sc9b07833_si_004.mp4 (3.09 MB)
Linking Renewable Cellulose Nanocrystal into Lightweight and Highly Elastic Carbon Aerogel
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posted on 2020-08-05, 19:47 authored by Hao Zhuo, Yijie Hu, Zehong Chen, Xinwen Peng, Haihong Lai, Linxiang Liu, Qingzhong Liu, Chuanfu Liu, Linxin ZhongCompressible and
elastic carbon aerogels with low density, excellent
conductivity, high porosity, and chemical stability have attracted
much attention in wearable energy storage and sensing devices. However,
the mechanical performances of current carbon aerogels are usually
limited due to undesirable structural engineering. Herein, an effective
and sustainable route is proposed to fabricate a lightweight yet highly
elastic carbon aerogel from a renewable nanounit. To realize this
aim, mechanically strong cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) serves as the
structural unit, while konjac glucomannan (KGM) links CNCs into continuous
and orientally aligned layers with a wavy shape. The lamellar architecture
and the interaction among CNC and KGM give rise to a lightweight carbon
aerogel with ultrahigh structural stability and outstanding mechanical
performance that is superior to those of graphene and carbon nanotube
(CNT)-based carbon aerogels. Specifically, it can maintain 100% height
and 90.6% stress after 10,000 cycles at 50% compression strain. It
even can withstand a high compression strain of 90% for 1000 cycles
with negligible structure deformation. The unique structure, outstanding
mechanical performance, and highly sensitive current response enable
the carbon aerogel to accurately detect human biosignals.