title: LBL assembled laminates with hierarchical organization from nano- to microscale: high-toughness nanomaterials and deformation imaging.
abstract: Layer-by-layer assembly (LBL) can generate unique materials with high degrees of nanoscale organization and excellent mechanical, electrical, and optical properties. The typical nanometer scale thicknesses restrict their utility to thin films and coatings. Preparation of macroscale nanocomposites will indicate a paradigm change in the practice of LBL, materials manufacturing, and multiscale organization of nanocomponents. Such materials were made in this study via consolidation of individual LBL sheets from polyurethane. Substantial enhancement of mechanical properties after consolidation was observed. The resulting laminates are homogeneous, transparent, and highly ductile and display nearly 3x higher strength and toughness than their components. Hierarchically organized composites combining structural features from 1 to 1 000 000 nm at six different levels of dimensionality with a high degree of structural control at every level can be obtained. The functionality of the resulting fluorescent sandwiches of different colors makes possible mechanical deformation imaging with submicrometer resolution in real time and 3D capabilities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2136, USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Podsiadlo
authors.forename: Ellen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Arruda
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kheng
authors.forename: Anthony M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Waas
authors.forename: Jungwoo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Critchley
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.forename: Amit K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Kaushik
authors.forename: Hyoung-Sug
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: Si-Tae
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.forename: Nicholas A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Kotov