Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) have undergone extensive development owing to their remarkable energy storage capabilities. Nevertheless, safety concerns, including thermal runaway and lithium dendrites, impede their application. Modification of separators can effectively overcome the limitations of commercial separators, such as inferior thermal stability and poor wettability, and consequently alleviate the damage induced by lithium dendrites. Here, we synthesize a three-dimensional P-type molecular sieve and develop a lamellar-structured material, which is then used to fabricate composite separators by coating it onto polypropylene (PP) separators (denoted as PP@3DP and PP@TOC/3DP). Experimental results demonstrate that, in comparison with pristine PP separators, the composite separators display significantly enhanced physical properties, such as improved porosity, thermal stability, and tensile strength. The battery assembled with the PP@TOC/3DP separator exhibits a higher initial discharge specific capacity (167.96 mAh·g⁻¹), superior rate performance, and enhanced cycling stability at 0.5 C, compared to batteries assembled with the PP separator and the PP@3DP separator. Moreover, after 1000 cycles at 2.0 C, it sustains a capacity retention rate of 95.90% with a specific capacity of 140.36 mAh·g⁻¹. These findings strongly attest to the excellent performance of PP@TOC/3DP and pave the way for molecular sieve functionalized separators in LMBs.

The development of highly sensitive and rapid-response/recovery room-temperature NH₃ sensors is critically demanded for environmental monitoring and healthcare diagnostics, yet remains scientifically challenging. Inspired by the two-dimensional ordered macroporous structure of peacock feathers, two-dimensional inverse opal (2DIO) polyaniline/silver (PANI/Ag) composites were fabricated via a sacrificial templating method. By integrating the advantages of gas diffusion of highly ordered macroporous structures with the catalytic activity of Ag, significant improvements in NH₃ sensing performance were achieved. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations demonstrated that the 2DIO structure induced vortex effects, which significantly reduced the gas velocity. Concurrently, macroporous channels (~ 240 nm diameter) enhanced adsorption/desorption kinetics. The fabricated 2DIO PANI/Ag sensor exhibited a remarkable response of 1153% to 100 ppm NH₃, with ultra-fast response/recovery times of 3 s/56 s, exhibiting a 420-fold improvement in response/recovery speed compared to pure PANI (126 s/325 s). A further developed wearable detection module successfully discriminated exhalation signals between simulated chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and healthy individuals, providing a new strategy for noninvasive medical diagnosis. In-situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (in-situ FT-IR) real-time tracking of NH₃ adsorption/desorption processes confirms a chemisorption-dominated sensing mechanism. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations showed that the charge transfer at the PANI/Ag interface enhanced the adsorption of NH₃, which significantly enhanced the molecular affinity. This study provides a viable pathway for developing high-performance flexible NH₃ gas sensors through an interdisciplinary approach combining structural bionics, simulation optimization, theoretical analysis, and experimental validation.