The natural nacre has a regular ordered layered structure of calcium carbonate tablets and ion crosslinking proteins stacked alternately, showing outstanding mechanical properties. Inspired by nacre, we fabricated different divalent metal cation-crosslinked montmorillonite-alginate hybrid films (MMT-ALG-X2+; X2+ = Cu2+, Cd2+, Ba2+, Ca2+, Ni2+, Co2+ or Mn2+). The effect of ionic crosslinking strength and hydrogen bond interaction on the mechanical properties of the nacre-mimetics was studied. With the cations affinities with ALG being increased (Mn2+ < Co2+ = Ni2+ < Ca2+ < Ba2+ < Cd2+ < Cu2+), the tensile strength of nacre-mimetics showed two opposite influence trends: Weak ionic crosslinking (Mn2+, Co2+, Ni2+ and Ca2+) can synergize with hydrogen bonds to greatly increase the tensile properties of the sample; Strong ionic crosslinking (Ba2+, Cd2+, Cu2+) and hydrogen bonding form a competitive relationship, resulting in a rapid decrease in mechanical properties. Mn2+ crosslinking generates optimal strength of 288.0 ± 15.2 MPa with an ultimate strain of 5.35 ± 0.6%, obviously superior to natural nacre (135 MPa and 2%). These excellent mechanical properties arise from the optimum synergy of ion crosslinking and interfacial hydrogen bonds between crosslinked ALG and MMT nanosheets. In addition, these metal ion-crosslinked composite films show different colors, high visible transparency, and excellent UV shielding properties.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14122433 | DOI Listing |
Nanotechnology
January 2025
MME, Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy, Lake Campus, 7600 Lake Drive, Lake Campus, Fairborn, Ohio, 45435, UNITED STATES.
Surface induced crystallization/amorphization of a Germanium-antimony-tellurium (GST) nanolayer is investigated using the phase field model. A Ginzburg-Landau (GL) equation introduces an external surface layer (ESL) within which the surface energy and elastic properties are properly distributed. Next, the coupled GL and elasticity equations for the crystallization/amorphization are solved.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhys Rev Lett
December 2024
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.
High-energy nuclear collisions create a quark-gluon plasma, whose initial condition and subsequent expansion vary from event to event, impacting the distribution of the eventwise average transverse momentum [P([p_{T}])]. Disentangling the contributions from fluctuations in the nuclear overlap size (geometrical component) and other sources at a fixed size (intrinsic component) remains a challenge. This problem is addressed by measuring the mean, variance, and skewness of P([p_{T}]) in ^{208}Pb+^{208}Pb and ^{129}Xe+^{129}Xe collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Hebei Yingsheng New Material Technology Co., Ltd., Shijiazhuang, China.
Construction materials are significantly exposed to ecological hazards due to the presence of hazardous chemical constituents found in industrial and agricultural solid wastes. This study aims to investigate the use of sawdust particles (SDPs) and sawdust wastewater (SDW) in alkali-activated composites (AACs) made from a mixture of different silicon-aluminum-based solid wastes (slag powder-SP, red mud-RM, fly ash-FA, and carbide slag-CS). The study examines the impact of SDP content, treated duration of SDPs, and SDW content on both fresh and hardened properties of the AACs, including electrical conductivity, fluidity, density, flexural and compressive strengths, and drying shrinkage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Adv
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials (Jilin University), Ministry of Education, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130022, China.
Vacancies are crucial for the radiation resistance, strength, and ductility of high-entropy alloys (HEAs). However, complex electronic interactions resulting from chemical disorder prohibit the quantification of vacancy formation energy () and migration barriers (). Herein, we propose an electronic descriptor χ (electronegativity χ and valence-electron number ) to quantify the bonding strength of constituents on the basis of the tight-binding model, which allows us to build analytical models to achieve the site-to-site quantification of and .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Adv
January 2025
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
Enhancing transport and chemomechanical properties in cathode composites is crucial for the performance of solid-state batteries. Our study introduces the filler-aligned structured thick (FAST) electrode, which notably improves mechanical strength and ionic/electronic conductivity in solid composite cathodes. The FAST electrode incorporates vertically aligned nanoconducting carbon nanotubes within an ion-conducting polymer electrolyte, creating a low-tortuosity electron/ion transport path while strengthening the electrode's structure.
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