Ion-Specific Assembly of Strong, Tough, and Stiff Biofibers.

ABSTRACT: Designing engineering materials with high stiffness and high toughness is challenging as stiff materials tend to be brittle. Many biological materials realize this objective through multiscale (i.e., atomic- to macroscale) mechanisms that are extremely difficult to replicate in synthetic materials. Inspired from the architecture of such biological structures, we here present flow-assisted organization and assembly of renewable native cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), which yields highly anisotropic biofibers characterized by a unique combination of high strength (1010 MPa), high toughness (62 MJ m^-3 ) and high stiffness (57 GPa). We observed that properties of the fibers are primarily governed by specific ion characteristics such as hydration enthalpy and polarizability. A fundament

SUBMITTER: Mittal N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6916401 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature