Journal
SMALL
Volume 18, Issue 7, Pages -Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202104048
Keywords
bionic hierarchical architectures; dynamic crosslinking; liquid metals; photothermal materials; solar harvesting
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51933007, 51873123, 52173112]
- Sichuan Provincial Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars [2021JDJQ0017]
- Program for Featured Directions of Engineering Multidisciplines of Sichuan University [2020SCUNG203]
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Inspired by the hierarchically oriented architecture of natural spider silk, highly efficient and mechanically durable photothermal materials have been developed using a ultrarobust liquid metals/polymer composite. This composite exhibits exceptional broad-band light absorption, excellent photothermal conversion ability, remarkable mechanical properties, and long-term structural reliability, making it ideal for solar harvesting applications.
Highly efficient and mechanically durable photothermal materials are urgently needed for solar harvesting, but their development still remains challenging. Here, inspired by the hierarchically oriented architecture of natural spider silk, an ultrarobust liquid metals (LMs)/polymer composite is presented via dynamic crosslinking based on the unique mechanical deformable characteristic of LMs. Dynamically cross-linked core-shell structured LMs droplets can be squeezed along with the orientational crystallization of polymer chains during drawing, thus enabling LMs nanoparticles to be uniformly programmed in the rigid polyethylene nanofiber skeleton. The resultant composite exhibits an unprecedented combination of strong broad-band light absorption (96.9-99.3%), excellent photothermal conversion ability, remarkable mechanical property (tensile strength of 283.7 MPa, which can lift 200 000 times its own weight), and long-term structural reliability (bearing 100 000 bending cycles). A powerful and durable solar thermoelectric generator system for real-environmental solar-heat-electricity conversion is further demonstrated, providing a valuable guidance for the design and fabrication of high-performance solar-harvesting materials.
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