title: Bioinspired Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as a Spider Silk Structure for Ultrahigh Mechanical Property.
abstract: Due to its unique hierarchical structure, natural spider silk features exceptional mechanical properties such as high tensile strength and great extensibility, making it one of the toughest materials. Herein, we design bioinspired spider silk single-walled carbon nanotubes (BISS-SWCNTs) that combine the hierarchical structure of spider silk and the high strength and conductivity of SWCNTs. To imitate the hierarchical structure, Fe nanoparticles are embedded on the surface of directly synthesized SWCNTs skeleton followed by coating an amorphous carbon layer. The carbon layer forms the spider silk-featured skin-core structure with SWCNTs, thus making the tube junction tougher. The embedded Fe nanoparticles act as glue spots for preventing interfacial slippages between the BISS-SWCNTs and the reinforced matrix. With only 2.1 wt % BISS-SWCNTs added, the tensile strength and Young's modulus of the BISS-SWCNTs/PMMA composites can be improved by 300%. More importantly, the BISS-SWCNTs also retain the high conductivity and transmittance of the pristine SWCNTs film. This unique bioinspired material will be of great importance in applications of multifunctional composite materials and has important implications for the future of biomimetic materials.
authors: School of Physics and Technology and MOE Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures and ‡Center for Electron Microscopy, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors: Chengzhi
authors: C
authors: Luo
authors: School of Physics and Technology and MOE Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures and ‡Center for Electron Microscopy, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors: Fangying
authors: F
authors: Li
authors: School of Physics and Technology and MOE Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures and ‡Center for Electron Microscopy, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors: Delong
authors: D
authors: Li
authors: School of Physics and Technology and MOE Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures and ‡Center for Electron Microscopy, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors: Qiang
authors: Q
authors: Fu
authors: School of Physics and Technology and MOE Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures and ‡Center for Electron Microscopy, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors: Chunxu
authors: C
authors: Pan
keywords: biomimetic materials; mechanical properties; reinforcement; single-walled carbon nanotubes; spider silk