Hierarchical Interface Engineering for Advanced Nanocellulosic Hybrid Aerogels with High Compressibility and Multifunctionality |
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Authors: | Junyan Zhang Yanhua Cheng Chengjian Xu Mengyue Gao Meifang Zhu Lei Jiang |
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Affiliation: | 1. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, International Joint Laboratory for Advanced Fiber and Low-Dimension Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620 China;2. CAS Key Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Materials and Interfacial Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 China |
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Abstract: | The hierarchical combination of mineral and biopolymer building blocks is advantageous for the notable properties of structural materials. Integrating silane and cellulose nanofibers into high-performance hybrid aerogels is promising yet remains challenging due to the unsatisfied interface connections. Here, an interfacial engineering strategy is introduced via freeze–drying-induced wetting and mineralization to reinforce the hierarchical porous cellulose network, resulting in mineral-coated nanocellulose hybrid aerogels in a simple and consecutive bottom-up assembly process. With optimized multiscale interfacial engineering between the stiff and soft components, the resulting cellulose-based hybrid aerogels are endowed with lightweight (>0.7 mg cm−3), superior enhanced mechanical compressibility (>99% strain) within a wide temperature range, as well as super-hydrophobicity (≈168°) and moisture stability under high humidity (95% relative humidity). Benefiting from these superior characters, the multifunctional hybrid aerogels as effective oil/water absorbents with excellent recyclability, thermal insulators in extreme conditions, and sensitive strain sensors are demonstrated. This assembly approach with optimized interfacial features is scalable and efficient, affording high-performance cellulose-based aerogels for various applications. |
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Keywords: | compressibility hybrid aerogels interface interactions multifunctionality super-hydrophobicity |
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