Suzhou Nano Research Institute and others made progress in the field of graphene aerogel smart fibers

Smart fibers, which generally refer to fibers that can sense environmental changes or stimuli (such as light, electricity, temperature, humidity, pH, machinery, etc.) and can respond, are important basic building blocks in smart wearable fabrics. Smart fibers can be integrated into armbands, sleeves, clothing, helmets, belts and other parts in the form of smart fabrics, and used as the core unit of functional devices such as wearable sensors, brakes, energy devices, temperature regulating fabrics and heaters In flexible wearable intelligent system. However, at present, most fabric fibers are dominated by natural polymers or synthetic polymers. These polymers have intrinsic thermal and electrical insulation properties, making it difficult to integrate organically with miniaturized circuits, thus not only restricting the application of textile fibers in traditional electronic devices, but also restricting the application of new wearable electronic devices and intelligent robots development of. In addition, how to realize the functional integration of intelligent fibers in response to complex environments and multiple stimuli in human-computer interaction is still a major challenge and an important opportunity for the development of new multi-functional smart wearable systems in the future.

Based on the demand for the functional integration of smart fiber multiple stimulus responses, the aerogel team of the Institute of Nanotechnology and Nanobionics, Suzhou Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, ingeniously compounded graphene aerogel fibers, phase change materials and superhydrophobic coatings to obtain a flexibility , Self-cleaning graphene aerogel intelligent phase change fiber, which realizes multiple stimulus response functions such as energy conversion and storage of composite fibers, self-cleaning, intelligent temperature adjustment, and heating. The specific preparation process is as follows: First, the wet spinning process is used to spin the graphene oxide liquid crystal into a specific coagulation bath, and the chemical reduction-supercritical drying and other technical methods are used to prepare regular, continuous, and porous graphene aerogel fibers. ; Then, by impregnation and filling, organic phase change materials (such as paraffin, polyethylene glycol, higher fatty acids, etc.) are introduced into the porous network structure of aerogel fibers to obtain graphene aerogel phase change composite fibers; The fiber is coated with a fluorocarbon hydrophobic coating to obtain a flexible graphene aerogel smart fiber with self-cleaning function and multiple stimuli response behaviors.

Studies have shown that this new type of smart fiber has adjustable phase change enthalpy (0-186 J / g), excellent mechanical / electrical properties, self-cleaning and multiple stimulus response (light, electricity, temperature) thermal energy conversion and Storage / release function, and the fiber can be twisted and woven. For single fibers, fiber bundles, and fabrics, the stimulus response behavior in a complex environment is analyzed and explored: when the fiber is bent or knotted, the electrothermal response behavior of the fiber is not affected, and when the fiber is bundled, the fiber Heat exchange occurs between them, which can reduce the heat loss of the fiber to the environment, thereby showing a faster electrothermal response and a higher response temperature; the fiber fabric has a light-thermal response behavior at room temperature and low temperature environment, and with the As the density of the fiber fabric increases, the photothermal response has a faster and higher temperature response. Furthermore, through thermocouples and data recorders, the electrothermal and photothermal response history of individual fibers and fiber fabrics were analyzed in detail, and the fiber types (fiber blends of different phase change materials) and the density of fiber fabrics were studied in detail. The degree, the external environment (temperature, humidity and stress) affect the capture and release of thermal energy, and realize the thermal energy storage, release and temperature adjustment functions of the smart fabric in multiple temperature ranges (as shown in the figure).

The graphene aerogel intelligent fiber obtained by the ingenious composite of graphene aerogel fiber, phase change material and fluorocarbon resin realizes multi-functional integration under multiple stimulus responses, and can be reproduced in the fiber twisted yarn and Among the woven fabrics, it has broad application prospects in the field of new-generation smart wearable fabrics and portable electronic devices. The related research results are titled Multiresponsive Graphene-Aerogel–Directed Phase-Change Smart Fibers, which has been published online in the international journal Advanced Materials (Advanced Materials, 2018, 30, DOI: 10.1002 / adma.201801754)

PhD student Li Guangyong (co-cultivated by Beijing Institute of Technology and Suzhou Institute of Nanotechnology) is the first author of the paper, and Zhang Xuetong, a researcher of Suzhou Institute of Nanotechnology, is the corresponding author of the paper. Collaborators include Hong Guo, a professor at the University of Macau, and Song Wenhui, a professor at University College London. The work was completed under the co-funding of the National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFA0203301), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51572285), the Newton Fund for Advanced Scholars of the United Kingdom (NA170184) and the Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation (BK20170428).

Figure: Schematic diagram of multiple stimulation responses of graphene aerogel smart fibers (a), optical photos of its woven pattern (b, c,) and infrared photos (b1, c1) of light-heat response, and its smart fabric (d Inset) History of thermal energy conversion and storage / release in response to light / electric stimulation (d).

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