Liu Yanjun, Wu Peiyi
State Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Engineering of Polymers Department of Macromolecular Science Fudan University Shanghai 200433 China.
State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology & Center for Advanced Low-dimension Materials Donghua University 2999 North Renmin Road Shanghai 201620 China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2020 Jul 2;7(16):2001269. doi: 10.1002/advs.202001269. eCollection 2020 Aug.
Colloidal liquid crystals (LCs) formed by nanoparticles hold great promise for creating new structures and topologies. However, achieving highly ordered hierarchical architectures and stable topological configurations is extremely challenging, mainly due to the liquid-like fluidity of colloidal LCs in nature. Herein, an innovative synchronous nanofluidic rectification (SNR) technique for generating ultralong graphene oxide (GO) liquid crystal (GOLC) fibers with hierarchical core-skin architectures is presented, in which the GO sheet assemblies and hydrogel skin formation are synchronous. The SNR technique conceptually follows two design principles: horizontal polymer-flow promotes the rapid planar alignment of GO sheets and drives the chiral-reversing of cholesteric GOLCs, and in situ formed hydrogel skin affords some protection against environmental impact to maintain stable topological configurations. Importantly, the dried fibers retain the smooth surface and ordered internal structures, achieving high mechanical strength and flexibility. The linear and circular polarization potential of GOLC fibers are demonstrated for optical sensing and recognition. This work may open an avenue toward the scalable manufacture of uniform and robust, yet highly anisotropic, fiber-shaped functional materials with complex internal architectures.
由纳米颗粒形成的胶体液晶（LCs）在创造新结构和拓扑结构方面具有巨大潜力。然而，实现高度有序的分层结构和稳定的拓扑构型极具挑战性，这主要是由于胶体液晶在本质上具有类似液体的流动性。在此，我们提出了一种创新的同步纳米流体整流（SNR）技术，用于制备具有分层核壳结构的超长氧化石墨烯（GO）液晶（GOLC）纤维，其中GO片层组装和水凝胶皮层形成是同步的。SNR技术在概念上遵循两条设计原则：水平聚合物流促进GO片层的快速平面排列，并驱动胆甾型GOLC的手性反转，原位形成的水凝胶皮层提供一定的环境保护，以维持稳定的拓扑构型。重要的是，干燥后的纤维保留了光滑的表面和有序的内部结构，实现了高机械强度和柔韧性。GOLC纤维的线性和圆偏振特性被证明可用于光学传感和识别。这项工作可能为可扩展制造具有复杂内部结构的均匀、坚固且高度各向异性的纤维状功能材料开辟一条道路。
