Correction for 'High piezo-resistive performances of anisotropic composites realized by embedding rGO-based chitosan aerogels into open cell polyurethane foams' by Tianliang Zhai et al., Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 8835-8844.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnisotropic aerogel-foam composites were developed by embedding a reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/chitosan aerogel directly into an open-cell polyurethane foam through an in situ bidirectional freeze-drying process. The resulting aerogel-foam composites possess both excellent compression-resilience performance and stable piezo-resistive properties due, respectively, to the excellent mechanical properties of polyurethane foams and to the presence of a chitosan-based aerogel loaded with rGO. The latter, indeed, provides outstanding electrical properties due to its conductive and parallel flat lamellar structure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe graphene nanosheets (GNS)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite films with out-of-plane dielectric actuation behavior were prepared through a layer-by-layer spin coating process. The GNS-PDMS/PDMS composite films with 1~3 layers of GNS-PDMS films were spin coated on top of the PDMS film. The dielectric, mechanical, and electromechanical actuation properties of the composite films were investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLactide-Caprolactone copolymer (LACL) was added to a Polylactide/Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PLA/PCL) blend as a compatibilizer through solution mixing and the casting method. The melt crystallization behavior and crystalline morphology of PLA, PLA/PCL, and PLA/PCL/LACL were investigated using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and polarized optical microscopy (POM), respectively. The temperature of the shortest crystallization time for the samples was observed at 105 °C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present the polarization-dependent highly absorptive in Ka-band composition of conventional polyurethane foam filled with in situ synthesized aerogel coated by reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The rGO-based aerogel was in situ prepared into the open-cell polyurethane foam (PUF) skeleton through a bidirectional freeze-drying process. The aerogel is composed of the flat lamellas stacks, possessing the anisotropic structure and unique electromagnetic properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSuperhydrophobic and crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/cellulose nanofibril (CNF) aerogel microspheres were prepared via a combination of the water-in-oil (W/O) emulsification process with the freeze-drying process, followed by thermal chemical vapor deposition of methyltrichlorosilane. The oil phase and the cooling agent were judiciously selected to ensure that the frozen ice microspheres can be easily separated from the emulsion system. The silanized microspheres were highly porous with a bulk density ranging from 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGraphene oxide (GO) was incorporated into poly(lactic acid) (PLA) as a reinforcing nanofiller to produce composite nanofibrous scaffolds using the electrospinning technique. To improve the dispersion of GO in PLA and the interfacial adhesion between the filler and matrix, GO was surface-grafted with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Morphological, thermal, mechanical, and wettability properties, as well as preliminary cytocompatibility with Swiss mouse NIH 3T3 cells of PLA, PLA/GO, and PLA/GO-g-PEG electrospun nanofibers, were characterized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSuperhydrophobic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/cellulose nanofibril (CNF) aerogels with a unidirectionally aligned microtubular porous structure were prepared using a unidirectional freeze-drying process, followed by the thermal chemical vapor deposition of methyltrichlorosilane. The silanized aerogels were characterized using various techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements. The structure of the aerogels fully filled with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was confirmed by SEM and optical microscopy.
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