Lightweight, Flexible, and Thermal Insulating Carbon/SiO2 @CNTs Composite Aerogel for High-Efficiency Microwave Absorption.

A complex electromagnetic environment is a formidable challenge in national defense areas. Microwave-absorbing materials are considered as a strategy to tackle this challenge. In this work, lightweight, flexible, and thermal insulating Carbon/SiO2 @CNTs (CSC) aerogel is successfully prepared coupled with outstanding microwave absorbing performance, through freeze-drying and high-temperature annealing techniques. The CSC aerogel shows a strong reflection loss (-55.16 dB) as well as wide effective absorbing bandwidth (8.5 GHz) in 2-18 GHz. It also retains good microwave absorption properties under tension and compression. Radar cross-sectional (RCS) simulation result demonstrates the CSC processing a strong reduction ability of RCS compared with a metal plate. Further exploration shows amazing flexibility and good thermal insulation properties of CSC. The successful preparation of this composite aerogel provides a broad prospect for the design of microwave-absorbing materials.

Twin-Structured Graphene Metamaterials with Anomalous Mechanical Properties.

Typically, solid materials exhibit transverse contraction in response to stretching in the orthogonal direction and transverse expansion under compression conditions. However, when flexible graphene nanosheets are assembled into a 3D porous architecture, the orientation-arrangement-delivered directional deformation of micro-nanosheets may induce anomalous mechanical properties. In this study, a 3D hierarchical graphene metamaterial (GTM) with twin-structured morphologies is assembled by manipulating the temperature gradient for ice growth during in situ freeze-casting procedures. GTM demonstrates anomalous anisotropic compression performance with programable Poisson's ratios (PRs) and improved mechanical properties (e.g., elasticity, strength, modulus, and fatigue resistance) along different directions. Owing to the designed three-phase deformation of 2D graphene sheets as basic microelements, the twin-structure GTM delivers distinctive characteristics of compressive curves with an apparent stress plateau, and follows a strengthening tendency. This multiscale deformation behavior facilitates the enhancement of energy loss coefficient. In addition, a finite element theory based numerical model is established to optimize the structural design, and validate the multiscale tunable PR mechanism and oriented structural evolution. The mechanical and thermal applications of GTM indicate that the rational manipulation-driven design of meta-structures paves the way for exploring graphene-based multifunctional materials with anomalous properties.

Recent Progress in Graphene/Polymer Nanocomposites.

Nanocomposites, multiphase solid materials with at least one nanoscaled component, have been attracting ever-increasing attention because of their unique properties. Graphene is an ideal filler for high-performance multifunctional nanocomposites in light of its superior mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical properties. However, the 2D nature of graphene usually gives rise to highly anisotropic features, which brings new opportunities to tailor nanocomposites by making full use of its excellent in-plane properties. Here, recent progress on graphene/polymer nanocomposites is summarized with emphasis on strengthening/toughening, electrical conduction, thermal transportation, and photothermal energy conversion. The influence of the graphene configuration, including layer number, defects, and lateral size, on its intrinsic properties and the properties of graphene/polymer nanocomposites is systematically analyzed. Meanwhile, the role of the interfacial interaction between graphene and polymer in affecting the properties of nanocomposites is also explored. The correlation between the graphene distribution in the matrix and the properties of the nanocomposite is discussed in detail. The key challenges and possible solutions are also addressed. This review may provide a constructive guidance for preparing high-performance graphene/polymer nanocomposite in the future.

Anisotropic Electromagnetic Absorption of Aligned Ti3C2Tx MXene/Gelatin Nanocomposite Aerogels.

Assembling Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets into three-dimensional (3D) architecture with controllable alignment is of great importance for electromagnetic wave absorption (EMA) application. However, it is a great challenge to realize it due to the weak van der Waals interconnection between MXene nanosheets. Herein, we propose to introduce gelatin molecules as a "chemical glue" to fabricate the 3D Mxene@gelatin (M@G) nanocomposite aerogel using a unidirectional freeze casting method. The Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets are well aligned in the M@G nanocomposite aerogel, yielding much enhanced yet anisotropic mechanical properties. Due to the unidirectional aligned microstructure, the M@G nanocomposite aerogel shows significantly anisotropic EMA properties. M@G-45 shows a -59.5 dB minimum reflection loss (RLmin) at 14.04 GHz together with a 6.24 GHz effective absorption bandwidth in the parallel direction (relative to the direction of unidirectional freeze casting). However, in the vertical direction of the same M@G aerogel, RLmin is shifted to a much lower frequency (4.08 GHz) and the effective absorption bandwidth decreases to 0.86 GHz. The anisotropic electromagnetic energy dissipation mechanism was deeply investigated, and the impendence match plays a critical role for electromagnetic wave penetration. Our lightweight M@G nanocomposite aerogel with controllable MXene alignment is very promising in EMA application.

Ultrabroad Band Microwave Absorption of Carbonized Waxberry with Hierarchical Structure.

Developing microwave absorption materials with broadband and lightweight characters is of great significance. However, it is still a great challenge for carbonized biomass without loading magnetic particles to cover the broad microwave frequency. Herein, it is proposed to carbonize freeze-dried waxberry to make full use of its natural hierarchical gradient structure to target the ultrabroad band microwave absorption. The carbonized freeze-dried waxberry shows radial-gradient and hierarchical structure. The different components of hierarchical waxberry demonstrate gradient dielectric properties: the outer component shows anisotropic dielectric constants with smaller value, while the inner core shows higher dielectric constants. This gradient dielectric property is beneficial to the impedance matching and strong polarization. As a result, the bandwidth of carbonized waxberry exhibits an ultrabroad band microwave absorption, ranging from 1 to 40 GHz with the reflection loss value below -8 dB. Meanwhile, the bandwidth can cover from 8 to 40 GHz when the reflection loss is below -15 dB. The ultrabroad microwave absorption is attributed to the hierarchical radial-gradient structure of carbonized waxberry, which provides good impedance matching with air media. This achievement paves the way for the exploitation of natural hierarchical biomass as a superlight and broadband high-performance microwave absorption material.

Artificial muscle with reversible and controllable deformation based on stiffness-variable carbon nanotube spring-like nanocomposite yarn.

Carbon nanotube yarn actuators are in great demand for flexible devices or intelligent applications. Artificial muscles based on carbon nanotube yarn have achieved great progress over past decades. However, uncontrollable, small deformations and relatively slow deformation recovery are still great challenges for carbon nanotube yarn artificial muscles. Here we propose an artificial muscle based on a stiffness-variable carbon nanotube spring-like nanocomposite yarn. This nanocomposite yarn can be fabricated as artificial muscles by directly inflating epoxy resin on spring-like carbon nanotube yarn, and it shows a rapid response, and reversible and controllable deformation. The driving mechanism of the nanocomposite yarn artificial muscle is based on the change in the resin modulus controlled by Joule heat. This novel nanocomposite yarn artificial muscle can work at low voltages (≤0.8 V), and the whole reversible driving process is completed within 5 seconds (the deformation recovery process is about 2 seconds). The strain of the nanocomposite yarn artificial muscle is controlled by applied voltages, and the maximum strain can reach more than 12%. The novel nanocomposite yarn artificial muscle can produce output forces more than 20 times higher than human skeletal muscle. This CNT nanocomposite yarn artificial muscle with a spiral structure shows potential applications for actuators, sensors and micro robots.

Superflexible Interconnected Graphene Network Nanocomposites for High-Performance Electromagnetic Interference Shielding.

Graphene-enhanced polymer matrix nanocomposites are attracting ever increasing attention in the electromagnetic (EM) interference (EMI) shielding field because of their improved electrical property. Normally, the graphene is introduced into the matrix by chemical functionalization strategy. Unfortunately, the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposite is weak because the graphene nanosheets are not interconnected. As a result, the electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of the nanocomposite is not as excellent as expected. Interconnected graphene network shows very good electrical conduction property, thus demonstrates excellent electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness. However, its brittleness greatly limits its real application. Here, we propose to directly infiltrate flexible poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) into interconnected reduced graphene network and form nanocomposite. The nanocomposite is superflexible, light weight, enhanced mechanical and improved electrical conductive. The nanocomposite is so superflexible that it could be tied as spring-like sucker. Only 1.07 wt % graphene significantly increases the tensile strengths by 64% as compared to neat PDMS. When the graphene weight percent is 3.07 wt %, the nanocomposite has the more excellent electrical conductivity up to 103 S/m, thus more outstanding EMI shielding effectiveness of around 54 dB in the X-band are achieved, which means that 99.999% EM has been shielded by this nanocomposite. Bluetooth communication testing with and without our nanocomposite confirms that our flexible nanocomposite has very excellent shielding effect. This flexible nanocomposite is very promising in the application of wearable devices, as electromagnetic interference shielding shelter.

Superlight, Mechanically Flexible, Thermally Superinsulating, and Antifrosting Anisotropic Nanocomposite Foam Based on Hierarchical Graphene Oxide Assembly.

Lightweight, high-performance, thermally insulating, and antifrosting porous materials are in increasing demand to improve energy efficiency in many fields, such as aerospace and wearable devices. However, traditional thermally insulating materials (porous ceramics, polymer-based sponges) could not simultaneously meet these demands. Here, we propose a hierarchical assembly strategy for producing nanocomposite foams with lightweight, mechanically flexible, superinsulating, and antifrosting properties. The nanocomposite foams consist of a highly anisotropic reduced graphene oxide/polyimide (abbreviated as rGO/PI) network and hollow graphene oxide microspheres. The hierarchical nanocomposite foams are ultralight (density of 9.2 mg·cm-3) and exhibit ultralow thermal conductivity of 9 mW·m-1·K-1, which is about a third that of traditional polymer-based insulating materials. Meanwhile, the nanocomposite foams show excellent icephobic performance. Our results show that hierarchical nanocomposite foams have promising applications in aerospace, wearable devices, refrigerators, and liquid nitrogen/oxygen transportation.

Electrically and thermally conductive underwater acoustically absorptive graphene/rubber nanocomposites for multifunctional applications.

Graphene is ideal filler in nanocomposites due to its unique mechanical, electrical and thermal properties. However, it is challenging to uniformly distribute the large fraction of graphene fillers into a polymer matrix because graphene is not easily functionalized. We report a novel method to introduce a large fraction of graphene into a styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) matrix. The obtained graphene/rubber nanocomposites were mechanically enhanced, acoustically absorptive under water, and electrically and thermally conductive. The Young's modulus of the nanocomposites was enhanced by over 30 times over that for rubber. The electrical conductivity of nanocomposites was ≤219 S m-1 with 15% volume fraction of graphene content, and exhibited remarkable electromagnetic shielding efficiency of 45 dB at 8-12 GHz. The thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites was ≤2.922 W m-1 k-1, which was superior to the values of thermally conductive silicone rubber thermal interface materials. Moreover, the nanocomposites exhibited excellent underwater sound absorption (average absorption coefficient >0.8 at 6-30 kHz). Notably, the absorption performance of graphene/SBR nanocomposites increased with increasing water pressure. These multifunctional graphene/SBR nanocomposites have promising applications in electronics, thermal management and marine engineering.

Stiff, Thermally Stable and Highly Anisotropic Wood-Derived Carbon Composite Monoliths for Electromagnetic Interference Shielding.

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials for electronic devices in aviation and aerospace not only need lightweight and high shielding effectiveness, but also should withstand harsh environments. Traditional EMI shielding materials often show heavy weight, poor thermal stability, short lifetime, poor tolerance to chemicals, and are hard-to-manufacture. Searching for high-efficiency EMI shielding materials overcoming the above weaknesses is still a great challenge. Herein, inspired by the unique structure of natural wood, lightweight and highly anisotropic wood-derived carbon composite EMI shielding materials have been prepared which possess not only high EMI shielding performance and mechanical stable characteristics, but also possess thermally stable properties, outperforming those metals, conductive polymers, and their composites. The newly developed low-cost materials are promising for specific applications in aerospace electronic devices, especially regarding extreme temperatures.

Characterization of the transcriptome of Achromobacter sp. HZ01 with the outstanding hydrocarbon-degrading ability.

Microbial remediation has become one of the most important strategies for eliminating petroleum pollutants. Revealing the transcript maps of microorganisms with the hydrocarbon-degrading ability contributes to enhance the degradation of hydrocarbons and further improve the effectiveness of bioremediation. In this study, we characterized the transcriptome of hydrocarbon-degrading Achromobacter sp. HZ01 after petroleum treatment for 16h. A total of 38,706,280 and 38,954,413 clean reads were obtained by RNA-seq for the petroleum-treated group and control, respectively. By an effective de novo assembly, 3597 unigenes were obtained, including 3485 annotated transcripts. Petroleum treatment had significantly influenced the transcriptional profile of strain HZ01, involving 742 differentially expressed genes. A part of genes were activated to exert specific physiological functions, whereas more genes were down-regulated including specific genes related to cell motility, genes associated with glycometabolism, and genes coding for ribosomal proteins. Identification of genes related to petroleum degradation revealed that the fatty acid metabolic pathway and a part of monooxygenases and dehydrogenases were activated, whereas the TCA cycle was inactive. Additionally, terminal oxidation might be a major aerobic pathway for the degradation of n-alkanes in strain HZ01. The newly obtained data contribute to better understand the gene expression profiles of hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms after petroleum treatment, to further investigate the genetic characteristics of strain HZ01 and other related species and to develop cost-effective and eco-friendly strategies for remediation of crude oil-polluted environments.