The development of the wearable sensors for healthcare related applications requires mechanically stretchable, electrically conductive and biologically compatible elastomers. We have fabricated a conductive polyurethane (PU) elastomer by in situ polymerization with surface hydroxyl-modified Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWNTs). The FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy results indicated that the successful incorporation of the MWNTs into PU macromolecules. The good dispersion of MWNTs in PU/MWNT elastomers was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) suggested improved thermal stability of the in situ polymerized PU/MWNT elastomers. The in situ polymerization with MWNTs led to a significant increase in the conductivity of PU/MWNT elastomers. The stretching facilitated the orientation of the MWNTs and further enhanced the conductivity of PU/MWNT elastomers. The in situ polymerized PU/MWNT elastomers were employed as electrodes to construct a pressure sensor demonstrating good sensitivity and consistency.
Aerogel is a nanoporous solid material with ultrahigh porosity, ultralow density, and thermal conductivity, which is considered to be one of the most promising high‐performance insulation materials today. However, traditional pure inorganic aerogels (i.e., silica aerogel) exhibit inherent structural brittleness, making their processing and handling difficult, and their manufacturing costs are relatively high, which limits their large‐scale practical use. The recently developed aerogel based on polymer nanofibers has ultralow thermal conductivity and density, excellent elasticity, and designable multifunction. More importantly, one‐dimensional polymer nanofibers are directly used as building blocks to construct the network of aerogels via a gelation‐free process. This greatly simplifies the aerogel preparation process, thereby bringing opportunities for large‐scale aerogel applications. The aggregation of inorganic nanomaterials and polymer nanofibers is considered to be a very attractive strategy for obtaining highly flexible, easily available, and multifunctional composite aerogels. Therefore, this review summarizes the recent advances in novel aerogels through the hybrid aggregation of inorganic nanomaterials and polymeric fibers for thermal insulation. The main processing routes, porous microstructure, mechanical properties, and thermal properties and applications of these aerogels are highlighted. In addition, various future challenges faced by these aerogels in thermal insulation applications are discussed in this review.
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