Humidity‐Driven Dynamic Structural Color and Infrared Emissivity of MXene‐Integrated Supramolecular Cholesteric Liquid‐Crystal Materials

Multispectral materials that adaptively regulate structural color and infrared (IR) emissivity in response to environmental changes are highly desirable for adaptive camouflage and wearable thermoregulation. However, the development of humidity-responsive multispectral materials capable of dynamic visible structural-color tuning and reversible IR-emissivity regulation remains challenging. Here, we report a humidity-responsive MXene-integrated supramolecular cholesteric liquid-crystal material (Hygro-MXene-CLC) that combines an evaporation-induced self-assembled supramolecular CLC layer with a semitransparent cellulose nanofiber (CNF)-intercalated MXene layer through covalent interfacial bonding. Upon humidity variation, Hygro-MXene-CLC exhibits vivid structural-color modulation, with a reflection peak shift from 467 to 625 nm, together with IR-emissivity modulation from 35% to 82% over 3-14 µm. Mechanistic analyses reveal that water uptake simultaneously expands the cholesteric pitch and hydrates the CNF/MXene interlayers, producing a Bragg-reflection red shift and progressive IR-emissivity increase. Stepwise photopolymerization enables programmable visible-IR patterns, while reversible emissivity switching supports passive thermal regulation by enhancing heat dissipation at high humidity and reducing outward thermal radiation at low humidity. This work provides a promising strategy for humidity-responsive multispectral materials for smart camouflage and dynamic thermal management.

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Publication Details

Journal
Angewandte Chemie
Published
2026-08-26
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.5314674
Primary Topic
Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Humidity‐Driven Dynamic Structural Color and Infrared Emissivity of MXene‐Integrated Supramolecular Cholesteric Liquid‐Crystal Materials

Cristian Valenzuela, Dong Ki Yoon, Wei Feng, Zheng Cao et al.
Angewandte Chemie
Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies
article

Humidity‐Driven Dynamic Structural Color and Infrared Emissivity of MXene‐Integrated Supramolecular Cholesteric Liquid‐Crystal Materials

Cristian Valenzuela, Dong Ki Yoon, Wei Feng, Zheng Cao, Ran Bi, Huai Yang, Yufan Feng, Yuan Liu, Ling Wang, Yiqi Zhang, Jiajia Yang, Xuan Zhang, Tongfei Zhang, Yi Hao
article en

Abstract

Multispectral materials that adaptively regulate structural color and infrared (IR) emissivity in response to environmental changes are highly desirable for adaptive camouflage and wearable thermoregulation. However, the development of humidity-responsive multispectral materials capable of dynamic visible structural-color tuning and reversible IR-emissivity regulation remains challenging. Here, we report a humidity-responsive MXene-integrated supramolecular cholesteric liquid-crystal material (Hygro-MXene-CLC) that combines an evaporation-induced self-assembled supramolecular CLC layer with a semitransparent cellulose nanofiber (CNF)-intercalated MXene layer through covalent interfacial bonding. Upon humidity variation, Hygro-MXene-CLC exhibits vivid structural-color modulation, with a reflection peak shift from 467 to 625 nm, together with IR-emissivity modulation from 35% to 82% over 3-14 µm. Mechanistic analyses reveal that water uptake simultaneously expands the cholesteric pitch and hydrates the CNF/MXene interlayers, producing a Bragg-reflection red shift and progressive IR-emissivity increase. Stepwise photopolymerization enables programmable visible-IR patterns, while reversible emissivity switching supports passive thermal regulation by enhancing heat dissipation at high humidity and reducing outward thermal radiation at low humidity. This work provides a promising strategy for humidity-responsive multispectral materials for smart camouflage and dynamic thermal management.

Angewandte Chemie
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KR), Tianjin University (CN), Peking University (CN), Tianjin Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute (CN), China Railway Construction Corporation (China) (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of Tianjin
Openalex Percentile: Top 16%
Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies
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