Strengthening of Ceramic-based Artificial Nacre via Synergistic Interactions of 1D Vanadium Pentoxide and 2D Graphene Oxide Building Blocks

Abstract

Nature has evolved hierarchical structures of hybrid materials with excellent mechanical properties. Inspired by nacre’s architecture, a ternary nanostructured composite has been developed, wherein stacked lamellas of 1D vanadium pentoxide nanofibres, intercalated with water molecules, are complemented by 2D graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets. The components self-assemble at low temperature into hierarchically arranged, highly flexible ceramic-based papers. The papers’ mechanical properties are found to be strongly influenced by the amount of the integrated GO phase. Nanoindentation tests reveal an out-of-plane decrease in Young’s modulus with increasing GO content. Furthermore, nanotensile tests reveal that the ceramic-based papers with 0.5 wt% GO show superior in-plane mechanical performance, compared to papers with higher GO contents as well as to pristine V2O5 and GO papers. Remarkably, the performance is preserved even after stretching the composite material for 100 nanotensile test cycles. The good mechanical stability and unique combination of stiffness and flexibility enable this material to memorize its micro- and macroscopic shape after repeated mechanical deformations. These findings provide useful guidelines for the development of bioinspired, multifunctional systems whose hierarchical structure imparts tailored mechanical properties and cycling stability, which is essential for applications such as actuators or flexible electrodes for advanced energy storage.

Nacre-inspired composites with different macroscopic dimensions: strategies for improved mechanical performance and applications

“…8j) owing to the strong reinforcement effect of the DWNTs. Other 1D nanofibers, such as vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) 71 and zirconium diboride 72 nanofibers, were also used to achieve enhanced mechanical properties. Specifically, ternary artificial nacre reinforced by V 2 O 5 nanofibers showed good shape-memory performance as well as excellent strength and toughness owing to the novel synergistic effects of the 1D and 2D blocks.…”

Nacre‐Inspired Structural Composites: Performance‐Enhancement Strategy and Perspective

“…[28][29][30][31] Cheng and co-workers [28] used nanofibrillar cellulose (NFC) as the third phase to form an MTM-NFC-PVA ternary system. The ternary artificial nacre was tailored into self-supporting films (Figure 1b (Figure 1e), compared to that of corresponding binary artificial nacre (MTM-PVA or NFC-PVA), which is attributed to the interconnectivity and platelet-shaped reinforcements generated by the ternary structure.…”

“…In addition, Isogai and coworkers modified nanofibrillar cellulose with 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxyl and composited it with saponite platelets to form a ternary artificial nacre, which showed a tensile strength of 420 MPa and strain-to-failure of 10%. [32] Other 1D nanofibers such as carbon nanotubes, [33,34] vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) nanofibers, [29] and zirconium diboride [35] were also used to enhance the mechanical properties. Specifically, the ternary artificial nacre reinforced by V 2 O 5 nanofibers showed good shapememory performance, as well as excellent strength and toughness, owing to novel synergistic fashion 1D and 2D blocks.…”

Dual‐Fiber Approach toward Flexible Multifunctional Hybrid Materials

“…The high mechanical stability and flexibility of these films is achieved by the arrangement of single‐crystalline V 2 O 5 nanofibers in a hierarchical fashion via a hydrogen‐bonded water network. Further improving the flexibility, in particular toughness and strain at break, of VNF films could be achieved by incorporation of a soft phase such as graphene oxide or diblock copolymers, resembling thus natural, tough materials . However, concerning optical applications, the additional second phase needs to be optically transparent, otherwise it could impede the electrochromic performance of VNF films.…”