Multifunctionality and Processability of a Thermoplastic Based Gel Electrolyte Cell for the Realization of Structural Batteries.

In this work, a battery layup consisting of a poorly flammable ionic liquid electrolyte and a poly(vinylidene fluoride--hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP) thermoplastic has been developed along with composite anode and cathode electrodes. The developed gel electrolyte exhibits feasible ionic conductivity of about 1 mS/cm at 30 °C. State-of-the-art active electrode materials, i.

Mechanically Strong Silica-Silk Fibroin Bioaerogel: A Hybrid Scaffold with Ordered Honeycomb Micromorphology and Multiscale Porosity for Bone Regeneration.

Due to the synergic feature of individual components in hybrid (nano)biomaterials, their application in regenerative medicine has drawn significant attention. Aiming to address all the current challenges of aerogel as a potent scaffold in bone tissue engineering application, we adopted a novel synthesis approach to synergistically improve the pore size regime and mechanical strength in the aerogel. The three-dimensional aerogel scaffold in this study has been synthesized through a versatile one-pot aqueous-based sol-gel hybridization/assembly of organosilane (tetraethyl orthosilicate) and silk fibroin (SF) biopolymer, followed by unidirectional freeze-casting of the as-prepared hybrid gel and supercritical drying.

Compressible, Thermally Insulating, and Fire Retardant Aerogels through Self-Assembling Silk Fibroin Biopolymers Inside a Silica Structure-An Approach towards 3D Printing of Aerogels.

Thanks to the exceptional materials properties of silica aerogels, this fascinating highly porous material has found high-performance and real-life applications in various modern industries. However, a requirement for a broadening of these applications is based on the further improvement of the aerogel properties, especially with regard to mechanical strength and postsynthesis processability with minimum compromise to the other physical properties. Here, we report an entirely novel, simple, and aqueous-based synthesis approach to prepare mechanically robust aerogel hybrids by cogelation of silk fibroin (SF) biopolymer extracted from silkworm cocoons.