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Assembling cellulose into hydroplastics through water-enhanced effects remains challenging. Here the authors demonstrate that modulating the polarity by using thioctic acid leads to a reconfigured network with enhanced mechanical properties and reversible adhesion.

High temperature phosphorescence is a useful property, but can be challenging to achieve. Here, the authors report the development of gel materials with high temperature phosphorescence from non-aromatic organic materials, by use of a deep eutectic solvent and wet annealing.

Liquid metals can create flexible, conductive composites, but often show a trade-off between these properties. Here, the authors optimise the interactions between liquid-metal and polyurethane to obtain a composite with high thermal conductivity and stretchability at low liquid metal loading.

Current recycling methods for polyurethane waste suffer from high reagent consumption, urethane byproduct generation, and limited economic value. Here, the authors demonstrate a selective cleavage—crosslink strategy using food-grade ethyl acetoacetate to break biuret crosslinks while preserving urethane/urea bonds in non-crosslinked regions intact.

Colour-tuneable room temperature phosphorescence is challenging to achieve, but has potential in applications. Here, the authors report the study of carbazole and benzindole derivatives within a unified framework, allowing materials with a range of phosphorescence colours.

Chromatographic separation is controlled by thermodynamic and kinetics, but engineering both factors remains challenging. Here the authors demonstrate engineering of covalent organic framework from both thermodynamics and kinetics perspectives for chromatographic separation of halogenated isomers.

Active layers in organic electronic devices often contain glassy regions whose role remains largely uncharted. Here the authors demonstrate that the thermodynamic state of these glassy phases can be used for tuning the optoelectronic properties of polymer semiconductors.

Current additive manufacturing materials often suffer from poor stability, limited shape recovery, and insufficient mechanical properties. Here the authors develop a photopolymerizable resin with stiffness-deformability synergy and spatiotemporal shape memory capabilities.

Achieving both high strength and toughness in single-covalent-network hydrogels is a challenge. Here, the authors report a transient entanglement strategy which enables energy dissipation and stress redistribution to achieve strong, tough polyacrylamide hydrogels.

The surface tension of polymers under ambient or high-pressure conditions has been extensively studied but it remains much less explored under high vacuum conditions. Here the authors study the effect of air pressure on the surface tension of polymer melts.

The practical application of photocatalytic uranium removal is hampered by the inefficient charge separation of electron-hole pairs in photocatalytic systems, which limits the generation of reactive oxygen species needed for uranium precipitation. Here, the authors show that weakly localized electrons enhance the electronic coherence in fluorine-functionalized covalent organic frameworks strengthening charge separation and promoting directional electron transport to boost the photocatalytic uranium removal from nuclear wastewater.

The authors report multifunctional and multimodal sensing embodied in a soft gripper with integrated vision and touch that measures fruit size, shape and firmness, accurately assessing ripeness and harvesting strawberries and delicate fruits.

Photocured materials with room temperature phosphorescence are potentially useful but can be challenging to prepare. Here, the authors report the development of such materials by use of naphthalimide as both a chromophore and photoinitiator.

Membrane-based separation methods are promising for ion extraction, though current commercial membranes have unfavorable selectivity among similar ions. Here the authors design a crown-ether based membrane for preferential separation of potassium ions in mixtures of monovalent and divalent cations.

The chemical stability of fluorinated polymers leads to long-term environmental persistence, rendering end-of-life management essential. Here the authors report a fluorinated photoresist that enables tomographic volumetric 3D printing with closed loop chemical recycling of its fluorinated content.

Performing ring opening metathesis polymerisation of cyclohexene is challenging due to its low ring strain. Here, cyclohexene-derived monomers were designed with varying ring strains to tailor their polymerisation and depolymerisation thermodynamics, providing a guideline for future monomer design.

As the properties of polymer gels are influenced by solvent as well as the network, choice of solvent is important for determination of properties. Here, the authors report the use of polyethylene glycol as a solvent for the formation of a dissipative gel, with coupling of elasticity and viscosity.

The reprocessability of covalent adaptable networks often comes at the expense of mechanical performance and thermomechanical stability. Herein, the authors introduce a dynamic N-hydroxyphthalimide-urethane bond to achieve thermomechanical stability and reprocessability in covalent adaptable networks.

Current CO₂-to-polymer routes require pure CO₂, catalysts, and high-pressure, high-temperature conditions. Here, the authors report a catalyst-free route using atmospheric CO₂ at room temperature and pressure to create dynamic covalent networks that are self-healing, reprocessable, and chemically recyclable.

Lactide is enantiomeric, and depolymerization of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) with mixed chirality typically produces a racemic mixture. Here, the authors use a chiral Aluminium catalyst for the stereoselective depolymerization of PLLA and PDLA towards chiral lactide with high optical purity.

Total internal reflection structural colors often lack dynamic response. Here, the authors develop Janus droplet systems with dual surfactant/temperature responsiveness, creating cold-chain labels to monitor pharmaceutical freeze history via color changes.

Template-directed covalent polymerization that proceeds without sacrificing non-covalent order of the precursor during alignment remains a formidable challenge. Here the authors report a supramolecular-templating strategy for photopolymerization of triphenylamine-based diyne assemblies.

Polymer thin films that emit and absorb circularly polarised light are promising in achieving important technological advances, but the origin of the large chiroptical effects in such films has remained elusive. Here the authors demonstrate that in non-aligned polymer thin films, large chiroptical effects are caused by magneto-electric coupling, not structural chirality as previously assumed.

Natural rubber is a widely used biopolymer and further improving its resistance to crack growth will extend its service life. Here the authors show a strategy to amplify the resistance to crack growth in natural rubber by forming a tanglemer.

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is emerging as a potential alternative to conventional fossil-based plastics. Here, the authors review BC’ s modification-structure-property relationships, environmental impact, techno-economic analysis, and contributions to promoting a circular economy, highlight BC’s potential as a bioplastic, and discuss its current limitations and viable solutions.

Achieving rapid and reversible tuning of structures and producing structures with high aspect ratios with polymer self-growth remains challenging. Here, the authors introduce a generalized stretch-induced polymer self-growth method for reversibly constructing structures on a wide range of pre-stretched elastic membranes.

Petroleum-based adhesives are used ubiquitously in daily life and therefore contribute to persistent waste generation. Here the authors synthesize a robust and strong poly(ester amide) adhesive that can be derived from biomass feedstocks and chemically recycled at the end of its life.

The d₃₃ values of ferroelectric polymers are low in comparison to ceramics, such as perovskite oxides. Here, the authors report an intermolecular crosslinking strategy to improve the piezoelectricity of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) copolymers, achieving high d₃₃ values.

The performance of π-conjugated polymers films is limited by the short exciton diffusion lengths due to local imperfections or variations in interchain packing. Here, the authors report on large-area submillimeter-scale spherulites achieved by treating a spin-coated polydiarylfluorene film under solvent vapor annealing.

A fully green printing strategy enables biodegradable and recyclable magnetoresistive sensors made from iron-based materials. By combining sustainability with high low-field sensitivity, the work opens a pathway toward environmentally responsible disposable magnetoelectronics.

Thermal imaging lenses are typically made from expensive materials such as germanium and silicon. Here, the authors synthesise a sulfur-based polymer with high mid-wave infrared and long-wave infrared transparencies, presenting a high-performing, low-cost alternative to traditional thermal imaging lens materials.

Soft and conducting organic materials are promising for electronic devices, though their nanostructures are not fully understood, due to the lack of high resolution real spacing imaging of these complex systems. Here the authors use cryogenic transmission electron microscopy methods to investigate the morphology of PEDOT:PSS in the presence of additives and upon hydration.

Conjugated polymers are promising for compact energy storage and actuation devices though it is challenging to balance these properties. Here the authors report a polymer system suppressing ion hydration for a multifunctional microdevice.

Van der Waals two dimensional materials made of graphene and covalent organic frameworks have potential for advanced electronics applications and a fundamental understanding of the formation process of these materials is desirable. Here, the authors revealed the main aspects that influence the twisted stacking growth of pyrene diboronic acid covalent organic frameworks on graphite with a hybrid molecular mechanics force field.

To achieve simultaneous transparency and vivid multicolor switching in electrochromics is desirable owing to their potential as next-generation transparent displays. Here, the authors show a single-molecule design strategy that integrates a rhodamine moiety with a propylenedioxythiophene unit and incorporates molecular doping to achieve high optical transmittance with three distinct optical states.

Structural colour offers an alternative to pigment-based colouration, but patterning often requires multiple steps. Here, the authors report a one-step, mask-free strategy for the formation of structural colour patterns based on manipulation of a nanoparticle enriched disordered layer.

Hair hampers scalp electrophysiology, yet shaving is often impractical. Here, the authors demonstrate an adhesive gel for high-quality EEG via dynamic covalent bonding and ion conductive polymers.

Adaptive microwave surfaces can dynamically adjust their electromagnetic transmission to meet specific needs, being potentially useful in reconfigurable communication systems. Here, the authors use temperature induced break and reconstruction of hydrogen bonds to drive the orientational motion and charge mobility of an ionic liquid in a polymer leading to the controllable modulation of dielectric properties at microwave frequencies.

Catechol-based adhesives offer switchable adhesion via electrochemical redox reactions but struggle with water-induced performance issues. Here, the authors enhance a water-free catechol adhesive with sulfonic acid and carbon nanotubes, achieving over 100-fold increased conductivity and superior adhesion, while enabling precise electrical control and selective deactivation.

Infrared information encryption is a promising technique for data transmission, though current strategies fail to transmit data in real-time. Here the authors report a multilayer relaxor ferroelectric polymer stack which exhibits rectangular temperature wave for real-time and programmable encryption.

As soft electronic waste becomes an urgent concern, biodegradable yet high-performance devices are emerging as a promising solution. Here the authors fabricate durable and multifunctional soft robotic fingers in which both polymers and inorganic electronics are fully compostable.

‘High temperature afterglow materials are of interest, though designing luminescent single molecules is a challenge. Here the authors use a host-guest system achieving phosphorescence and tuneable afterglow. ‘

The relation between magnetooptical activity and chirality has previously been confused. Chiral polymer films are presented with state-of-the-art Verdet constants, revealing the role of chirality, and a strategy to enhance the magnetooptical B term.

This work demonstrates a 3D-printed photonic lantern that efficiently combines many multimode VCSELs into a single multimode fiber with low loss, preserving brightness and enabling compact, scalable high-power laser systems.

Multiarmed crosslinkers can be used to reduce the free volume in elastomer networks and create deep trap states, increasing the breakdown strength of sub-100-nm elastomer dielectric films.

In contrast to allyl palladium complexes, propargylic/allenylic palladium species display complex reactivities that limit their implementation in polymer chemistry. Here, the authors report an example of controlled chain-growth polymerization via propargyl/allenyl palladium intermediates.

Dynamically cross-linked thermosets often show decreased performance after numerous reprocessing cycles, limiting their long-term recyclability. Here, the authors introduce dynamic hindered urea bonds into polyurethane, enabling its thermal-decrosslinking and offering an upcycling route.

Developing polymer composites which combine high strength, toughness, and impact resistance remains challenging. Here the authors propose a toughening strategy that integrates a trabecular interlock architecture with a stress-adaptive interface to enable efficient energy dissipation under mechanical loading.

The severity of climate change impacts calls for low-carbon thermal management solutions. This work presents a chameleon-inspired electronic skin for adaptive electrochromic thermal regulation with minimal energy input and scalability potential.

Fabricating small actuators with low energy consumption remains a challenge. Here, the authors incorporate polymer dots into a polyvinylidene fluoride terpolymer to create a simple, single-layer actuator, achieving high electrostriction performance with low power consumption