title: Superior Performance of Artificial Nacre Based on Graphene Oxide Nanosheets.
abstract: Natural nacre is well-known by its unique properties due to the well-recognized "bricks-and-mortar" structure. Inspired by the natural nacre, graphene oxide (GO) was reduced by dopamine with simultaneous coating by polydopamine (PDA) in aqueous solution to yield polydopamine-capped reduce GO (PDG). The artificial nacre nanocomposite materials of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and PDG presenting layered structure had been successfully constructed via a vacuum-assisted assembly process, in which PDG and PVA served as "bricks" and "mortar", respectively. A combination of hydrogen bonding, strong adhesion and friction between PDG nanosheets and PVA chains resulted in enhancements for mechanical properties. The tensile strength, elongation at break, and toughness of PDG-PVA nanocomposite reached to 327 ± 19.3 MPa, 8 ± 0.2%, and 13.0 ± 0.7 MJ m-3, which is simultaneously 2.4, 8, and 7 times higher than that of nature nacre with 80-135 MPa, ∼1%, and ∼1.8 MJ m-3, respectively. More interestingly, the obtained nanocomposites demonstrated a high anisotropy of thermal conductivity (k∥/k⊥≈ 380). Combined with superior mechanical properties and high anisotropy of thermal conductivity make these biomimetic materials promising candidates in aerospace, tissue engineering, and thermal management applications.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Food Colloids and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University , Wuxi 214122, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7875-9111
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Food Colloids and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University , Wuxi 214122, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Food Colloids and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University , Wuxi 214122, China.
authors.forename: Piming
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Food Colloids and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University , Wuxi 214122, China.
authors.forename: Huiyu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Food Colloids and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University , Wuxi 214122, China.
authors.forename: Mingqing
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Food Colloids and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University , Wuxi 214122, China.
authors.forename: Weifu
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7432-8362
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Food Colloids and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University , Wuxi 214122, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Biobased Materials, Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, Maastricht University , P.O. Box 616, 6200MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Yogesh S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Deshmukh
keywords: graphene oxide; integrated superior performance; interfacial adhesion; nacre; thermal conductivity