Nacre-Inspired Black Phosphorus/Nanofibrillar Cellulose Composite Film with Enhanced Mechanical Properties and Superior Fire Resistance

Abstract

Natural nacre offers an optimized guiding principle for the assembly of lightweight and high-strength nanocomposites with excellent mechanical properties. Inspired by the "brick-andmortar" layered structure of natural nacre, we present a cohort of bioinspired nanocomposites consisting of nanofibrillar cellulose (NFC) and few-layer hydroxyl functionalized black phosphorus (BP−OH) via a vacuum-assisted filtration self-assembly procedure. Owing to the well dispersed two-dimensional (2D) BP−OH in one-dimensional (1D) NFC and strong interfacial hydrogen bonding between them, these novel nacre-like BP−OHx/NFC composite films show excellent mechanical performance with tensile strength up to 214.0 MPa, 300% increase compared to pure NFC and tensile fracture strain up to 23.8%, 1.8 times higher than that of pure NFC. Moreover, these nacre-like composite films bare good fire resistance and high thermal stability. This nacreinspired approach demonstrates a promising strategy for designing high-performance BP−OHx/NFC composite film, and the obtained bioinspired material could be a potential candidate in the application of flexible construction materials and flame retarded insulation materials.

Pearl-inspired graphene oxide-collagen microgel with multi-layer mineralization through microarray chips for bone defect repair

“…Natural pearl provides an optimized guiding principle for the preparation of organized organic-inorganic composite material, where “brick-and-mortar” layered structure provides superior mechanical property and the organic phase contributes to significant bioactivity [ 29 , 45 ]. In the study, we developed the pearl-inspired microgels consisting of multi-layer mineralized Col-GO-HAp hydrogels (500-1000-1500 ​μm) via the microarray chips molding and the multi-encapsulation assembling procedures.…”

“…Pearl, consisting of calcium carbonate platelets and organic matrix, exhibits high strength, and uniform mineralization, which were mainly attributed to the hierarchical “brick-and-mortar” layered architectures [ 27 , 28 ]. In addition, the pearl-inspired artificial materials is able to easily adjust the compositions of the materials to acquire the desired properties [ 29 , 30 ]. However, most pearl-inspired materials lack satisfying pore size and breathability, which are important properties for hydrogels to recruit cells and nutrients from the surrounding environment for tissue regeneration [ [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] ].…”

Room‐Temperature Phosphorescence Enabled through Nacre‐Mimetic Nanocomposite Design

“…[ 15 ] Enhanced oxygen barrier properties arise from well‐exfoliated, perfectly aligned nanoclay sheets, and the tortuous pathway and gas barrier depend on the volume fraction, degree of alignment, and nanoclay aspect ratio ( Scheme ). Additionally, such bioinspired nanocomposites provide outstanding mechanical properties, [ 16 ] glass‐like transparency, [ 17 ] electrical or thermal conductivity, [ 18 ] and fire retardancy, [ 19 ] opening up possibilities for multifunctional hybrid materials. Furthermore, approaches to nacre‐mimetic films can be scalable based on simple evaporation‐induced self‐assembly.…”

Scalable, Robust, Low‐Cost, and Highly Thermally Conductive Anisotropic Nanocomposite Films for Safe and Efficient Thermal Management

“…The SEM cross‐section of 15P@G‐PVA/10G nanocomposite film with a thickness of ≈37 µm (Figure 2i,j) exhibits a nacre‐like hierarchical structure where GNPs layers closely stack in the horizontal direction. [ 58,59 ] The energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) mapping (Figure 2k) confirms that the carbon (C, 63.7 wt%), oxygen (O, 28.9 wt%), and phosphorus (P, 7.40 wt%) elements are evenly distributed in the nanocomposite film cross‐section. As‐obtained highly packed nacre‐like anisotropic structure is expected to show superior mechanical and thermal conductive properties.…”