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Inspired by mucus, which provides an ideal supramolecular model and whose fluid-like (viscous) and solid-like (elastic) behaviors can be adjusted to meet different physiological requirements, we report oil-regulated supramolecular adhesives by the co-assembly of polyurea oligomers and carvacrol oils. The adhesive is crosslinked by weak but abundant hydrogen bonds, which can be regulated by the incorporated carvacrol oils through the competition of intermolecular hydrogen bonds, presenting a unique set of mucus-mimicking features including oil-regulated mechanics, processability, reusable adhesivity, and extreme longevity in both air and water. Owing to the intrinsic bactericidal effect of the carvacrol oils, the developed adhesives can serve as potent antibacterial coatings with both rapid contact killing (99.9% killing within 15 min) and long-term controlled release abilities (up to 70 days), enabling versatile antibacterial applications in diverse conditions. We envision that these adhesives will be useful in buildings and architectures, community and public facilities, food storage and packaging technologies, functional textiles, and practical biomedical fields.

Precise and robust manipulation of air bubbles will favor intense demands from governing processes of chemical reactions to enhancing transportation efficiency in multiphase engineering systems. Inspired by the working mechanism of mucous lining in lung alveoli, the elastic liquid-infused material (eLIM) is constructed by infiltrating an interconnected porous elastomer with a low-surface-energy lining liquid. With the help of the lining liquid, the pore pressure of the interconnected channels in eLIM can be reversibly regulated under mechanical stretching, balancing the capillary pressure in the channels with diverse radii and allowing gas flow in these channels. Therefore, air bubbles could be transported in and across the eLIM, showing on-demand control on the bubble contact angle, merging and splitting in an active and precise manner. The robust manipulation strategies on air bubbles can find applications in bioreactors and many other bubble-involved processes.

The hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets have been used as nanofillers to improve the barrier properties of the waterborne epoxy (WEP) coatings. However, the h-BN nanosheets tend to agglomerate, which limits their anticorrosion applications. In this paper, the h-BN/polyaniline (h-BN/PANI) nanocomposites were prepared by the in situ polymerization of aniline on the surfaces of the h-BN nanosheets, which were further used to improve the anticorrosion performance of the WEP coatings. The structures of the as-prepared h-BN/PANI nanocomposites were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The anticorrosion performances of the coatings were evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. After immersion in 3.5 wt % NaCl solution for 28 days, the macro-morphologies and elemental changes of the substrate surfaces were analyzed by a 3D digital microscope and an energy-dispersive spectroscope, respectively. The results showed that the WEP coatings with the h-BN/PANI nanocomposites, especially that with 2 wt % h-BN/PANI nanocomposites, exhibited remarkably reinforced anticorrosion performance compared to the pure WEP coating. For the WEP coating, the coating with 1 wt % PANI, and the coating with 1 wt % h-BN, the substrates have been completely corroded. However, there was no obvious corrosion region for the coating containing 2 wt % h-BN/PANI nanocomposites. The superior anticorrosion performance of the coatings with h-BN/PANI nanocomposites was mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of the well-dispersed h-BN/PANI nanocomposites as the physical barrier and PANI as the corrosion inhibitor in this system.