Hierarchical cross-linking for synergetic toughening in crustacean-mimetic nanocomposites

Nanoscale
Dejin JiaoAndreas Walther

Abstract

The twisted plywood structure as found in crustacean shells possesses excellent mechanical properties with high stiffness and toughness. Synthetic mimics can be produced by evaporation-induced self-assembly of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) with polymer components into bulk films with a cholesteric liquid crystal structure. However, these are often excessively brittle and it has remained challenging to make materials combining high stiffness and toughness. Here, we describe self-assembling cholesteric CNC/polymer nanocomposites with a crustacean-mimetic structure and tunable photonic band gap, in which we engineer combinations of thermo-activated covalent and supramolecular hydrogen-bonded crosslinks to tailor the energy dissipation properties by precise molecular design. Toughening occurs upon increasing the polymer fractions in the nanocomposites, and, critically, combinations of both molecular bonding mechanisms lead to a considerable synergetic increase of stiffness and toughness - beyond the common rule of mixtures. Our concept following careful molecular design allows one to enter previously unreached areas of mechanical property charts for cholesteric CNC-based nanocomposites. The study shows that the subtle engineering o...Continue Reading

References

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Citations

Feb 26, 2021·ACS Nano·Francisco LossadaAndreas Walther
Sep 30, 2020·Accounts of Chemical Research·Francisco LossadaAndreas Walther

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
transmission electron microscopy
differential scanning calorimetry
RAFT
atomic force microscopy
AFM
scanning electron microscopy

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