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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Xinwei LiORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2025 The Author(s). Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.To evade ultrasonic predation by bats, moths have evolved wing scale architectures capable of absorbing and scattering high-frequency acoustic signals. Drawing inspiration from this natural defense strategy, a bioinspired multifunctional metamaterial is presented that integrates broadband sound absorption, thermal insulation, and mechanical energy dissipation within a unified structural framework. Inspired by the graded pore architecture of moth scales, acoustic performance is first optimized via genetic algorithm–driven pore design and the structures using 3D printing. The resulting metamaterial exhibits broadband acoustic absorption with an average coefficient of 0.742 across the 1000–6000 Hz frequency range. When implemented in helmet-based noise reduction systems, the proposed metamaterial outperforms conventional commercial foams in suppressing environmental noise. In addition, the metamaterial retains a negative Poisson's ratio under large deformation, which enhances its mechanical energy dissipation and impact resilience. Furthermore, the alternating architecture of polymer layers and internal air cavities reduces the effective thermal conductivity to 30.2 mW m−1 K−1, ensuring excellent thermal insulation. This work demonstrates that leveraging biological architectures enables the simultaneous integration of acoustic, mechanical, and thermal functionalities in lightweight metamaterials, offering a new paradigm for multifunctional design.
Author(s): Pei H, Yang H, Zhang N, Li T, Wang X, Zhao M, Ding S, Wang X, Lv Q, Xu Z, Chen Y, Li X, Zhai W
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Advanced Materials
Year: 2026
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 16/12/2025
Acceptance date: 03/12/2025
Date deposited: 07/01/2026
ISSN (print): 0935-9648
ISSN (electronic): 1521-4095
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc
URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202515350
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202515350
Data Access Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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