Highly Flexible and Stretchable Nanowire Superlattice Fibers Achieved by Spring‐Like Structure of Sub‐1 nm Nanowires

Abstract

Conventional inorganic nanowire (NW) fibers are usually not stretchable and elastic, which may limit their practical applications. Inspired by the similarity between inorganic sub‐1 nm NWs and polymer chains in dimension, and helical spring‐like structure of cellulose in cherry bark, highly flexible and stretchable NW superlattice fibers composed of sub‐1 nm GdOOH NWs are fabricated. The NW fibers could be twined, bent, twisted, and tied without any damage. When the strain is less than 10%, the fibers present elastic deformation. The elongation at break of the fibers usually reaches ≈40–50% and the highest elongation could reach ≈86%. Excellent flexibility and stretchability of the NW fibers are attributed to the well‐aligned spring‐like NWs assembled superlattice, which are demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy tests, synchrotron small‐angle X‐ray scattering, and obvious birefringence. Moreover, NW‐nanoparticle (NP) fibers are fabricated, inspired by inorganic nanoparticle–reinforced polymers. The strength is improved compared with the NW fibers. Based on this work, it is possible to fabricate multifunctional, flexible, and stretchable inorganic NW materials composed of different inorganic sub‐1 nm NWs, which may be useful in practical applications.

Facile Synthesis of Graphene-like Porous Carbon with Densely Populated Co-Nx Sites as Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Rechargeable Zinc–Air Batteries

“…As shown in Figure a, both the XRD patterns show a broad diffraction peak in the range of 20–30° and another peak at around 43° corresponding to the (002) and (101) facets of graphitic carbon, respectively, which exhibits typical N-doped C diffraction peaks. , Besides, no other diffraction peaks of cobalt-containing phases appear in the XRD pattern either before or after the second annealing treatment, suggesting that there are no Co-based nanoparticles in the obtained catalysts. Considering that no lattice fringes and apparent aggregates of metallic Co are observed in HRTEM and elemental mapping analysis, these results synthetically indicate that the Co-based species are well-dispersed and may exist in the form of single atoms or sub-nanoclusters in the carbon matrix. , In the Raman spectra illustrated in Figure b, three characteristic peaks at ∼1340, ∼1590, and ∼2826 cm –1 can be observed in both samples, assigned to D, G, and 2D bands of the graphite carbon matrix, respectively, which presents the typical Raman spectra of heteroatom-doped carbon materials. − Generally, the D band reflects the defective sp 3 carbon, while the G band is related to the graphitic sp 2 carbon . Moreover, the intensity ratio ( I D / I G ) can indicate the defect level and graphitic degree of carbon-based materials.…”

“…Considering that no lattice fringes and apparent aggregates of metallic Co are observed in HRTEM and elemental mapping analysis, these results synthetically indicate that the Co-based species are well-dispersed and may exist in the form of single atoms or sub-nanoclusters in the carbon matrix. 36,37 In the Raman spectra illustrated in Figure 3b, three characteristic peaks at ∼1340, ∼1590, and ∼2826 cm −1 can be observed in both samples, assigned to D, G, and 2D bands of the graphite carbon matrix, respectively, which presents the typical Raman spectra of heteroatom-doped carbon materials. 38−40 Generally, the D band reflects the defective sp 3 carbon, while the G band is related to the graphitic sp 2 carbon.…”

High-Strength Superstretchable Helical Bacterial Cellulose Fibers with a “Self-Fiber-Reinforced Structure”

“…In addition, their preparation is completely controllable, convenient, and continuous. Therefore, this makes up for the lack of elasticity, structural instability, and irreversibility of existing reports under relative tensile strain, ,, which greatly encourages our confidence as wearable devices.…”

Flexible and Stretchable Bioelectronics

“…However, those inorganic materials are rigid and do not possess mechanical flexibility and stretchability. Processing these materials into thin films and nanowires (NWs) using methods such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and lithography add the property of flexibility, but not stretchability [ 86 , 87 ]. Hence, researchers developed a strategy where they couple mechanically guided structural designs on those materials to accommodate large deformation, and embed those patterned materials in elastic substrate.…”