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Aerogel fibers have been recognized as the rising star in the fields of thermal insulation and wearable textiles. Yet, the lack of functionalization in aerogel fibers limits their applications. Herein, we report hygroscopic holey graphene aerogel fibers (LiCl@HGAFs) with integrated functionalities of highly efficient moisture capture, heat allocation, and microwave absorption. LiCl@HGAFs realize the water sorption capacity over 4.15 g g −1 , due to the high surface area and high water uptake kinetics. Moreover, the sorbent can be regenerated through both photo-thermal and electro-thermal approaches. Along with the water sorption and desorption, LiCl@HGAFs experience an efficient heat transfer process, with a heat storage capacity of 6.93 kJ g −1 . The coefficient of performance in the heating and cooling mode can reach 1.72 and 0.70, respectively. Notably, with the entrapped water, LiCl@HGAFs exhibit broad microwave absorption with a bandwidth of 9.69 GHz, good impedance matching, and a high attenuation constant of 585. In light of these findings, the multifunctional LiCl@HGAFs open an avenue for applications in water harvest, heat allocation, and microwave absorption. This strategy also suggests the possibility to functionalize aerogel fibers towards even broader applications. Functionalization of aerogel fibers, characterized by high porosity and low thermal conductivity, to obtain multifunctional materials is highly desirable. Here the authors report hygroscopic holey graphene aerogel fibers hosting LiCl salt, enabling moisture capture, heat allocation, and microwave absorption performance.

Silica aerogel, as the earliest synthetic and commercially available one among all known aerogels, holds significant value in fields including thermal and acoustic insulation, optics, catalysis, sorption, etc. However, throughout its nearly century-long history, the influence of solvent used during synthesis on the properties of silica aerogels has been neglected, resulting in inaccurate and ambiguous performance evaluation. Herein, we have uncovered and systematically investigated the solvent-regulable interfacial groups that enable on-demand superhydrophobicity/superhydrophilicity of silica aerogels. During either sol-gel transition or solvent exchange process both required for aerogel synthesis, the alteration of solvent either from water to ethanol or vice versa leads to silica interfacial groups switch from superhydrophilic Si-OH to superhydrophobic Si-OEt or reversely due to reversible esterification, thus enabling on-demand superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic silica aerogels. It is worth noting that on-demand solvent-regulated hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity holds true regardless of used silica precursors (the mixture of trimethoxymethylsilane (MTMS)/tetramethoxysilane (TMOS), MTMS/tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), or sodium methicosilicate (SMS)/TMOS), thereby indicating its universality, which wakes up considerable attention for producers involved in silica aerogels. Additionally, the discovery also provides a green, economical, and efficient way to achieve silica aerogels with on-demand hydrophilic/hydrophobic performance for specific sorption, etc. This work uncovered long-overlooked influence of solvent during synthesis on silica aerogels and systematically investigated the solvent-regulable interfacial groups enabling on-demand superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic aerogels.

Aerogel fibers garner tremendous scientific interest due to their unique properties such as ultrahigh porosity, large specific surface area, and ultralow thermal conductivity, enabling diverse potential applications in textile, environment, energy conversion and storage, and high‐tech areas. Here, the fabrication methodologies to construct the aerogel fibers starting from nanoscale building blocks are overviewed, and the spinning thermodynamics and spinning kinetics associated with each technology are revealed. The huge pool of material choices that can be assembled into aerogel fibers is discussed. Furthermore, the fascinating properties of aerogel fibers, including mechanical, thermal, sorptive, optical, and fire‐retardant properties are elaborated on. Next, the nano‐confining functionalization strategy for aerogel fibers is particularly highlighted, touching upon the driving force for liquid encapsulation, solid–liquid interface adhesion, and interfacial stability. In addition, emerging applications in thermal management, smart wearable fabrics, water harvest, shielding, heat transfer devices, artificial muscles, and information storage, are discussed. Last, the existing challenges in the development of aerogel fibers are pointed out and light is shed on the opportunities in this burgeoning field. Aerogel fibers emerge as rising stars in diverse fields of thermal management, smart wearable fabrics, water harvest, shielding, heat‐transfer devices, artificial muscles, and information storage. Starting from nanoscale building blocks, spinning thermodynamics and spinning kinetics associated with a variety of technologies are revealed. Aerogel fibers will earn an irreplaceable place with the advances in materials and fabrication methodologies.

Aerogels, as famous lightweight and porous nanomaterials, have attracted considerable attention in various emerging fields in recent decades, however, both low density and weak mechanical performance make their configuration-editing capability challenging. Inspired by folk arts, herein we establish a highly efficient twice-coagulated (TC) strategy to fabricate configuration-editable tough aerogels enabled by transformable gel precursors. As a proof of concept, aramid nanofibers (ANFs) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) are selected as the main components of aerogel, among which PVA forms a flexible configuration-editing gel network in the first coagulation process, and ANF forms a configuration-locking gel network in the second coagulation process. TC strategy guarantees the resulting aerogels with both high toughness and feasible configuration editing capability individually or simultaneously. Altogether, the resulting tough aerogels with special configuration through soft to hard modulation provide great opportunities to break through the performance limits of the aerogels and expand application areas of aerogels. Aerogels attract considerable attention in various emerging fields in recent decades, but low density and weak mechanical performance make their configuration-editing capability challenging. Here the authors establish an efficient twice-coagulated strategy to fabricate configuration-editable tough aerogels enabled by transformable gel precursors.

The uranium reserve in seawater is enormous, but its concentration is extremely low and plenty of interfering ions exist; therefore, it is a great challenge to extract uranium from seawater with high efficiency and high selectivity. In this work, a symbiotic aerogel fiber (i.e., PAO@ANF) based on polyamidoxime (PAO) and aramid nanofiber (ANF) is designed and fabricated via in-situ gelation of ANF with PAO in dimethyl sulfoxide and subsequent freeze-drying of the corresponding fibrous gel precursor. The resulting flexible porous aerogel fiber possesses high specific surface area (up to 165 m2·g−1), excellent hydrophilicity and high tensile strength (up to 4.56 MPa) as determined by BET, contact angle, and stress-strain measurements. The batch adsorption experiments indicate that the PAO@ANF aerogel fibers possess a maximal adsorption capacity of uranium up to 262.5 mg·g−1, and the absorption process is better fitted by the pseudo-second-order kinetics model and Langmuir isotherm model, indicating an adsorption mechanism of the monolayer chemical adsorption. Moreover, the PAO@ANF aerogel fibers exhibit selective adsorption to uranium in the presence of coexisting ions, and they could well maintain good adsorption ability and integrated porous architecture after five cycles of adsorption–desorption process. It would be expected that the symbiotic aerogel fiber could be produced on a large scale and would find promising application in uranium ion extraction from seawater.

Aerogels, often hailed as the world-changing magic nanoporous material, are traditionally synthesized through reagent-induced sol-gel transitions. However, the uncontrolled random motion of molecular/colloidal precursors poses significant challenges in achieving precise structural control of aerogel. In this study, we present an unprecedented electro-manipulation strategy, easy to be applied in batch-run as well as roll-to-roll processes, to engineer well-defined micro-/macro-structured aerogel films. By leveraging electrophoresis-driven self-assembly and electrochemistry-driven gelation of negatively charged aramid nanofibers in sequence, we demonstrate large-area (50 cm × 50 cm) as well as continuous (up to 20 meters in length) fabrications of aramid colloidal aerogel films with patterned microstructures and programmable nanofiber orientation. These features effectively enhance the performance of the resulting colloidal aerogel films such as mechanical strength, thermal insulation and proton conduction, and show their broad applications in various fields. This work presents an effective strategy for precise aerogel structure regulation through external field manipulation. Aerogels are traditionally synthesized using reagent-induced sol-gel transitions, though it is challenging to precisely control the aerogel structure. Here the authors use electrophoresis-driven self-assembly combined with electrochemical gelation to more precisely control the aerogel structure.

HighlightsA calcium-doped boron nitride (Ca-BN) aerogel was synthesized by introducing Ca into crystal structure of BN building blocks.The aerogels exhibited superior high-temperature stability and could resist the burning of butane flame (~1300 °C) in air atmosphere.Ca-BN aerogel, together with Al foil, can effectively hide thermal target at high temperature up to 1300 °C.Boron nitride (BN) aerogels, composed of nanoscale BN building units together with plenty of air in between these nanoscale building units, are ultralight ceramic materials with excellent thermal/electrical insulation, great chemical stability and high-temperature oxidation resistance, which offer considerable advantages for various applications under extreme conditions. However, previous BN aerogels cannot resist high temperature above 900 °C in air atmosphere, and high-temperature oxidation resistance enhancement for BN aerogels is still a great challenge. Herein, a calcium-doped BN (Ca-BN) aerogel with enhanced high-temperature stability (up to ~  1300 °C in air) was synthesized by introducing Ca atoms into crystal structure of BN building blocks via high-temperature reaction between calcium phosphate and melamine diborate architecture. Such Ca-BN aerogels could resist the burning of butane flame (~  1300 °C) and keep their megashape and microstructure very well. Furthermore, Ca-BN aerogel serves as thermal insulation layer, together with Al foil serving as both low-infrared-emission layer and high-infrared-reflection layer, forming a combination structure that can effectively hide high-temperature target (heated by butane flame). Such successful chemical doping of metal element into crystal structure of BN may be helpful in the future design and fabrication of advanced BN aerogel materials, and further extending their possible applications to extremely high-temperature environments.

As a result of inherent rigidity of the conjugated macromolecular chains resulted from the delocalized π-electron system along the polymer backbone, it has been a huge challenge to make conducting polymer hydrogels elastic by far. Herein elastic and conductive polypyrrole hydrogels with only conducting polymer as the continuous phase have been simply synthesized in the indispensable conditions of 1) mixed solvent, 2) deficient oxidant and 3) monthly secondary growth. The elastic mechanism and oxidative polymerization mechanism on the resulting PPy hydrogels have been discussed. The resulting hydrogels show some novel properties, e.g., shape memory elasticity, fast functionalization with various guest objects and fast removal of organic infectants from aqueous solutions, all of which cannot be observed from traditional non-elastic conducting polymer counterparts. What's more, light-weight, elastic and conductive organic sponges with excellent stress-sensing behavior have been successfully achieved via using the resulting polypyrrole hydrogels as precursors.

Apalutamide is a novel agent for castration-resistant prostate cancer while skin rashes are the most common untoward reactions. Up to now, most of the reported dermatologic adverse events (dAEs) allocated to mild and moderate with a fair prognosis. Herein, we report a case series of severe dAEs in China caused by apalutamide. The four patients all developed severe and lethal drug eruptions including Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis with a mean incubation period of 40 days. On the basis of the medical condition, all the patients were suggested to withdraw apalutamide and three of them recovered. Of note, attempts of rechallenges of apalutamide may be fatal. The incidence of dAEs in previously conducted clinical trials exceeded 20%, with maculopapular rashes being the most common feature. However, the incidence and severity varied in different geographic regions and ethnicities. Inadequate attention was paid to severe cutaneous adverse reactions. Long latency may easily lead to the misdiagnosis of dAEs, and immediate withdrawal of apalutamide is the cornerstone of therapies. Special and adequate attention should be paid to apalutamide-attributed severe cutaneous adverse effects. Besides, the prognosis of severe drug eruptions may be disappointing, and in-time withdrawal is vital.

To promote the engineering application of recycled concrete, recycled concrete is modified by the addition of nanosilica (NS) and steel fibers (SF) to form NS and SF reinforced recycled concrete (NSFRC). The effects of the replacement rate and the SF and NS content on the fracture properties of recycled concrete (RC) are analyzed via a three-point bending test. The research shows that the fracture surface of the specimen is relatively flat when no SF are added. With an increase in the SF or NS content, the initial cracking load, initiation fracture toughness, instability load, and fracture energy of the NSFRC increase. The fracture properties of RC composites reinforced with SF and NS are better than those of RC reinforced with a single material. When 2% NS and 1.5% SF are added, the fracture properties reach a maximum value. The damage model established in this study can better reflect the stress-strain relationship of NSFRC during fracture.