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Toughening through Nature-Adapted Nanoscale Design

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Zaklina Burghard*^†, Lorenzo Zini^†, Vesna Srot^‡, Paul Bellina^‡, Peter A. van Aken^‡ and Joachim Bill^†

Institute for Material Science, University of Stuttgart, Heisenbergstrasse 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany, and Stuttgart Center for Electron Microscopy, Max-Planck-Institute for Metals Research, Heisenbergstrasse 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany

Nano Lett., 2009, 9 (12), pp 4103–4108

DOI: 10.1021/nl902324x

Publication Date (Web): November 6, 2009

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: zburghard@mf.mpg.de., †

University of Stuttgart.

, ‡

Max-Planck-Institute for Metals Research.

Section:

Ceramics

Abstract

The extraordinary combination of strength and toughness attained by nature’s highly sophisticated structural design in nacre has inspired the synthesis of novel nanocomposites. In this context, the organic−inorganic hierarchical design of nacre has been mimicked. However, two key features of nacre, namely the scaling of the structural components and the low content of the organic phase, have not been replicated yet. Here, we present thin nanocomposite films with properly adjusted thicknesses of the organic and inorganic layers, as well as a microstructure that closely resembles that of nacre. These films, which are obtained by the combination of low-temperature chemical bath deposition of titania with layer-by-layer assembly of polyelectrolytes, exhibit enhancement in a fracture toughness by a factor of 4, combined with notable increase in hardness, while the Young’s modulus is largely preserved in comparison to the single titania layer. Our findings highlight the significance of the 10:1 inorganic/organic layer thickness ratio evolved by nature, and provide novel perspectives for the future development of efficient bioinspired thin films.

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This article has been cited by 1 ACS Journal articles (1 most recent appear below).

Layer-by-Layer Assembly of Heterogeneous Modular Nanocomposites
Nabil D. Bassim, Walter J. Dressick, Kenan P. Fears, Rhonda M. Stroud, Thomas D. Clark, and Dmitri Y. Petrovykh
The Journal of Physical Chemistry C2012 116 (2), 1694-1701
- Layer-by-Layer Assembly of Heterogeneous Modular Nanocomposites
  Nabil D. Bassim, Walter J. Dressick, Kenan P. Fears, Rhonda M. Stroud, Thomas D. Clark, and Dmitri Y. Petrovykh
  The Journal of Physical Chemistry C2012 116 (2), 1694-1701
  Layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of nanoparticles and polyelectrolyte multilayers into alternating nonrepetitive strata (modules) demonstrates an important advance in heterogeneous nanocomposites from random or repetitive distributions of nanoparticles to a ...
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History

Published In Issue December 09, 2009
Article ASAPNovember 06, 2009
Received: July 20, 2009
Revised: October 19, 2009

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Letter

Toughening through Nature-Adapted Nanoscale Design

Abstract

Citing Articles

Layer-by-Layer Assembly of Heterogeneous Modular Nanocomposites