Mass production of bulk artificial nacre with excellent mechanical properties

Huai-Ling Gao, Si-Ming Chen, Li-Bo Mao, Zhao-Qiang Song, Hong-Bin Yao, Helmut Cölfen, Xi-Sheng Luo, Fu Zhang, Zhao Pan, Yu-Feng Meng, Yong Ni () and Shu-Hong Yu ()
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Huai-Ling Gao: University of Science and Technology of China
Si-Ming Chen: University of Science and Technology of China
Li-Bo Mao: University of Science and Technology of China
Zhao-Qiang Song: University of Science and Technology of China
Hong-Bin Yao: University of Science and Technology of China
Helmut Cölfen: University of Konstanz, Physical Chemistry
Xi-Sheng Luo: University of Science and Technology of China
Fu Zhang: University of Science and Technology of China
Zhao Pan: University of Science and Technology of China
Yu-Feng Meng: University of Science and Technology of China
Yong Ni: University of Science and Technology of China
Shu-Hong Yu: University of Science and Technology of China

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Various methods have been exploited to replicate nacre features into artificial structural materials with impressive structural and mechanical similarity. However, it is still very challenging to produce nacre-mimetics in three-dimensional bulk form, especially for further scale-up. Herein, we demonstrate that large-sized, three-dimensional bulk artificial nacre with comprehensive mimicry of the hierarchical structures and the toughening mechanisms of natural nacre can be facilely fabricated via a bottom-up assembly process based on laminating pre-fabricated two-dimensional nacre-mimetic films. By optimizing the hierarchical architecture from molecular level to macroscopic level, the mechanical performance of the artificial nacre is superior to that of natural nacre and many engineering materials. This bottom-up strategy has no size restriction or fundamental barrier for further scale-up, and can be easily extended to other material systems, opening an avenue for mass production of high-performance bulk nacre-mimetic structural materials in an efficient and cost-effective way for practical applications.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00392-z

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