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Metamaterials: Graphene makes ceramics multifunctional

Nature Reviews Materials volume 2, Article number: 17044 (2017) Cite this article

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An ultralight and superelastic metamaterial is prepared by combining two brittle components, graphene and alumina, through a simple bottom-up method. As Qiangqiang Zhang, Gary J. Cheng and colleagues report in Advanced Materials, their graphene–ceramic composite material is not only tough, ultralight and ductile, but is also electrically conductive and thermally insulating.

Materials science is full of trade-offs. One of the trickiest of these is that between ductility and strength. Take ceramics for example, which are generally very strong, but also dense, brittle, inelastic and have poor fatigue resistance. Reducing the density introduces another trade-off, as this generally deteriorates the mechanical properties, limiting the suitability of ceramics for ultrahigh-strength-to-weight applications. Different strategies have been used to engineer ceramics and ceramic composites on the micro- and nanoscale to achieve both high strength and ductility. However, these approaches fail at low densities, are not scalable or come at the expense of desirable properties, such as thermal insulation and electrical conductivity.

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References

  1. Zhang, Q. et al. Flyweight, superelastic, electrically conductive, and flame-retardant 3D multi-nanolayer graphene/ceramic metamaterial. Adv. Mater. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.201605506 (2017)

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  1. Adam Brotchie
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Brotchie, A. Metamaterials: Graphene makes ceramics multifunctional. Nat Rev Mater 2, 17044 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/natrevmats.2017.44

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/natrevmats.2017.44

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