1. Flexible-in-rigid polycrystalline titanium nanofibers: a toughening strategy from a macro-scale to a molecular-scale.
- Author
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Fu W, Xu W, Yin K, Meng X, Wen Y, Peng L, Tang M, Sun L, Sun Y, and Dai Y
- Subjects
- Titanium chemistry, Filtration, Oxides, Nanofibers chemistry
- Abstract
TiO
2 nanomaterials, especially one-dimensional TiO2 nanofibers fabricated by electrospinning, have received considerable attention in the past two decades, for a variety of basic applications. However, their safe use and easy recycling are still hampered by the inherently subpar mechanical performance. Here, we toughened polycrystalline TiO2 nanofibers by introducing Al3+ -species at the very beginning of electrospinning. The resultant long-and-continuous TiO2 nanofibers achieved a Young's modulus of 653.8 MPa, which is ca. 25-fold higher than that of conventional TiO2 nanofibers. Within each nanofiber, amorphous Al2 O3 -based oxide effectively hindered the coalescence of TiO2 nanocrystals and potentially repaired the surface groves. The solid-state17 O-NMR spectra further revealed the toughening strategy on a molecular scale, where relatively flexible Ti-O-Al bonds replaced rigid O-Ti-O bonds at the interfaces of TiO2 and Al2 O3 . Moreover, the modified TiO2 nanofibers exhibited superb sinter-resistance, without cracking over 900 °C, which was dynamically monitored by TEM. Therefore, flexible-in-rigid TiO2 fibrous mats can be facilely folded into 3D sponges through origami art. As a potential showcase, the TiO2 sponges were demonstrated as a duarable and renewable filtrator with a high filtration efficiency of 99.97% toward PM2.5 and 99.99% toward PM10 after working for 300 min. This work provides a rational strategy to produce flexible oxide nanofibers and gives an in-depth understanding of the toughening mechanism from the macro-scale to the molecular-scale.- Published
- 2023
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