Ozden Sehmus, Dutta Nikita S, Randazzo Katelyn, Tsafack Thierry, Arnold Craig B, Priestley Rodney D
Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 United States.
Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 United States.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Mar 24;13(11):13620-13628. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c16866. Epub 2021 Mar 9.
A common feature of aerogels is that they are brittle and suffer from poor mechanical properties. The development of high-performance, lightweight, and mechanically robust polymer composite aerogels may find use in a broad range of applications such as packaging, transportation, construction, electronics, and aerospace. Most aerogels are made of ceramic materials, such as silica, alumina, and carbide. These aerogels are dense and brittle. Two-dimensional (2D) layered nanostructures such as graphene, graphene oxide and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have promising potential in emerging technologies including those involved in extreme environmental conditions because they can withstand high temperatures, harsh chemical environments, and corrosion. Here, we report the development of highly porous, ultralightweight, and flexible aerogel composites made by the infiltration of various polymers into 2D hBN aerogels. The 2D hBN aerogels in which pore size could be controlled were fabricated using a unique self-assembly approach involving polystyrene nanoparticles as templates for ammonia borane into desired structures. We have shown that the physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of hBN-polymer composite aerogels can be tuned by the infiltration of different additives. We also performed theoretical calculations to gain insight into the interfacial interactions between the hBN-polymer structure, as the interface is critical in determining key material properties.
气凝胶的一个共同特点是它们易碎且机械性能较差。高性能、轻质且机械性能坚固的聚合物复合气凝胶的开发可能会在包装、运输、建筑、电子和航空航天等广泛应用中找到用武之地。大多数气凝胶由陶瓷材料制成，如二氧化硅、氧化铝和碳化物。这些气凝胶密度大且易碎。二维（2D）层状纳米结构，如石墨烯、氧化石墨烯和六方氮化硼（hBN），在包括极端环境条件下的新兴技术中具有广阔的应用潜力，因为它们能够承受高温、恶劣的化学环境和腐蚀。在此，我们报告了通过将各种聚合物渗透到二维hBN气凝胶中制成的高度多孔、超轻质且柔性的气凝胶复合材料的开发情况。使用一种独特的自组装方法制备了孔径可控的二维hBN气凝胶，该方法涉及以聚苯乙烯纳米颗粒为模板将氨硼烷转化为所需结构。我们已经表明，通过渗透不同的添加剂可以调节hBN - 聚合物复合气凝胶的物理、机械和热性能。我们还进行了理论计算，以深入了解hBN - 聚合物结构之间的界面相互作用，因为界面对于确定关键材料性能至关重要。
