Breakthroughs in high-capacity anodes represent a critical frontier in the development of next-generation high-specific-energy storage systems. However, the current high-capacity anodes of lithium batteries are confronted with numerous challenges, including uncontrolled volume expansion, lithium dendrite growth, dead lithium, and unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) films. Herein, we firstly employ laser engraving technology to fabricate an ultra-light freestanding graphene film with through-hole array and defect-rich edges, which serves as a lithium-free anode that integrates lithium-ion intercalation and metallic lithium deposition. During discharge, the defect structures at the pore edges facilitate the adsorption of lithium ions and their rapid intercalation between graphene layers, forming the LiC_x framework. This enables the conversion of quasi-dead lithium through the solid-state pathway of Li → LiC_x → Li⁺. Simultaneously, the vertically aligned through-holes homogenize ion flux and promote metallic lithium storage within the pores, thereby achieving high areal capacity, excellent reversibility, dendrite-free growth, and minimal volume change. As a result, this ultra-light freestanding lithium-free graphene anode (FLFGA) achieves highly reversible Li storage with 99.9% Coulombic efficiency (CE) over 1300 cycles and dendrite-free plating/stripping at a high areal capacity of 4 mAh·cm⁻² (1350 mAh·g⁻¹ anode). When paired with a high-loading LiFePO₄ (LFP) cathode (11.5 mg·cm⁻²), the FLFGA||LFP full cell exhibits significantly enhanced cycling stability (500 cycles), outperforming most conventional Li metal battery, lean-Li battery, and anode-free Li battery systems. This work demonstrates a viable lithium-free anode strategy via laser-engraved graphene engineering, paving the way for durable, safe, and high-energy-density Li batteries.

Wearable heating is a compelling solution for personal thermal management (PTM), enabling localized, energy-efficient warming. Graphene-assembled films (GAFs) possess outstanding flexibility and electrothermal performance, yet their practical application is hindered by inherent brittleness and low resistance to crack propagation, leading to premature mechanical failure and performance drift. Herein, we report a scalable fiber-skeleton-reinforcing strategy for toughening GAFs that addresses this durability bottleneck. Polyacrylonitrile fibers are introduced into the precursor suspension and, after high-temperature treatment, transform into graphitized carbon fibers that stitch graphene layers into a continuous load-bearing network. This fiber-reinforced architecture increases tensile toughness by approximately 90% while preserving high electrical conductivity (0.4×10⁶ S/m) and thermal conductivity [1.0×10³ W/(m·K)]. Integrated into a winter jacket, the film delivers rapid, low-voltage wearable heating, reaching 40.8 °C within 30 s at only 5 V. Critically, the heating performance remains stable after 60 machine-washing cycles, demonstrating a practical pathway toward mass-produced, wash-durable graphene heaters for advanced PTM.

As the core component responsible for capturing radio frequency (RF) energy from the environment, the antenna plays a critical role in determining the overall performance of a RF energy harvesting system. However, existing energy harvesting antennas suffer from limitations, such as single operating frequency bands, low gain, and poor flexibility, which constrain the application of RF energy harvesting systems. In this work, we present a flexible dual-band high-gain antenna array based on graphene-assembled film, fabricated via laser engraving. The antenna achieves stable electrical performance under bending, combining robustness with long service life. By integrating two patch antennas into a shared aperture, it operates efficiently in the 2.32–2.53 and 5.51–5.82 GHz Wi-Fi bands, reaching realized gains of 12.64 and 17.29 dBi, respectively. Leveraging its excellent band coverage and gain performance, the antenna array was implemented in an RF energy harvesting system, and its practical performance was evaluated. The results show that the system is capable of powering various low-power electronic devices. These findings highlight the potential of graphene-assembled film-based antennas for powering Internet of Things devices, and demonstrate their promising application in next-generation RF energy harvesting systems.

To address the issue of mechanical heterogeneity and structural failure in traditional anisotropic aerogels under complex stress fields, this study proposes a synergistic strategy combining bubble templating with freeze-casting. This approach enables the fabrication of an elastic carbon aerogel with three-dimensionally isotropic structural characteristics. Using aramid nanofibers as the matrix skeleton, the incorporation of graphene oxide reduces the surface tension of the solution while enhancing system viscosity, effectively suppressing bubble coalescence and ultimately yielding a carbon aerogel with a spherical cavity structure. The resulting aerogel exhibits nearly identical physical properties across all three spatial dimensions. Notably, it maintains exceptional structural stability (plastic deformation < 2.9%) even under 80% compressive strain and demonstrates ultra-wide temperature adaptability. This work provides a novel design strategy for high-performance porous materials.

Laser-induced graphene (LIG) technology enables the direct writing of functional films for flexible devices. However, the intrinsic amorphous structure, triggered by laser-induced ultrafast kinetics, leads to high sheet resistance. Herein, we report a designed laser-stepwise induced graphene (LSIG) method, which sequentially applies focused and defocused laser pulses to polyimide precursors to reduce sheet resistance. In this method, the focused laser pulse induces longitudinal heat penetration and diffusion through the substrate, enabling conversion of polyimide molecules into graphene, while the subsequent defocused pulse facilitates defect healing and crystalline domain growth, achieving a remarkably low sheet resistance of 15 Ω·sq⁻¹ for LSIG. The LSIG exhibits a decreased defect density and increased crystalline domain from Raman analysis. Compared with existing approaches involving chemical reduction or high-temperature treatment for LIG optimization, the LSIG methodology accomplishes single-step synthesis while maintaining experimental simplicity. Utilizing LSIG technology, we design and fabricate a flexible frequency-selective surface to demonstrate its potential in electromagnetic devices and systems.

High-performance thermal interface materials (TIMs) are highly sought after for modern electronics. Two-dimensional (2D) materials as vertical aligned fillers can optimize the out-plane thermal conductivity (k_⊥), but their excessively high content or intrinsic rigidness deteriorate TIMs softness, leading to worsening for thermal contact resistance (R_contact). In this study, 2D graphene materials are fabricated into lightweight and soft graphene foams (GFs) with high-orientation, acting as vertical filler frameworks to optimize the k_⊥ and R_contact for vertical GF (VGF) TIMs. The VGF-TIM has a high k_⊥ of 47.9 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹ at a low graphene content of 15.5 wt.%. Due to the softness and low filler contents of GFs, the VGF-TIM exhibits a low compressive module (4.2 MPa), demonstrating excellent compressibility. The resulting TIM exhibit a low contact resistance of 24.4 K·mm²·W⁻¹, demonstrating 185.1% higher cooling efficiency in practical heat dissipating scenario compared to commercial advanced TIMs. This work provides guidelines for the design of advanced TIMs and their applications in thermal management.

For the carbon-based catalyst to be active and stable, especially in harsh electrochemical environments, the key is to decrease the concentration of defects and raise the degree of graphitization of the carbon support. Herein, we develop a highly graphitized graphene foam with multiplicated structure to fabricate self-supporting Pt-based catalysts for efficient and stable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance. Graphene foam (GO-2850) is obtained through an ultra-high temperature treatment at 2850 °C, with perfect graphene structure and extremely low defect, ensuring high electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance. Additionally, its multiplicated structure provides an inherently favorable environment for the dispersion of Pt nanoparticles (Pt NPs) and offers abundant channels for electrolyte infiltration during the catalytic process. As a result, the as-prepared Pt/GO-2850 is far active and stable than the Pt NPs supported on commercial carbon paper (Pt/CP) counterpart toward catalyzing HER, exhibiting an outstanding activity and long-term durability (300 h @ 10 mA·cm⁻²) in acidic/alkaline/seawater electrolytes. This can be attributed to the stronger interaction between the lower-defect GO-2850 substrate and Pt, as evidenced by characterization and theoretical calculations. This work extends further insight into the design self-supporting catalysts of high activity and stability with promising prominent application toward green energy devices.

With the increasing popularity of wearable electronic devices, there is an urgent demand to develop electronic textiles (e-textiles) for device fabrication. Nevertheless, the difficulty in reconciliation between conductivity and manufacturing costs hinders their large-scale practical applications. Herein, we reported a facile and economic method for preparing conductive e-textiles. Specifically, nonconductive polypropylene (PP) was wrapped by reduced graphene oxide (rGO), followed by the electrodeposition of Ni nanoparticles (NPs). Notably, modulating the sheet size of graphene oxide (GO) resulted in controllable deposition of Ni NPs with adjustable size, allowing for controlled manipulations over the structures, morphologies, and conductivity of the obtained e-textiles, which influenced their performance in electrochemical glucose detection subsequently. The optimal material, denoted as Ni/rGO_0.2/PP, exhibited an impressive conductivity of 7.94 × 10⁴ S·m⁻¹. With regard to the excellent conductivity of the as-prepared e-textiles and the high electrocatalytic activity of Ni for glucose oxidation, the as-prepared e-textiles were subjected to glucose detection. It was worth emphasizing that the Ni/rGO_0.2/PP-based electrode demonstrated promising performance for nonenzymatic/label-free glucose detection, with a detection limit of 0.36 μM and a linear response range of 0.5 μM to 1 mM. This study paves the way for further development and application prospects of conductive e-textiles.

Research on metal-organic framework (MOF)-based non-enzymatic glucose sensors usually ignores the impact of the surface reconstruction degree of MOF on the activity of catalyzing glucose oxidation. In this work, we choose zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67), which is commonly used in glucose sensing, as a representative to investigate the influence of reconstruction degree on its structure and glucose catalytic performance. By employing the electrochemical activation strategy, the activity of ZIF-67 in catalyzing glucose gradually increased with the prolongation of the activation time, reaching the optimum after 2 h activation. The detection sensitivity of the activated ZIF-67 was 19 times higher than that of the initial ZIF-67, and the limit of detection (LOD) was lowered from 7 to 0.4 μM. Our findings demonstrate that the oxidation degree of ZIF-67 deepened rapidly with continuously activation and was basically reconstructed to CoOOH after 2 h activation, accompanied by a morphological change from cuboctahedral to flower-like. Simultaneously, theoretical investigation revealed that ZIF-67 is not suitable as a stable glucose sensor electrode since the adsorbed glucose molecules hasten the dissociation of ligands and the breaking of Co–N bond in ZIF-67. Therefore, our work has important implications for the rational design of next-generation MOF-based glucose sensors.

Various new conductive materials with exceptional properties are utilized for the preparation of electronic devices. Achieving ultra-high conductivity is crucial to attain excellent electrical performance. However, there is a lack of systematic research on the impact of conductor material thickness on device performance. Here, we investigate the effect of conductor thickness on power transmission and radiation in radio-frequency (RF) and microwave electronics based on MXene nanosheets material transmission lines and antennas. The MXene transmission line with thickness above the skin depth exhibits a good transmission coefficient of approximately −3 dB, and the realized gain of MXene antennas exceeds 2 dBi. Additionally, the signal transmission strength of MXene antenna with thickness above the skin depth is higher than 5-μm MXene antenna approximately 5.5 dB. Transmission lines and antennas made from MXene materials with thickness above the skin depth exhibit stable and reliable performance, which has significant implications for obtaining high-performance RF and microwave electronics based on new conductive materials.