Journal
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 5, Issue 8, Pages 584-588Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2010.155
Keywords
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Funding
- Stiftelsen for Strategisk Forskning Center BIOMIME at KTH (Royal Institute of Technology)
- Swedish Research Council
- Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research
- Wallenberg Wood Science Center
- Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (Mikro/Nanovetenskap)
- Swedish Defence Research Agency
- Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion [MAT2007-66309-C02, CSD2006-00012]
- Catalan Direccio General de Recerca [2009-DGR-1292]
- Academy of Finland
- ICREA Funding Source: Custom
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Nanostructured biological materials inspire the creation of materials with tunable mechanical properties(1-3). Strong cellulose nanofibrils derived from bacteria(4) or wood(5,6) can form ductile or tough networks(7,8) that are suitable as functional materials(9,10). Here, we show that freeze-dried bacterial cellulose nanofibril aerogels can be used as templates for making lightweight porous magnetic aerogels, which can be compacted into a stiff magnetic nanopaper. The 20-70-nm-thick cellulose nanofibrils act as templates for the non-agglomerated growth of ferromagnetic cobalt ferrite nanoparticles(11) (diameter, 40-120 nm). Unlike solvent-swollen gels(12) and ferrogels(13-15), our magnetic aerogel is dry, lightweight, porous (98%), flexible, and can be actuated by a small household magnet. Moreover, it can absorb water and release it upon compression. Owing to their flexibility, high porosity and surface area, these aerogels are expected to be useful in microfluidics devices and as electronic actuators.
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