Figure 1: Preparation of bioinspired nanocomposite coatings and structural characterization.
From: Large-scale, thick, self-assembled, nacre-mimetic brick-walls as fire barrier coatings on textiles
(a) Schematic of the self-assembled nanocomposite films based on CMC polymer, (R = H or CH2-COONa) and montmorillonite (MTM) natural nanoclay via concentration-induced self-assembly of polymer-coated nanoclay platelets with intrinsic hard/soft architecture, and coating of textiles from different concentrations of CMC/MTM = 60/40 w/w dispersions at 10 mm/min. (b) XRD of the pure MTM film, CMC60MTM40 film, and CMC60MTM40-5% coated fabric. The arrow shows the appearance of a diffraction hump for the coated textile. (c–f) SEM images of the cross-sections of (c) CMC60MTM40 film (scale bar 5 μm), (d) CMC60MTM40-1% (scale bar 200 μm, inset: scale bar 10 μm), (e) CMC60MTM40-5% (scale bar 200 μm), and (f) high magnification image of the CMC60MTM40-5% (scale bar 20 μm). CMC60MTM40-1% exhibits only a conformal coating of the fiber (d, inset, and Supplementary Fig. S1), and CMC60MTM40-5% shows the ordered layered structure of the nacre-mimetic coating (f, inset: scale bar 2 μm).
