Ultra-Stiff Graphene Foams as Three-Dimensional Conductive Fillers for Epoxy Resin.

Conductive epoxy composites are of great interest due to their applications in electronics. They are usually made by mixing powdered conductive fillers with epoxy. However, the conductivity of the composite is limited by the low filler content because increasing filler content causes processing difficulties and reduces the mechanical properties of the epoxy host.

Size- and Shape-Controlled Synthesis of Calcium Silicate Particles Enables Self-Assembly and Enhanced Mechanical and Durability Properties.

Calcium silicate (CS)-based materials are ubiquitous in diverse industries ranging from cementitious materials to bone tissue engineering and drug delivery. As a symbolic example, concrete is the most widely used synthetic material on the planet. This large consumption entails significant negative environmental footprint, which calls for innovative strategies to develop greener concrete with improved properties (to do more with less).

Intrinsic Size Effect in Scaffolded Porous Calcium Silicate Particles and Mechanical Behavior of Their Self-Assembled Ensembles.

Scaffolded porous submicron particles with well-defined diameter, shape, and pore size have profound impacts on drug delivery, bone-tissue replacement, catalysis, sensors, photonic crystals, and self-healing materials. However, understanding the interplay between pore size, particle size, and mechanical properties of such ultrafine particles, especially at the level of individual particles and their ensemble states, is a challenge. Herein, we focus on porous calcium-silicate submicron particles with various diameters-as a model system-and perform extensive 900+ nanoindentations to completely map out their mechanical properties at three distinct structural forms from individual submicron particles to self-assembled ensembles to pressure-induced assembled arrays.

Biomimetic, Strong, Tough, and Self-Healing Composites Using Universal Sealant-Loaded, Porous Building Blocks.

Many natural materials, such as nacre and dentin, exhibit multifunctional mechanical properties via structural interplay between compliant and stiff constituents arranged in a particular architecture. Herein, we present, for the first time, the bottom-up synthesis and design of strong, tough, and self-healing composite using simple but universal spherical building blocks. Our composite system is composed of calcium silicate porous nanoparticles with unprecedented monodispersity over particle size, particle shape, and pore size, which facilitate effective loading and unloading with organic sealants, resulting in 258% and 307% increases in the indentation hardness and elastic modulus of the compacted composite.