High Performance Nacre Fibers by Engineering Interfacial Entanglement.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biomimetics
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Biological materials display remarkable mechanical properties through complex interfacial interactions.
• Strong interlayer entanglement is a recent strategy to mimic natural protein dissipation and resolve strength-toughness trade-offs.
• Further exploration is needed to design intricate interactions within these entanglement networks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To modulate interlayer entanglement in graphene-based nacre fibers.
• To introduce multiple interactions, specifically hydrogen and ionic bonding, to enhance mechanical performance.
• To achieve ultrahigh mechanical properties in bioinspired materials.

Main Methods:

• Modulating dynamic hydrogen bonding to enhance strength and toughness.
• Tailoring ionic coordinating bonding to increase strength and stiffness.
• Utilizing graphene-based nacre fiber architecture.

Main Results:

• Achieved simultaneous improvements in strength (1.58 GPa) and toughness (52 MJ/m³).
• Increased strength and stiffness to 2.3 GPa and 253 GPa, respectively.
• Demonstrated effectiveness of modulating interactions within entanglement networks.

Conclusions:

• Modulating various interactions within robust entanglement is an effective strategy for bioinspired materials.
• This approach extends the performance limits of nacre-like composites.
• Optimized multiscale interfaces in diverse composite materials.