Assembly Of Nanowires Research Articles

Versatile Electronic Textile Enabled by a Mixed-Dimensional Assembly Strategy.

Electronic textiles (e-textiles) hold great promise for serving as next-generation wearable electronics owing to their inherent flexible, air-permeable, and lightweight characteristics. However, these e-textiles are of limited performance mainly because of lacking powerful materials combination. Herein, a versatile e-textile through a simple, high-efficiency mixed-dimensional assembly of 2D MXene nanosheets and 1D silver nanowires (AgNWs) are presented. The effective complementary actions of MXene and AgNWs endow the e-textiles with superior integrated performances including self-powered pressure sensing, ultrafast joule heating, and highly efficient electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. The textile-based self-powered smart sensor systems obtained through the screen-printed assembly of MXene-based supercapacitor and pressure sensor are flexible and lightweight, showing ultrahigh specific capacitance (2390 mF cm-2 ), robust areal energy density (119.5 µWh cm-2 ), excellent sensitivity (474.8 kPa-1 ), and low detection limit (1Pa). Furthermore, the interconnected conductive MXene/AgNWs network enables the e-textile with ultrafast temperature response (10.4°C s-1 ) and outstanding EMI shielding effectiveness of ≈66.4dB. Therefore, the proposed mixed-dimensional assembly design creates a multifunctional e-textile that offers a practical paradigm for next-generation smart flexible electronics.

Surface steered aligned gradient inorganic lead halide perovskite CsPbBrxI3−x nanowires for use in photodetectors

Explicit control over the orientation and yield of aligned planar nanowires (NWs) offers a unique blueprint for the facile integration of sophisticated functional devices with ultra-high compactness. In this report, vapor-phase synthesis produces a massive parallel assembly of nanowires owing to the graphoepitaxial effect exhibited by the annealed M-plane sapphire surface. The nanochannels on the substrate surface serve as natural templates and define the position, growth direction, and length of NWs. Microstructure characterizations and strong band-edge photoluminescence (PL) reveal the superior quality crystal structure of CsPbBrxI3-x NWs. The NW's axially asynchronous bromide-iodide composition provides a graded bandgap with two advantages: broad gamut absorption and a dominant unidirectional built-in electric field. The electric field promotes charge carrier transportation via an energy-funneling process, as demonstrated by the outstanding performance of the CsPbBrxI3-x NW photodetector, which has a responsivity of 370 A/W and a brisk photoresponse time of about 4 ms. Bright PL observation even after 100 days of storage at room temperature (RT) and 25 % relative humidity (RH) conditions indicates a boost in monoclinic phase stability and improved environmental degradation resistance. This work presents the feasibility of massive-scale synthesis of parallel NWs and their direct integration into circuits and functional systems for smart and efficient spectrometers, image sensors, optical communication, chemical or biological detection, and other optoelectronic applications.

Monodispersed ultrathin twisty PdBi alloys nanowires assemblies with tensile strain enhance C2+ alcohols electrooxidation

Direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) are powered by the alcohol electro-oxidation reaction (AOR), where an electrocatalyst with an optimal electronic structure can accelerate the sluggish AOR. Interestingly, strain engineering in hetero-catalysis offers a promising route to boost their catalytic activity. Herein, we report on a class of monodispersed ultrathin twisty PdBi alloy nanowires (TNWs) assemblies with face-centered structures that drive AORs. These thin nanowire structures expose a large number of reactive sites. Strikingly, Pd6Bi1 TNWs show an excellent current density of 2066, 3047, and 1231 mA mgPd−1 for oxidation of ethanol, ethylene glycol, and glycerol, respectively. The “volcano-like” behaviors observed on PdBi TNWs for AORs indicate that the maximum catalytic mass activity is a well balance between active intermediates and blocking species at the interface. This study offers an effective and universal method to build novel nanocatalysts in various applications by rationally designing highly efficient catalysts with specific strain.

A Third Angular Momentum of Photons

Photons that acquire orbital angular momentum move in a helical path and are observed as a light ring. During helical motion, if a force is applied perpendicular to the direction of motion, an additional radial angular momentum is introduced, and alternate dark spots appear on the light ring. Here, a third, centrifugal angular momentum has been added by twisting the helical path further according to the three-step hierarchical assembly of helical organic nanowires. Attaining a third angular momentum is the theoretical limit for a photon. The additional angular momentum converts the dimensionless photon to a hollow spherical photon condensate with interactive dark regions. A stream of these photon condensates can interfere like a wave or disintegrate like matter, similar to the behavior of electrons.

Chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer-based multistage nucleic acid amplification circuits for MiRNA detection with low background.

Chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (CRET)-based assays have shown great potential in biosensing due to their negligible background autofluorescence, yet are still limited by their low sensitivity and short half-life luminescence. Herein, a multistage CRET-based DNA circuit was constructed with amplified luminescence signals for accurate miRNA detection and fixed reactive oxygen species (ROS) signals for cell imaging. The DNA circuit is designed through an ingenious programmable catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA), hybridization chain reaction (HCR), and the use of DNAzyme to realize target-triggered precise regulation of distance between the donor and acceptor for CRET-mediated excitation of photosensitizers. In detail, the analyte catalyzes the hybridization of CHA reactants, which leads to the assembly of multiple HCR-mediated DNAzyme nanowires. Subsequently, DNAzymes catalyze the oxidation of luminol by H2O2, and the adjacent photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6) anchored on the DNA nanostructure is stimulated by the CRET process, resulting in the amplified long-wavelength luminescence and the generation of single oxygen signals through further energy transfer to oxygen. The biomarker miRNA can be detected with great sensitivity by integrating the recognition module into a universal platform. Furthermore, the DNA circuit enables CRET-mediated intracellular miRNA imaging, by detecting singlet oxygen signals through a ROS probe. The significant amplification effect is attributed to the robust multiple recognition of the target and the guaranteed transduction of the CRET signal through programmable engineering of DNA nanostructures. The CRET-based DNA circuit achieves amplified long-wavelength luminescence for accurate miRNA detection with low background and ROS-mediated signal fixation for cell imaging, making it a promising candidate for early diagnosis and theranostics.

Locally Thinned, Core-Shell Nanowire-Integrated Multi-gate MoS2 Transistors for Active Control of Extendable Logic.

Field-effect transistor (FET) devices with multi-gate coupled structures usually exhibit special electrical properties and are suitable for fabricating multifunctional devices. Among them, the 1D nanowire gate configuration has become a promising gate design to tailor 2D FET performances. However, due to possible short circuiting induced by nanowire contact and the high requirement for precision manipulation, the integration of multi-nanowires as gates in a single 2D electronic system remains a grand challenge. Herein, local laser--thinned multiple core-shell SiC@SiO2 nanowires are successfully integrated into MoS2 transistors as multi-gates for active control of extendable logic applications. Nanowire gates (NGs) locally enhance the carrier transportation, and the use of multiple NGs can achieve designed band structures to tune the performance of the device. For core-shell structures, a semiconducting core is used to introduce a gate bias, and the insulating shell provides protection against short circuiting between NGs, facilitating nanowire assembly. Furthermore, a global control gate is introduced to co-tune the overall electrical characteristics, while active control of logic devices and extendable inputs are achieved based on this model. This work proposes a novel nanowire multi-gate configuration, which provides possibilities for localized, precise control of band structures and the fabrication of highly integrated, multifunctional, and controllable nano-devices.

Rational Design of All-Inorganic Assemblies with Bright Circularly Polarized Luminescence.

Materials with exceptional circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) are important in multi-field applications such as 3D display, anti-counterfeiting, sensing, spin electronics, etc. Although CPL properties have been widely investigated ranging from the traditional chiral organic molecules to the emerging chiral inorganic nanomaterials and their assemblies, a trade-off between the luminescence efficiency (quantum yield, ϕ) and the luminescence dissymmetry factor (glum ) is always the bottleneck for all the chiral luminescent materials, which hinders their practical application. Herein, a new route to overcome the paradox through rationally assembling quantum nanorods and ultrathin inorganic nanowires into ordered multilayer structures is reported, achieving both high ϕ and glum . In these assembled structures, the aligned quantum nanorods emit linearly polarized light that is then transformed to CPL by the aligned ultrathin nanowire assemblies with precisely controlled phase retardation. This method is universal and readily extended to versatile 1D nanomaterials, paving the way for the practical applications of CPL active materials.

Synthesis of Co3O4@CNTs with oxygen vacancies on nickel foam for improved performance of asymmetric supercapacitor electrode

Metal oxide Co3O4 is regarded as a promising pseudocapacitance material due to its high theoretical specific capacitance and excellent reversible ability. While its poor intrinsic electronic conductivity and low activity sites limit its supercapacitor performance. Herein, oxygen vacancy-abundant Co3O4 nanowire assembly coupling with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been synthesized on nickel foam (Co3O4@CNTs@NF). The introduction of CNTs and oxygen vacancies provides enhanced electrical conductivity, more available active sites, and fast faradic redox reactions to the Co3O4@CNTs composite. The strong binding force between Co3O4@CNTs and nickel foam gives excellent capacitive property and remarkable cyclic durability. The Co3O4@CNTs@NF electrode exhibits a high specific capacitance of 1291 F g−1 at 5 mA/cm2 and a capacitance retention rate of 106% after 5000 cycles at 30 mA g−1. It can be used as the anode to assemble an asymmetric supercapacitor using active carbon loaded on NF (AC@NF) as the cathode. The Co3O4@CNTs@NF//AC@NF device exhibits a high energy density of 57.6 Wh/kg at 273.4 W/kg. This work provides deep insights into the development of excellent electrode materials for the next generation of supercapacitors.

Tailored Bismuth Nanowires for Size-Dependent Transport Studies

Bismuth nanowires are excellent model systems to investigate the interplay of various size-dependent transport phenomena relevant for applications in thermoelectrics, spintronics or catalytics.Due to the large Fermi wavelength (lFermi~40 nm) and mean free paths of charge carriers (le and lph ~100 nm) in bismuth at room temperature, the influence of size-effects on the transport properties can be observed on nanowires of rather large diameters. Furthermore, these properties are also influenced by the fact that bismuth belongs to the class of topological insulator materials that exhibit special charge carrier transport on the material surface linked to topological states. To better understand the transport behavior, it is of utmost importance to control the nanowire properties like surface-to-volume ratio, wire diameter and wire morphology, crystal structure, material composition and, in case of nanowire assemblies, their relative alignment to one another.We present the synthesis of parallel and interconnected assemblies of bismuth nanowires with both cylindrical and conical geometry, and sizes ranging between 50 and 3500 nm. The wires are produced by electrodeposition in polymeric etched ion-track templates applying pulsed plating and an aqueous electrolyte of bismuth chloride. The electrodeposition process as well temperature-dependent Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistance measurements as a function of nanowire size and geometry will be discussed. Figure 1

Magnetic Properties of Nanosized Fe and FeCo Systems on Trenched Mo Templates

The manipulation of magnetic anisotropy represents the fundamental prerequisite for the application of magnetic materials. Here we present the vectorial magnetic properties of nanostructured systems and thin films of Fe and FeCo prepared on linearly trenched Mo templates with thermally controlled periodicity. The magnetic properties of the nanosystems are engineered by tuning the shape, size, thickness, and composition parameters of the thin films. Thus, we control coercivity, magnetization, orientation of the easy axis of magnetization, and the long-range magnetic order of the system in the function of the temperature. We distinguish magnetic components that emerge from the complex morpho-structural features of the undulating Fe or FeCo nanostructured films on trenched Mo templates: (i) assembly of magnetic nanowires and (ii) assembly of magnetic islands/clusters. Uniaxial anisotropy at room temperature was proven, characterized, and explained in the case of all systems. Our work contributes to the understanding of magnetic properties necessary for possible further applications of linear systems and undulated thin films.

Target-triggered assembly of functional G-quadruplex DNAzyme nanowires for sensitive detection of miRNA in lung tissues

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important biomarkers for multiple diseases including cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. Accurate detection of miRNAs is imperative for early diagnosis and biomedical research. Herein, we demonstrate target-triggered assembly of G-quadruplex DNAzyme nanowires for sensitive detection of miRNAs in lung tissues by integrating primer generation-mediated rolling circle amplification (PG-RCA) with primer exchange reaction (PER). Target miRNA hybridizes with the circular template to initiate PG-RCA, producing numerous primers. The obtained primers then react with the catalytic hairpin DNA template to trigger PER, producing the polymer G-quadruplex DNAzyme nanowires. Eventually, thioflavin T (ThT) as a fluorescence indicator selectively interacts with the G-quadruplex DNAzyme to generate an amplified signal. This assay is capable of detecting miRNA over a large dynamic range (up to 6 orders of magnitude) and it exhibits high sensitivity with a limit of detection (LOD) of 61.34 aM. Moreover, this assay displays excellent specificity and it can distinguish even a single-base mutation in miR-486–5p. Furthermore, this method can quantify the miR-486–5p concentration in different types of cells, and it enables the identification of differentially expressed miR-486–5p in lung tissues of normal persons and nonsmall-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients, holding promising applications in biomedical analysis and cancer prognosis.

Helical Stacking Assembly of Orderly Silicon Nanowire Multilayers for Ultrastrong Dissymmetrical Amplification of Circularly Polarized Light

AbstractCircularly polarized organic light‐emitting diodes (CP‐OLEDs) are ideal candidates to explore novel applications such as 3D displays, optical storage, and quantum computing. However, the low dissymmetry (g) factor of most chiral organic materials remains as a major challenge for practical applications. In this work, a helical stacking assembly of orderly silicon nanowires (hs‐SiNWs) into a flexible multilayer 3D superstructure is demonstrated to accomplish a strong chiroptical activity. These orderly SiNWs are batch‐fabricated via a low temperature in‐plane solid–liquid–solid growth mechanism, with precisely‐controlled spatial arrangement and mean diameter and length of Dnw = 126 ± 24 nm and Lnw > 100 µm, respectively. To construct such helically‐stacked superstructure, the SiNW arrays are transferred and stacked upon transparent glass or flexible polymer substrates, with incremental rotational angle for each layer, which can strongly augment the circularly polarized electroluminescence (CPEL) from conventional CP‐OLEDs. Strikingly, the dissymmetry factor increases with more stacking layer up to g = ±0.17, which is more than 40 times of magnitude higher than that of the original CPEL, among the highest ones reported for CP‐OLEDs. These results indicate a promising helical‐stacking avenue to boost the chiroptical performance of various CP‐OLEDs for scalable and flexible chiroptical applications.

Layered ultra-lightweight MXene based composite films for current conduction

Although aviation tools provide many conveniences to our lives, lightning has always been a significant factor affecting the safety of aviation activities. Nevertheless, designing a diverter strip with both favorable conduction current capability and remarkable environmental stability remains a great challenge. Here, a room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (RTV) encapsulated Ti3C2Tx/Cu nanowire composite with a stacked structure is reported. Specifically, the assembly of nanowires and nanosheets behaves as an enhanced conductive network, and the encapsulation of RTV gives the film excellent environmental stability. The results show that Cu NWs loading at 10 % the composites can form effective discharge paths along the surface at output voltages of 96.48 and 201.6 kV. Furthermore, the composites exhibit excellent hydrophobicity (water contact angle of 108.09°) and lightweight properties (2.65 g/cm3). Overall, the composite material provides a promising design strategy for the preparation of new shunts that can be applied under realistic conditions.

One-Step Patterning of Organic Semiconductors on Gold Electrodes via Capillary-Bridge Manipulation.

Patterning organic semiconductors directly on Au electrodes possesses the advantages of eliminating metal atomic penetration effect, compatibility with fine lithography processes, and feasibility of work function modification on electrodes, and it is therefore of value in the commercial manufacturability application of optoelectronic devices with low cost, large scale, and high efficiency. Solution processing, is relatively inexpensive and is scalable to large areas. Nonetheless, conventional solution processing approaches have trade-offs among controllable morphology, regular alignment, precise position, and ordered molecular packing arising from the uncontrollable dewetting kinetics. Here, one-step patterning of 1D polymer nanowire arrays directly on Au source-drain electrodes with precise position, controlled orientation, regulated distribution, and tunable width size were realized by employing a capillary-bridge manipulation method to guide the processes of liquid dewetting and nanowire assembly. Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) with mobility of 10.1 cm2 V-1 s-1 and on/off current ratio of 1.9 × 104 were fabricated. Moreover, we verified generality of our method by patterning different solution-processable optoelectronic materials, including small molecules, quantum dot (QD) nanoparticles, and metal-halide perovskites, into ordered structures directly on the target substrate. The work provides a novel insight into efficient manufacturing the regular aligned and precisely positioned 1D organic semiconductors directly on the channel region of prefabricated Au electrodes in one step and facilitates their applications in high-performance electronic devices.

(Invited) Magneto-Ionic Control of Heterostructures and Interfaces

Magneto-ionics has shown promise for energy-efficient nanoelectronics, where ionic migration can be used to achieve atomic scale control of interfaces in magnetic nanostructures, and in turn modulate a wide variety of functionalities. Recently, we have discovered that chemisorbed oxygen and hydrogen on the surface of ferromagnetic films can induce significant Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) [1], a handle to introduce topology into nanoscale magnets. This has enabled direct tailoring of skyrmions winding number as well as wall type at room temperature via oxygen chemisorption. We have also demonstrated a sensitive and reversible chirality switching of magnetic domain walls [2] and writing/deleting of skyrmions [3] via hydrogen chemisorption/desorption. These chemisorption induced magnetic effects on controlled ferromagnet surfaces offer an ideal platform to gain quantitative understanding of magneto-ionics at buried interfaces, where the ionic motion can be further controlled by an electric field [4]. These effects are relevant for 3-dimensional information storage as a potentially contactless way to address spin textures, such as in interconnected nanowire networks [5]. Interestingly, nanoporous metal foams made of random assemblies of nanowires have found applications in deep-submicron particulate filtration, relevant to combatting COVID-19 and air pollution. Such foams are efficient, breathable, light-weight, robust, and can be reused and recycled [6]. Our mask design based on such foams has been selected by BARDA-NIOSH as a Phase 1 Winner of the Mask Innovation Challenge [7].[1] Science Advances, 6, eaba4924 (2020).[2] Physical Review X, 11, 021015 (2021).[3] DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-575830/v1[4] ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 13, 38916−38922 (2021).[5] Nano Letters, 21, 716-722 (2021).[6] Nano Letters, 21, 2968-2974 (2021).[7] https://drive.hhs.gov/mask_challenge.html.This work has been supported by the NSF (DMR-1905468, DMR-2005108, ECCS-1933527), the nCORE SMART center through SRC/NIST, the University of California and Georgetown University.

Enabling a novel approach to a controlled fabrication of 1D crystalline nanowires on suspended microstructures of arbitrary geometries using two direct-writing technologies

Recent progresses in additive manufacturing have inspired new technologies, such as direct laser writing technique, based on two-photon polymerization (2 PP), which complements and further enriches the nanofabrication tools portfolio. In this work, we combine 2 PP and our mask-free scanning probe assisted ‘direct-write patterning’ (DWP) method to allow for: a) the fabrication of micro-bridge structures with sub-micrometer resolution, b) selective synthesis of crystalline ZnO nanowires at predefined locations, respectively. This synergistic approach enables cantilever probe patterning of catalysts directly on suspended micro-bridges for in-situ CVD growth of nanoscale material, in a templated manner. The study reported here represents the first proof-of-concept experiments demonstrating versatile and scalable methodology, which can be applied and straightforwardly extended to grow a variety of other nanomaterials, in a controlled and selective fashion, on freestanding micro/nanoscale structures, whose size and geometry can be conveniently varied via templating of sacrificial 2 PP polymeric scaffolds. Finally, the demonstration of the possibility to integrate this new approach with the conventional lithography techniques provides a step forward to the development of the novel class of hybrid polymer-silicon-1D or -2D materials, and systems. The quality of the produced ZnO nanowire assemblies was assessed using several physical characterization methods.

Ions-exchange anchoring Cu7S4 cocatalyst on K2Ti8O17 nanowires assembly for enhanced CO2 photoreduction through efficient charge separation

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction into solar fuels has received increasing attention because it is a promising approach to tackle the environment and energy issues we are currently facing. Herein, the composite of K2Ti8O17 nanowires assembly coupled with Cu7S4 cocatalyst has been successfully prepared by an ion exchange method, in which the CuCl is employed as the copper source to convert CdS to Cu7S4. The photocatalytic performance of the integrated K2Ti8O17-Cu7S4 composite is evaluated by CO2 photoreduction, and it exhibits superior photoreduction capability than pristine K2Ti8O17 nanowires assembly. In particular, the K2Ti8O17-Cu7S4-0.2 sample displays the highest CH4 (6.02 μmol g−1 h−1) and CO (0.89 μmol g−1 h−1) yield within 4 h light irradiation, which is 3.83 and 12.71 times higher than that of K2Ti8O17 sample, respectively. Based on the photo/electrochemical test results, the anchoring of Cu7S4 cocatalyst can promote the photogenerated electron-hole pairs separation and charge transfer of the K2Ti8O17, which contributes to more photogenerated electrons participating in the process of photocatalytic CO2 reduction to CH4. This work offers a promising approach to design efficient noble-cocatalyst-free photocatalyst for CO2 photoreduction.

Optical trapping and manipulation of nanowires using multi-hotspot dielectric nanononamers

Semiconductor nanowires have demonstrated great potential in all-photonic integrated circuit applications. However, the development of a controllable multidimensional nanowire assembly technique is still arguably in its infancy. Here, we numerically demonstrate the optical trapping and manipulation of cylindrical zinc oxide nanowires using an all-dielectric silicon nanononamer for designing programmable nanolasers. The nanononamer is composed of nine identical silicon nanocylinders arranged in a square grid on top of a glass substrate. This is a suitable choice, as optical trapping with the proposed silicon nanononamer is envisioned as an effective technique for the contactless manipulation of suspended nanowires with multiple hotspots and with negligible heating generation. We determine optical forces and torques applied to nanowires using the Maxwell stress tensor method. We investigate the influence of light polarization on the field confining and laser tweezing properties. For this work, the simple nanowire-based silicon photonic platform is compatible with the complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology, which allows low-cost fabrication of such structures and the integration with other on-chip optical components.

Self-Assembly of Nanowires: From Dynamic Monitoring to Precision Control.

Natural biomaterials often show ordered nanowire structures (ONWS) which display unique structural color or superior mechanical performance. Meanwhile, plenty of modern nanodevices with ONWS have flourished with activities focused on both basic and applied research. Manipulating synthetic nanowire (NW) from a disordered state to a hierarchically ordered structure via various assembly strategies brings about intriguing and exotic chemical/physical properties. In the past decades, many methods have been developed to assemble NWs and fabricate organized architectures, such as Langmuir-Blodgett interfacial assembly, spin-coating assembly, fluid-flow-induced assembly, and ice-template assembly. Nevertheless, for practical applications, large-scale and high-efficiency assembly strategies toward precise controlled architectures are largely limited by the lack understanding of assembly mechanisms. Especially, the manipulation principles and driving forces behind the state-of-art assembly strategies are still unclear. Besides, the lesser research attention on dynamic kinetics also impedes the revelation of the NW self-assembly mechanism. With the emergence of advanced in situ techniques, such as synchrotron-based X-ray techniques and in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the dynamic monitoring of NW behavior in many practical environments becomes possible. In addition, the alignment direction and the stacking manner of NW film are of significance to the final performance. There is a lack of connection between the properties of one-dimensional nanoscale building blocks and the functionalities of the macro-assembly structures. To this end, dynamic monitoring is highly desired, which enables the precision modulation of NW assembly structure, leading to the discovery or prediction of new structures, novel properties, and performance optimization.In this Account, we aim to uncover the underlying kinetics of NW assembly or local reaction and mass transportation processes, as well as to build a solid connection from individual NWs to NW assembly structures with enhanced properties and eventually to macroscopic materials application. We first review the recent progress in state-of-art NW assembly strategies for diverse aligned structures according to the manipulation principle and the driving forces. To systematically review the NW self-assembly strategies, we categorize these strategies into three states: NWs on the liquid interface via surface tension, NW assembly in liquid via solution-shearing flow field, and NW assembly at the solid interval via physical repulsive force. Then, we introduce the existing advanced characterization techniques, including synchrotron-based X-ray scattering and in situ TEM, to dynamically monitor the intermediate states of the NW assembly and transport processes. The comprehensive understanding of this thermodynamic and kinetic mechanism facilitates the rational design, large scale, and high-efficiency fabrication of NW assemblies, thus promoting their applications in tailored optical-electrical electronics, smart electrochromic devices, electrocatalysis, structural materials, and chiral photonic crystals.

Implementing an Air Suction Effect Induction Strategy to Create Super Thermally Insulating and Superelastic SiC Aerogels.

Silicon carbide (SiC) aerogels are promising thermal insulators that are lightweight and possess high thermal stability. However, their application is hindered by their brittleness. Herein, an air suction effect induction (ASEI) strategy is proposed to fabricate a super thermally insulating SiC aerogel (STISA). The ASEI strategy exploits the air suction effect to subtly regulate the directional flow of the SiO gas, which can induce directional growth and assembly of SiC nanowires to form a directional lamellar structure. The sintering time is significantly reduced by >90%.Significant improvements in the compression and elasticity performance of the STISA are achieved upon the formation of a directional lamellar structure through the ASEI strategy. Moreover, the lamellar structure endows the STISA with an ultralow thermal conductivity of 0.019 W m-1 K-1 . The ASEI strategy paves the way for structural design of advanced ceramic aerogels for super thermal insulation.