Comprehensive Investigation of the Temperature-Dependent Electromechanical Behaviors of Carbon Nanotube/Polymer Composites.

The performances of flexible piezoresistive sensors based on polymer nanocomposites are significantly affected by the environmental temperature; therefore, comprehensively investigating the temperature-dependent electromechanical response behaviors of conductive polymer nanocomposites is crucial for developing high-precision flexible piezoresistive sensors in a wide-temperature range. Herein, carbon nanotube (CNT)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composites widely used for flexible piezoresistive sensors were prepared, and then the temperature-dependent electrical, mechanical, and electromechanical properties of the optimized CNT/PDMS composite in the temperature range from -150 to 150 °C were systematically investigated. At a low temperature of -150 °C, the CNT/PDMS composite becomes brittle with a compressive modulus of ∼1.2 MPa and loses its elasticity and reversible sensing capability. At a high temperature (above 90 °C), the CNT/PDMS composite softens, shows a fluid-like mechanical property, and loses its reversible sensing capability. In the temperature range from -60 to 90 °C, the CNT/PDMS composite exhibits good elasticity and reversible sensing behaviors and its modulus, resistivity, and sensing sensitivity decrease with an increasing temperature. At room temperature (30 °C), the CNT/PDMS composite exhibits better mechanical and piezoresistive stability than those at low and high temperatures. Given that environmental temperature changes have significant effects on the sensing performances of conductive polymer composites, the effect of ambient temperature changes must be considered when flexible piezoresistive sensors are designed and fabricated.

Superstrong, Lightweight, and Exceptional Environmentally Stable SiO2@GO/Bamboo Composites.

Development of lightweight structural materials from fast-growing bamboos is of great significance to building a sustainable society. However, previously developed structural bamboos by delignification combined with densification would easily fail under large external loading after exposure to water due to structure collapse, severely limiting their practical applications. Here, we demonstrate an ultrastrong and exceptional environmentally stable bamboo composite consisting of a graphene oxide (GO)/bamboo core and hierarchical SiO2 protection layer. The GO/bamboo composite exhibits ultrahigh tensile strength (641.6 MPa), superb flexural strength (428.4 MPa), and excellent toughness (17.5 MJ/m3), which are increased by about 480, 250, and 360% compared with natural bamboo, respectively. As a result, the specific tensile strength of the GO/bamboo composite is up to 513.3 MPa·cm3/g due to its low density (1.25 g/cm3), outperforming engineering structural materials such as aluminum alloys, steels, and titanium alloys. These large improvements benefit from the well-preserved bamboo scaffold and the strong hydrogen bonds between bamboo fibers and GO nanosheets. On the other hand, the SiO2@GO/bamboo composite shows superhydrophobicity due to the construction of hierarchical SiO2 layers, which endows it with outstanding water resistance. Moreover, the bamboo composite shows an ultralow coefficient of thermal expansion (≈2.3 × 10-6 K-1), indicating its excellent dimensional stability. Considering the ultrahigh mechanical performance and outstanding environmental stability, the developed lightweight SiO2@GO/bamboo composite is hopeful to be a green and sustainable structural material for practical engineering applications.

High-Performance Bamboo Steel Derived from Natural Bamboo.

It is highly desirable to develop green and renewable structural materials from biomaterials to replace synthetic materials involved from civil engineering to aerospace industries. Herein, we put forward a facile but effective top-down strategy to convert natural bamboo into bamboo steel. The fabrication process of bamboo steel involves the removal of lignin and hemicellulose, freeze-drying followed by epoxy infiltration, and densification combined with in situ solidification. The prepared bamboo steel is a super-strong composite material with a high specific tensile strength (302 MPa g-1 cm3), which is higher than that (227 MPa g-1 cm3) of conventional high specific strength steel. The bamboo steel demonstrates a high tensile strength of 407.6 MPa, a record flexural strength of 513.8 MPa, and a high toughness of 14.08 MJ/m3, which is improved by 360, 290, and 380% over those of natural bamboo, respectively. Particularly, the mechanical properties of the bamboo steel are the highest among the biofiber-reinforced polymer composites reported previously. The well-preserved bamboo scaffolds assure the integrity of bamboo fibers, while the densification under high pressure results in a high-fiber volume fraction with an improved hydrogen bonding among the adjacent bamboo fibers, and the epoxy resin impregnated enhances the stress transfer because of its chemical crosslinking with cellulose molecules. These endow the bamboo steel with superior mechanical performance. Furthermore, the bamboo steel demonstrates an excellent thermal insulating capability with a low thermal conductivity (about 0.29 W/mK). In addition, the bamboo steel shows a low coefficient of thermal expansion (about 6.3 × 10-6 K-1) and a very high-dimensional stability to moisture attack. The strategy of fabricating high-performance bamboo steel with green and abundant natural bamboo as raw materials is highly attractive for the sustainable development of structural engineering materials.

High-Performance Fiber-Film Hybrid-Structured Wearable Strain Sensor from a Highly Robust and Conductive Carbonized Bamboo Aerogel.

Bamboo, one of the most abundant biomaterials, has been used as a building material since ancient times; however, its application in functional materials has been rarely explored. Herein, a highly robust and conductive carbonized bamboo aerogel (CBA) is obtained from the natural bamboo through a simple three-step process of pulp oxidization, freeze-drying, and carbonization. The CBA obtained shows not only a low density of 0.02 g/cm3 but also a high conductivity of 6.42 S/m and remarkable elasticity with a maximum recoverable compressive strain of 60% due to its unique three-dimensional (3D) network randomly stacked with the hybrid structure of carbonized bamboo fibers and films. After encapsulation with silicone resin, the CBA/silicone composite prepared exhibits excellent flexibility and stretchability with a low Young's modulus (0.09 MPa) and a large failure strain (275%). Importantly, the CBA/silicone composite also offers remarkable strain-sensing performance with a maximum gauge factor of 30.6, a short responsive time of 50 ms, and a stable response to cyclic loading over 1000 cycles, which is comparable to those of the piezoresistive composites based on expensive nanomaterials. Moreover, the CBA/silicone composite demonstrates the capability as a wearable strain sensor for human motion recognition comprising finger bending, breathing, and throat movement. Considering the green and sustainable nature of bamboo as a raw material, combined with the excellent piezoresistive performance, low production cost, and simple preparation process, the flexible strain sensors with CBA/silicone composite as a sensing element are promising in wearable electronic devices, personalized healthcare, and artificial intelligence systems.