Comparing Carbon Origami from Polyaramid and Cellulose Sheets

Abstract

Carbon origami enables the fabrication of lightweight and mechanically stiff 3D complex architectures of carbonaceous materials, which have a high potential to impact a wide range of applications positively. The precursor materials and their inherent microstructure play a crucial role in determining the properties of carbon origami structures. Here, non-porous polyaramid Nomex sheets and macroporous fibril cellulose sheets are explored as the precursor sheets for studying the effect of precursor nature and microstructure on the material and structural properties of the carbon origami structures. The fabrication process involves pre-creasing precursor sheets using a laser engraving process, followed by manual-folding and carbonization. The cellulose precursor experiences a severe structural shrinkage due to its macroporous fibril morphology, compared to the mostly non-porous morphology of Nomex-derived carbon. The morphological differences further yield a higher specific surface area for cellulose-derived carbon. However, Nomex results in more crystalline carbon than cellulose, featuring a turbostratic microstructure like glassy carbon. The combined effect of morphology and glass-like features leads to a high mechanical stiffness of 1.9 ± 0.2 MPa and specific modulus of 2.4 × 104 m2·s−2 for the Nomex-derived carbon Miura-ori structure, which are significantly higher than cellulose-derived carbon Miura-ori (elastic modulus = 504.7 ± 88.2 kPa; specific modulus = 1.2 × 104 m2·s−2) and other carbonaceous origami structures reported in the literature. The results presented here are promising to expand the material library for carbon origami, which will help in the choice of suitable precursor and carbon materials for specific applications.

Preparation of Electrospun Porous Alumina Nanofibers for Origami‐Inspired Manufacturing

“…Details of the paper folding are reported in previous publications. [ 3 ] The process started with designing the crease patterns using Solidworks (Dassault Systems, Waltham, MA, USA). Three patterns were chosen for the demonstration, which were umbrella, Yoshimura, and Miura‐ori.…”

“…Our previous publications demonstrated the origami folding of carbon sheets through the carbonization of a folded origami‐shaped polymeric precursor sheet. [ 1–3 ] These origami structures exhibited high mechanical stiffness at a low structural density, which is advantageously comparable to other lightweight materials, including carbon nanotube form, graphene elastomer, metallic nanolattices, and silica aerogel. Furthermore, infiltration of the folded precursor sheet with a metal precursor, followed by high‐temperature pyrolysis, led to the fabrication of metal carbide origami shapes.…”

Preparation of Electrospun Porous Alumina Nanofibers for Origami‐Inspired Manufacturing

“…Our previous publications demonstrated the origami folding of carbon sheets through the carbonization of a folded origami-shaped polymeric precursor sheet. [1][2][3] These origami structures exhibited high mechanical stiffness at a low structural density, which is advantageously comparable to other lightweight materials, including carbon nanotube form, graphene elastomer, metallic nanolattices, and silica aerogel. Furthermore, infiltration of the folded precursor sheet with a metal precursor, followed by high-temperature pyrolysis, led to the fabrication of metal carbide origami shapes.…”

A Review on 3D Architected Pyrolytic Carbon Produced by Additive Micro/Nanomanufacturing

“…As mentioned earlier, significant geometrical shrinkage occurs during pyrolysis, which is attributed to the release of volatile gaseous byproducts during the thermochemical decomposition of the precursor material. The shrinkage is highly dependent on the precursor materials, [37] heating conditions, [38] geometry and dimensions of the architectures, [38,39] and their kinematics. [40] For a given precursor and heating condition, the surface area to volume ratio of any architectured structure plays the most crucial role in determining the shrinkage, [38,39] as the degassing of the volatile pyrolysis byproducts is expected to occur from the surface of the structure.…”