Endowing artificial advanced materials and systems with biomimetic selfregulatory intelligence is of paramount significance for the development of somatosensory soft robotics and adaptive optoelectronics. Herein, a bioinspired phototropic MXene-reinforced soft tubular actuator is reported that exhibits omnidirectional self-orienting ability and is capable of quickly sensing, continuously tracking, and adaptively interacting with incident light in all zenithal and azimuthal angles of 3D space. The novelty of the soft tubular actuator lies in three aspects: 1) the new polymerizable MXene nanomonomer shows high compatibility with liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) matrices and can be in situ photopolymerized into the polymer networks, thus enhancing the mechanical and photoactuation properties; 2) the distinct hollow and radially symmetrical structure facilitates the actuator with fast photoresponsiveness and phototropic performance through retarding the heat conduction along the radial direction; 3) the MXene-LCE soft tubular actuator simultaneously integrates sensing, actuation, and built-in feedback loop, thus leading to a high light-tracking accuracy and adaptive phototropism like a hollow stem of plants in nature. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, an adaptive photovoltaic system with solar energy harvesting maximization is illustrated. This work can provide insights into the development of artificial intelligent materials toward adaptive optoelectronics, intelligent soft robotics, and beyond.

Chiral nanomaterials with intrinsic chirality or spatial asymmetry at the nanoscale are currently in the limelight of both fundamental research and diverse important technological applications due to their unprecedented physicochemical characteristics such as intense light-matter interactions, enhanced circular dichroism, and strong circularly polarized luminescence. Herein, we provide a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art advances in liquid crystal-templated chiral nanomaterials. The chiroptical properties of chiral nanomaterials are touched, and their fundamental design principles and bottom-up synthesis strategies are discussed. Different chiral functional nanomaterials based on liquid-crystalline soft templates, including chiral plasmonic nanomaterials and chiral luminescent nanomaterials, are systematically introduced, and their underlying mechanisms, properties, and potential applications are emphasized. This review concludes with a perspective on the emerging applications, challenges, and future opportunities of such fascinating chiral nanomaterials. This review can not only deepen our understanding of the fundamentals of soft-matter chirality, but also shine light on the development of advanced chiral functional nanomaterials toward their versatile applications in optics, biology, catalysis, electronics, and beyond.

In nature, many living organisms exhibiting unique structural coloration and soft-bodied actuation have inspired scientists to develop advanced structural colored soft actuators toward biomimetic soft robots. However, it is challenging to simultaneously biomimic the angle-independent structural color and shape-morphing capabilities found in the plum-throated cotinga flying bird. Herein, we report biomimetic MXene-based soft actuators with angle-independent structural color that are fabricated through controlled self-assembly of colloidal SiO2 nanoparticles onto highly aligned MXene films followed by vacuum-assisted infiltration of polyvinylidene fluoride into the interstices. The resulting soft actuators are found to exhibit brilliant, angle-independent structural color, as well as ultrafast actuation and recovery speeds (a maximum curvature of 0.52 mm−1 can be achieved within 1.16 s, and a recovery time of ~ 0.24 s) in response to acetone vapor. As proof-of-concept illustrations, structural colored soft actuators are applied to demonstrate a blue gripper-like bird’s claw that can capture the target, artificial green tendrils that can twine around tree branches, and an artificial multicolored butterfly that can flutter its wings upon cyclic exposure to acetone vapor. The strategy is expected to offer new insights into the development of biomimetic multifunctional soft actuators for somatosensory soft robotics and next-generation intelligent machines.

Adaptive Photovoltaics In article number 2201884, Ling Wang, Wei Feng, Quan Li, and co‐workers report bioinspired phototropic MXene‐reinforced soft tubular actuators exhibiting omnidirectional self‐orienting and light‐tracking capability. An adaptive photovoltaic system with solar energy harvesting maximization is conceptualized by integrating the soft tubular actuator with commercially available solar panels.

100 years have passed since the initiate of ferroelectrics, molecular ferroelectrics with homochirality. Although inorganic ceramics have gained widespread utilization, especially in electronic, optical, and energy harvesting devices, the development of a molecular ferroelectric is still in its infancy because of the difficulty in finding a new one, let alone controllably optimizing its performance. It is noteworthy that some recently developed chemical design approaches, including the ideas of quasi-spherical theory, introducing homochirality, and H/F substitution, significantly contribute to the chemical design as well as performance optimization of a wide range of molecular ferroelectrics. This, in fact, changes the way of discovering a new molecular ferroelectric from blind search into targeted design. In this Perspective, we lay out three key strategies for chemical design and performance optimization of molecular ferroelectrics, which are the vital components for ferroelectrochemistry and provide fresh insights into how to design a new molecular ferroelectric relying on the established methodology. This, undoubtedly, opens the floodgate in the development of molecular ferroelectrics, especially for their academic and commercial desire. We wish to briefly exhibit our systematical studies on the targeted design and performance optimization of molecular ferroelectrics and set off the trend of targeted design in the next 100 years for ferroelectrics.