Disclosed is a preparation method of an all-weather self-healing stretchable conductive material, which uses acrylic acid and modified polyglutamic acid as a substrate, adds Fe.sup.3+ to form coordination, adjusts the volume ratio of water and glycerin, and heats to generate radical polymerization, so as to obtain a uniform double-layer three-dimensional network structure. The obtained polyacrylic acid and polyglutamic acid composite hydrogel has good mechanical properties and characteristics of rapid self-healing. A composite carbon film is prepared by depositing a metal layer of 20 nm to 80 nm thick on a single-layer aligned carbon film by magnetron sputtering, and then the composite hydrogel is adhered to each of the upper and lower sides of the composite carbon film respectively to form an all-weather self-healing stretchable conductive material of a sandwich structure. The preparation method of the invention is simple, the source of raw materials is plenty, and the obtained materials have good electrical and mechanical properties and have broad application prospects in the fields of flexible stretchable devices, wearable devices, and soft-bodied robots and the like.

A catalyst laminate includes a plurality of catalyst layers containing at least one of a noble metal and an oxide of the noble metal and at least one of a non-noble metal and an oxide of the non-noble metal, including: two or more first catalyst layers and two or more second catalyst layers. In an atomic percent of the noble metal obtained by using a line analysis by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in a thickness direction of the catalyst laminate. The first catalyst layer is less than an average of a highest value and a lowest value of the atomic percent of the noble metal. The second catalyst layer has an atomic percent of the noble metal equal to or greater than the average of the highest value and the lowest value thereof. The second catalyst layer is present between the first catalyst layers.

A decorative article (100) having an observed colour effect that is changeable depending on observer (200) viewing angle, the article comprising: a decorative element (110) comprising a front side (114) facing a forward direction and a back side (112) opposite the front side facing a rearward direction, wherein the back side comprises a back surface (113) having a first region (122) and a second region (124) surrounding the first region; a first coating (132) arranged on the first region of the back surface, the first coating causing a first colour effect (102); and a second coating (134) arranged on the second region of the back surface, the second coating causing a second colour effect (104) that differs from the first colour effect.

A decorative article (100) having an observed colour effect that is changeable depending on observer (200) viewing angle, the article comprising: a decorative element (110) comprising a front side (114) facing a forward direction and a back side (112) opposite the front side facing a rearward direction, wherein the back side comprises a back surface (113) having a first region (122) and a second region (124) surrounding the first region; a first coating (132) arranged on the first region of the back surface, the first coating causing a first colour effect (102); and a second coating (134) arranged on the second region of the back surface, the second coating causing a second colour effect (104) that differs from the first colour effect.

Provided is a Low-E glass plate protection method capable of preventing or inhibiting Low-E layer alteration. In the protection method, a protective sheet having a substrate and a PSA layer provided to at least one face of the substrate is applied for protection via the PSA layer to a Low-E glass plate having a Low-E layer that comprises a zinc component. The method is characterized by using the protective sheet wherein the PSA layer is formed from a water-dispersed PSA composition and includes less than 850 μg ammonia per gram of PSA layer weight.

Contacting a multiplicity of seed crystals with an amorphous metallic alloy layer to form an amorphous precursor film or depositing an amorphous precursor film on a substrate and annealing the amorphous precursor film at a temperature between 50° C. and 400° C. to yield the metallic film with grains separated by grain boundaries.

Contacting a multiplicity of seed crystals with an amorphous metallic alloy layer to form an amorphous precursor film or depositing an amorphous precursor film on a substrate and annealing the amorphous precursor film at a temperature between 50° C. and 400° C. to yield the metallic film with grains separated by grain boundaries.

A metallic nano-twinned thin film structure and a method for forming the same are provided. The metallic nano-twinned thin film structure includes a substrate, an adhesive-lattice-buffer layer over the substrate, and a single-layer or multi-layer metallic nano-twinned thin film over the adhesive-lattice-buffer layer. The metallic nano-twinned thin film includes parallel-arranged twin boundaries (Σ3+Σ9). In a cross-sectional view of the metallic nano-twinned thin film, the parallel-arranged twin boundaries account for 30% to 90% of total twin boundaries. The parallel-arranged twin boundaries include 80% to 99% of crystal orientation [111]. The single-layer metallic nano-twinned thin film includes copper, gold, palladium or nickel. The multi-layer metallic nano-twinned thin films are respectively composed of silver, copper, gold, palladium or nickel.

Apparatus and associated methods relate to forming an epitaxial layer of aluminum on an aluminum-nitride compound. The aluminum is epitaxially grown on the crystalline aluminum-nitride compound by maintaining temperature of a crystalline aluminum-nitride compound below a cluster-favoring temperature threshold within a vacuum chamber. Then, the crystalline aluminum-nitride compound is exposed to atoms of elemental aluminum for a predetermined time duration. The aluminum is epitaxially grown in this fashion for a predetermined time duration so as to produce a layer of epitaxial aluminum of a predetermined thickness. Such epitaxially-grown mono-crystalline aluminum has a lower resistivity than poly-crystalline aluminum.

Apparatus and associated methods relate to forming an epitaxial layer of aluminum on an aluminum-nitride compound. The aluminum is epitaxially grown on the crystalline aluminum-nitride compound by maintaining temperature of a crystalline aluminum-nitride compound below a cluster-favoring temperature threshold within a vacuum chamber. Then, the crystalline aluminum-nitride compound is exposed to atoms of elemental aluminum for a predetermined time duration. The aluminum is epitaxially grown in this fashion for a predetermined time duration so as to produce a layer of epitaxial aluminum of a predetermined thickness. Such epitaxially-grown mono-crystalline aluminum has a lower resistivity than poly-crystalline aluminum.