graphitized carbon black (GCB) and sodium chloride (NaCl). These two components show opposite electrical responses during stretching: the conductivity of GCB reduces due to the piezoresistive effect, but the ionic carriers from NaCl enhance the conductivity because of cellulose nanofiber (CNF, the only insulated component in the fluid) reversal, namely the shutter effect. The cooperative effects endow the fluid with excellent conductivity and stability during stretching (i.e. self-compensation), only slight resistance change (≤6.7%) over a large tensile range (100%, GF ≤ 0.07). Our stretchable conductor presents a satisfactory stable electrical performance under various deformations (e.g. twisting, bending, and stretching) simulating real wearing situation. This work provides a unique and efficient avenue for the preparation of stretchable conductors.