Cellulose Nanofiber as a Distinct Structure-Directing Agent for Xylem-like Microhoneycomb Monoliths by Unidirectional Freeze-Drying.
Honeycomb structures have been attracting attention from researchers mainly for their high strength-to-weight ratio. As one type of structure, honeycomb monoliths having microscopically dimensioned channels have recently gained many achievements since their emergence. Inspired by the microhoneycomb structure that occurs in natural tree xylems, we have been focusing on the assembly of such a structure by using the major component in tree xylem, cellulose, as the starting material. Through the path that finally led us to the successful reconstruction of tree xylems by the unidirectional freeze-drying (UDF) approach, we verified the function of cellulose nanofibers, toward forming xylem-like monoliths (XMs). The strong tendency of cellulose nanofibers to form XMs through the UDF approach was extensively confirmed with surface grafting or a combination of a variety of second components (or even a third component). The resulting composite XMs were thus imparted with extra properties, which extends the versatility of this kind of material. Particularly, we demonstrated in this paper that XMs containing reduced graphene oxide (denoted as XM/rGO) could be used as strain sensors, taking advantage of their penetrating microchannels and the bulk elasticity property. Our methodology is flexible in its processing and could be utilized to prepare various functional composite XMs.
Engineering Laboratory for Functionalized Carbon Materials and Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Graphene-based Materials, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University , The University Town, Shenzhen 518055, China.|Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University , 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
Zheng-Ze
ZZ
Pan
Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University , 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.|PRESTO, the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) , 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan.
Hirotomo
H
Nishihara
Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University , 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.|Division of Chemical Process Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University , N13W8 Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan.
Shinichiroh
S
Iwamura
Seiko PMC Corporation , 2-3-37, Ohno-dai, Midori-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 267-0056, Japan.
Takafumi
T
Sekiguchi
Seiko PMC Corporation , 2-3-37, Ohno-dai, Midori-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 267-0056, Japan.
Akihiro
A
Sato
Department of Biomaterial Sciences, The University of Tokyo , 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan.
Akira
A
Isogai
Engineering Laboratory for Functionalized Carbon Materials and Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Graphene-based Materials, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University , The University Town, Shenzhen 518055, China.|Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI), Tsinghua University , Shenzhen 518055, China.
Feiyu
F
Kang
Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University , 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
Takashi
T
Kyotani
Engineering Laboratory for Functionalized Carbon Materials and Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Graphene-based Materials, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University , The University Town, Shenzhen 518055, China.|Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI), Tsinghua University , Shenzhen 518055, China.|School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University , Tianjin 300072, China.
Quan-Hong
QH
Yang
TEMPO-mediated oxidation; cellulose nanofiber; microhoneycomb; strain sensor; unidirectional freeze-drying; xylem-like monolith