Aerogels are generally used as the reinforcements for composites due to their stable self-supporting networks, good continuity, and abundant porosity. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Unlike traditional nanoparticle fillers, aerogel fillers enable better control of the distribution of the reinforcement in the matrix material, e.g., polymers. [8][9][10][11][12] Aerogels can be prepared by chemical vapor deposition, hydrothermal methods, freeze drying, and other approaches. [1,[13][14][15] These aerogels have demonstrated impressive reinforcement of polymer matrixes. [1,3] However, most aerogels are isotropic, which prevents their composites from being used in areas, such Aerogels are one of the most popular composite reinforcement materials because of their high porosity and their continuous and homogeneous network. Most aerogels are isotropic, thus leading to isotropic composites when they are used as fillers. This fundamentally limits their applications in areas where anisotropy is needed. Here, an anisotropic microhoneycomb cellulose nanofiber-(CellF)-carbon nanotube (CNT) aerogel (denoted MCCA) is reported that contains unidirectionally aligned penetrating microchannels, which is prepared by a unidirectional freeze-drying method, using the structure-directing function of the CellFs. Due to its anisotropic nature, MCCAreinforced polydimethylsilexane (denoted MCCA/PDMS) shows distinct anisotropic behavior, with the electrical conductivity and Young's modulus along the direction of penetrating microchannels being approximately twice those in the orthogonal direction. MCCA/PDMS is used to make "directional" strain sensors with electrical resistance as the output signal. They demonstrate a 92% sensitivity difference between the microchannel direction and its orthogonal direction. This approach can be used to prepare anisotropic MCCA-based composites with other polymers for different applications.
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