A Universal Biomacromolecule-Enabled Assembly Strategy for Constructing Multifunctional Aerogels with 90% Inorganic Mass Loading from Inert Nano-Building Blocks.

Abstract

Inert inorganic nano-building blocks, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and boron nitride (BN) nanosheets, possess excellent physicochemical properties. However, it remains challenging to build aerogels with these inert nanomaterials unless they are chemically modified or compounded with petrochemical polymers, which affects their intrinsic properties and is usually not environmentally friendly. Here, a universal biomacromolecule-enabled assembly strategy is proposed to construct aerogels with 90 wt% ultrahigh inorganic loading. The super-high inorganic content is beneficial for exploiting the inherent properties of inert nanomaterials in multifunctional applications. Taking chitosan-CNTs aerogel as a proof-of-concept demonstration, it delivers sensitive pressure response as a pressure sensor, an ultrahigh sunlight absorption (94.5%) raising temperature under light (from 25 to 71°C within 1min) for clean-up of crude oil spills, and superior electromagnetic interference shielding performance of up to 68.9dB. This strategy paves the way for the multifunctional application of inert nanomaterials by constructing aerogels with ultrahigh inorganic loading.