Bioinspired Supertough Graphene Fiber through Sequential Interfacial Interactions.

Zhang, Yuanyuan; Peng, Jingsong; Li, Mingzhu; Saiz, Eduardo; Wolf, Stephan E; Cheng, Qunfeng · ACS Nano · 2018

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Natural nacre exhibits extraordinary functional and structural diversity, combining high strength and toughness. The mechanical properties of nacre are attributed to (i) a highly arranged hierarchical layered structure of inorganic minerals (95 vol %) containing a small amount only of organic materials (5 vol %), (ii) abundant synergistic interfacial interactions, and (iii) formation under ambient temperature. Herein, inspired by these three design principles originating from natural nacre, the supertough bioinspired graphene-based nanocomposite fibers (BGNFs) are prepared under room temperature via sequential interfacial interactions of ionic bonding and π-π interactions. The resultant synergistic effect leads to a super toughness of 18.7 MJ m<sup>-3</sup> as well as a high tensile strength of 740.1 MPa. In addition, the electrical conductivity of these supertough BGNFs is as high as 384.3 S cm<sup>-1</sup>. They can retain almost 80% of this conductivity even after 1000 cycles of loading-unloading testing, which makes these BGNFs promising candidates for application in flexible and stable electrical devices, such as strain sensors and actuators.