A General and Programmable Synthesis of Graphene-Based Composite Aerogels by a Melamine-Sponge-Templated Hydrothermal Process

Three-dimensional(3D)graphene networks are performance boosters for functional nanostructures in energy-related fields.Although tremendous intriguing nanostructures-decorated 3D graphene networks have been realized,on-demand decoration of nanostructures in the specified position of interest within the whole 3D graphene skeleton is still out of reach,shedding limitations on constructing more sophisticated components with programmable structures which offer enormous potential for the enhancement of performance and exploration of new functions.Here,we report the melamine-sponge(MS)-templated hydrothermal method capable of realizing reduced graphene oxide(RGO)-nanostructure composite aerogels with programmable structures and compositions.The key of this method is using the MS template to preset the structures of choice through programmable solution-processed immobilization of graphene oxide(GO)and nanostructures.Remarkably,the hydrothermal treatment simultaneously removed the MS template and reduced the GO networks without changing the preset structures.We showcased nine typical RGO-nanostructures composite aerogels to demonstrate the versatility of the MS-templated hydrothermal method.

Doping silver nanoparticles in AOT lyotropic lamellar phases

The organic lyotropic liquid crystal with long-range structural order is used as template to assemble inorganic/organic hybrid by doping pre-fabricated Ag nanoparticles. The lamellar hybrid with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic particles doped simultaneously is realized for the first time. The change of template structure after doping and the stability origin of dual-doped system are characterized by small angle X-ray scattering and polarized optical microscopy. Results show that the interaction and space matching between surfactant bilayers and doped particles are key factors to obtain stable hybrid.

Adhesive aero-hydrogel hybrid conductor assembled from silver nanowire architectures

Conductive and adhesive hydrogels are promising materials for designing bioelectronics.To satisfy the high conductivity of bioelectronic devices,metal nanomaterials have been used to fabricate composite hydrogels.However,the fabrication of a conductive-nanomaterial-incorporated hydrogel with high performance is a great challenge because of the easy aggregation nature of conductive nanomaterials making processing difficult.Here,we report a kind of adhesive aero-hydrogel hybrid conductor(AAHC)with stretchable,adhesive and anti-bacteria properties by in situ formation of a hydrogel network in the aerogel-silver nanowires(AgNWs)assembly.The AgNWs with good conductivity are wellintegrated on the inner-surface of shape-memory chitosan aerogel,which created a conductive framework to allow hydrogel back-filling.Reinforcement by the aerogel-silver makes the hybrid hydrogel tough and stretchable.Functional groups from the hydrogel allow strong adhesion to wet tissues through molecular stitches.The inherent bacteria-killing ability of silver ions endows the conductive hydrogel with excellent anti-bacteria performance.The proposed facile strategy of aerogel-assisted assembly of metal nanomaterials with hydrogel opens a new route to incorporate functional nanoscale building blocks into hydrogels.