Materials with both high strength and toughness are in great demand for a wide range of applications, requiring strict design of ingredients and hierarchically ordered architecture from nano- to macro-scale. Nacre achieves such a target in the long natural evolution by alternative alignment of inorganic nanoplatelets and biomacromolecules. To mimic nacre, various strategies were developed, approaching nacre-comparable performance in limited size. How to remarkably exceed nacre in both property and size is a key issue to further the advancement of composites. Here we present liquid crystal self-templating methodology to make the next generation of ultrastrong and tough nacre-mimics continuously. The hierarchically assembled composites show the highest tensile strength (652 MPa) among nacre mimics, five to eight times as high as that of nacre (80-135 MPa), and excellent ductility with toughness of 18 MJ m-3, one to two orders of magnitude greater than that of nacre (0.1 ~ 1.8 MJ m-3).
CITATION STYLE
Hu, X., Xu, Z., Liu, Z., & Gao, C. (2013). Liquid crystal self-templating approach to ultrastrong and tough biomimic composites. Scientific Reports, 3. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep02374
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