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Selective hydrogenations of lignin-derived phenolic compounds represent essential processes in the chemical industry, especially for production of a multitude of fine chemicals. However, selective hydrogenation of phenolic compounds in water phase suffers from low conversion. Here we report a catalyst of well-dispersed Ru clusters fixed in N-doped mesoporous hollow carbon spheres (Ru@N-CS) for enhanced cyclohexanol productivity in phenol hydrogenation at mild aqueous condition. This superhydrophobicity carbon spheres appear to selectively allow diffusion of phenol and hydrogen molecules to the electron-rich coordination unsaturated Ru active sites, while confining the reactants there to enhance its reaction probability. The Ru@N-CS catalyst can selectively hydrogenate phenol at 80 °C and 0.5 MPa of H2 in 30 min in aqueous medium with phenol conversions of 100% and ~100% cyclohexanol selectivity, corresponding to cyclohexanol productivity up to 471 per g of Ru per minute. The TOF value is up to 9980 h−1, which 14 times more than Ru nanoparticles supported on N-doped carbon hollow spheres (Ru/N-CS). This work provides an important catalytic system for upgrading of bio-oil into value-added chemicals under mild aqueous-phase.

Preparation of superhydrophobic carbon materials from lignocellulosic biomass waste via one‐step carbonization is very difficult due to the existences of polar functional groups and ashes, which are extremely hydrophilic. Herein, superhydrophobic carbon materials can be facilely synthesized by catalytic pyrolysis of biomass waste using FeCl3 as catalyst. The results show that the surface energy of lignin‐derived char (CharL) is significantly reduced to 19.25 mN m−1 from 73.29 mN m−1, and the water contact angle increased from 0 to 151.5°, by interaction with FeCl3. Multiple characterizations and control experiments demonstrate that FeCl3 can catalyze the pyrolytic volatiles to form a rough graphite and diamond‐like carbon layer that isolates the polar functional groups and ashes on CharL, contributing to the superhydrophobicity of the CharL. The one‐step catalytic pyrolysis is able to convert different natural biomass waste (e.g., lignin, cellulose, sawdust, rice husk, maize straw, and pomelo peel) into superhydrophobic carbon materials. This study contributes new information related to the interfacial chemistry during the sustainable utilization of biomass waste. A facile method of converting biomass waste into superhydrophobic carbon materials is proposed by catalytic fast pyrolysis. The mechanism is attributed to the capping of the carbon deposition on the char coupled with the increased roughness, catalyzed by FeCl3. The superhydrophobic biochar exhibits outstanding stability in harsh environments and excellent performance in oil/water separation and self‐cleaning surfaces.

Economic, reusable and renewable adsorbents are prepared by surface functionalization of wood sawdust (WD) based amorphous carbon thin film (ACTF) using long-chain palmitic fatty acid (PAC). The prepared adsorbents were characterized by FTIR, HR-TEM, SEM, and N 2 physisorption (BET) techniques. The WD-PAC and ACTF-PAC materials reflect a good gasoline and condensate oil adsorption capacity ( q e , mg.g −1 ) from wastewater with high kinetics rates within 2–4 h contact time. Kinetic adsorption was found to behave as a pseudo-second kinetic model and controlled by a diffusion mechanism with an exothermic nature. The initial oil adsorption rates, h O (mg.g −1 .h −1 ) for gasoline and condensate oil were 72.5–109.9 mg.g −1 .h −1 and 322.6–384.6 mg.g −1 .h −1 , respectively, by WD-PAC and ACTF-PAC. Equilibrium data reflected favorable fit with multiple Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm model and the maximum monolayer q e , calc (mg.g −1 ) was calculated respectively as 363.3 and 447.4 mg.g −1 for condensate oil using WD-PAC and ACTF-PAC. Response surface methodology (RSM) was successfully utilized to optimize and simulate four statistical quadratic polynomial models to predict the oil uptake by the prepared adsorbents. The quality of the models was judged by analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 95% confidence limit ( p  < 0.05). The quadratic interaction effects between adsorbent dose (2.5–7.5 g.L −1 ) and initial oil concentrations (0.1–2.5 g.L −1 ) by ACTF-PAC shows no significant effect (p-value of 0.198 and 0.687), indicating the improvement of the hydrophobic surface characteristics after functionalization. In addition, the WD-PAC and ACTF-PAC adsorbents proved to be a potential candidate for oil contamination prevention and/or recovery even after ten cycles. Graphical Abstract Oil sorption optimization using renewable hydrophobic ACTF based zero-cost materials

In the development of technology, a source of inspiration for mankind is the nature. Naturally, many biological surfaces having unique micro–nanostructures, such as lotus leaves, butterfly wings, rose petals and shark skin, exhibit skills and attribute beyond conventional engineering. These skills and characteristic properties are exploited by several scientists to produce bioinspired materials by mimicking biological materials. Scientists called these materials as biomimetic materials as they are developed by inspiration from nature. For the last few decades, an extensive research has been going on to introduce a wide variety of biomimetic materials which can exhibit advanced properties. This paper gives an overview of recently developed biomimetic materials such as Se-modified carbon nitride nanosheets, small intestinal submucosa, magnesium–strontium hydroxyapatite, dimethylglyoxime–urethane polyurethane, polydimethylsiloxane, Ag/Ag@AgCl/ZnO and PDTC(COOH) 4 /HA, along with their biological properties. In addition, the applications of the biomimetic and biological materials in various fields such as biomedical, oil–water separation, sensors, tissue engineering, genome technology and ultrasound imaging are also discussed.

With the massive discharge of industrial oily wastewater and the frequent occurrence of oil spills at sea in recent years, the fabrication of superhydrophobic and durable oil-absorbing materials is urgently required for oil recovery and disposal of oily water in practical applications. In this paper, ultralight, elastic, superhydrophobic and durable carbon fiber aerogels (CFAs) derived from sisal leaves were prepared via simple alkalization, bleaching, freeze-drying and carbonization. The prepared CFAs were characterized using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, N 2 adsorption–desorption, contact angle measurement and scanning electron microscopy. The as-prepared CFAs with 3D porous architectures and excellent flexibility under compression were found to be effective oil absorption material for various oils and organic solvents. Textural analyses showed that the CFAs consist of fiber morphologies with high porosity originating from vacancies between individual fibers. The nitrogen sorption analysis confirmed that the material is mesoporous with average pore diameter of 3.03 nm and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area of 399.85 m 2 /g. The contact angle measurements revealed that CFAs show both superoleophilic and superhydrophobic properties simultaneously with an oil contact angle of 0° and a static water contact angle of 153 ± 1°, thus the aerogels possessed a good oil–water separation ability. Furthermore, the CFAs exhibited a superior absorption capacity in the range from 90 to 188 times of their own weight for different organic solvents and oils. After recycling 10 times, the CFAs still exhibit excellent oils absorption properties, as well as exhibit excellent stability under harsh conditions, showing that the CFAs has excellent reusability performance. This work provides a green strategy to utilize low-cost biomass as raw materials to fabricate superhydrophobic CFAs as an oil absorbent, which has great potential in application of disposal of oily water and environmental protection.

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has affected more than 200 countries. Wearing masks can effectively cut off the virus spreading route since the coronavirus is mainly spreading by respiratory droplets. However, the common surgical masks cannot be reused, resulting in the increasing economic and resource consumption around the world. Herein, we report a superhydrophobic, photo-sterilize, and reusable mask based on graphene nanosheet-embedded carbon (GNEC) film, with high-density edges of standing structured graphene nanosheets. The GNEC mask exhibits an excellent hydrophobic ability (water contact angle: 157.9°) and an outstanding filtration efficiency with 100% bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE). In addition, the GNEC mask shows the prominent photo-sterilize performance, heating up to 110 °C quickly under the solar illumination. These high performances may facilitate the combat against the COVID-19 outbreaks, while the reusable masks help reducing the economic and resource consumption.

In-flight icing presents a critical safety hazard for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), resulting in ice accumulation on propeller surfaces that compromise UAV aerodynamic performance and operational integrity. While hybrid anti-/de-icing systems (i.e., combining active heating with passive superhydrophobic coatings) have been developed recently to efficiently address this challenge, conventional active heating sub-systems utilized in the hybrid anti-/de-icing systems face significant limitations when applied to curved geometries of UAV propeller blades. This necessitates the development of innovative self-heating superhydrophobic coatings that can conform perfectly to complex surface topographies. Carbon-based electrothermal coatings, particularly those incorporating graphite and carbon nanotubes, represent a promising approach for ice mitigation applications. This study presents a comprehensive experimental investigation into the development and optimization of a novel self-heating carbon nanotube (CNT)-based superhydrophobic coating specifically designed for UAV icing mitigation. The coating’s anti-/de-icing efficacy was evaluated through a comprehensive experimental campaign conducted on a rotating UAV propeller under typical glaze icing conditions within an advanced icing research tunnel facility. The durability of the coating was also examined in a rain erosion test rig under the continuous high-speed impingement of water droplets. Experimental results demonstrate the successful application of the proposed sprayable self-heating superhydrophobic coating in UAV icing mitigation, providing valuable insights into the viability of CNT-based electrothermal coatings for practical UAV icing protection. This work contributes to the advancement of icing protection technologies for un-manned aerial systems operating in adverse weather conditions.

Herein, we proposed and demonstrated a facile and scalable strategy to fabricate multifunctional self-similar superhydrophobic coatings. Firstly, a hydrophobic cationic cellulose derivative containing imidazolium cation was synthesized by a controllable derivatization. It could effectively disperse one-dimensional (1D) multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), because the imidazolium cations formed cation—π interactions with MWCNT. Further, the synergy effect of the cationic cellulose derivative and MWCNT dispersed two-dimensional (2D) reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to obtain a three-components nano-dispersion. Finally, via a simple spaying process, a superhydrophobic coating with self-similar micro-nano structures spontaneously formed from inside to outside, owing to the various nanostructures with different shapes and sizes in the dispersion and the adhesive effect of the cellulose derivative. This superhydrophobic coating was easy to scale, and exhibited superior stability owing to the renewal micro-nano structures. It retained the superhydrophobicity even if it was treated by rubbing for 1500 times. Moreover, it had outstanding photo-thermal and Joule-heating performance, because of the strong solar absorption and high electrical conductivity of MWCNT and rGO. It provided both passive anti-icing and active deicing effects. Thus, it could achieve all-weather anti-icing for wind power generators under sunlight and low voltage conditions. Such facile preparation method and multifunctional renewable superhydrophobic coating hold great application prospects.

Floods impede gas (O2 and CO2) exchange between plants and the environment. A mechanism to enhance plant gas exchange under water comprises gas films on hydrophobic leaves, but the genetic regulation of this mechanism is unknown. We used a rice mutant (dripping wet leaf 7, drp7) which does not retain gas films on leaves, and its wild-type (Kinmaze), in gene discovery for this trait. Gene complementation was tested in transgenic lines. Functional properties of leaves as related to gas film retention and underwater photosynthesis were evaluated. Leaf Gas Film 1 (LGF1) was identified as the gene determining leaf gas films. LGF1 regulates C30 primary alcohol synthesis, which is necessary for abundant epicuticular wax platelets, leaf hydrophobicity and gas films on submerged leaves. This trait enhanced underwater photosynthesis 8.2-fold and contributes to submergence tolerance. Gene function was verified by a complementation test of LGF1 expressed in the drp7 mutant background, which restored C30 primary alcohol synthesis, wax platelet abundance, leaf hydrophobicity, gas film retention, and underwater photosynthesis. The discovery of LGF1 provides an opportunity to better understand variation amongst rice genotypes for gas film retention ability and to target various alleles in breeding for improved submergence tolerance for yield stability in flood-prone areas.

Functional textiles are ideal substrates for wearable electronics. Herein, superhydrophobic, flame-retardant and conductive cotton fabrics were fabricated by sequential assembly of poly(ethylenimine), ammonium polyphosphate and carbon nanotubes, followed by post-treatment with poly(dimethylsiloxane). The resulting fabrics possessed excellent superhydrophobic stability toward acid, alkali, organic solvent, UV irradiation, abrasion and long-time laundering. Meanwhile, when suffering to fire, the coated fabric could generate an efficient char layer and extinguish the fire to protect the cotton fiber from forming flame. Furthermore, this conductive cotton fabric exhibited stable sensing ability in contact with water droplets, showing wide potential application in wearable electronics as multifunctional smart textiles.