Creating Nanoknot‐Like Domains for Robust Artificial Spider Silk Toward High Twistocaloric Performance
High-efficiency refrigeration materials with long cycle lifetimes are essential for reducing energy consumption in conventional cooling systems. Twistocaloric cooling, which harnesses nonlinear torsional stress, offers a promising pathway to enhanced cooling efficiency. However, a general design strategy for polymer-based twistocaloric materials that combine high efficiency and long cycle life remains elusive. Here, we report spider silk-inspired polybiurea elastomer fibers that exhibit exceptional mechanical properties and twistocaloric cooling performance. The material's architecture features nanoknot-like domains formed via multiple hydrogen bonds and π-π interactions in the hard segments, which knot together the soft segments to provide high mechanical stability and substantial entropy changes. The polybiurea fibers with nanoknot-like domains achieved an extraordinary combination of breaking strength of 316.5 MPa and toughness of 523.4 MJ m<sup>-3</sup>. This engineered deformable knotted structure enables a maximum cooling temperature drop of -17.1 K (by twisting and stretching), a maximum Carnot efficiency of 89.7%, and operational durability up to 120 000 mechanical fatigue life cycles. We further demonstrate two out-of-phase operated twistocaloric devices designed to recover input mechanical energy, thereby enhancing overall system efficiency. This work presents a robust materials strategy for advancing high-performance polymeric refrigeration materials and systems.
Authors
- Chang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3267-1859)
- Ray H. Baughman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5845-5137)
- Guangkai Mei
- Shaoli Fang
- Zunfeng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7366-0275)
- Zhaoyu Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6158-292X)
- Yicheng Xiao
- Jiatian Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8280-1105)
- Wenkai Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7436-2192)
- Xuanliang Han
- Mengdi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2101-9507)
- Guanghao Zhang
- Jie Bai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4514-1910)
- Wang Chang
- Songen Liu
- Wenjin Guo
- Ziqian Zhang
- Mengmeng Zhang
- Xiang Zhou
- Xiao Liu
- Yasi Liu
Institutions
- China Pharmaceutical University (CN)
- The University of Texas at Dallas (US)
- Nankai University (CN)
- Inner Mongolia University of Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Materials
- Published
- 2026-03-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202516934
- Primary Topic
- Shape Memory Alloy Transformations
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00