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Nacre‐Inspired Graphene/Metal Hybrid by In Situ Cementation Reaction and Joule Heating
Author(s) -
Fontoura Luiza,
Nautiyal Pranjal,
Loganathan Archana,
Boesl Benjamin,
Agarwal Arvind
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced engineering materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1527-2648
pISSN - 1438-1656
DOI - 10.1002/adem.201800518
Subject(s) - materials science , graphene , composite material , cementation (geology) , copper , composite number , spark plasma sintering , joule heating , indentation , lamellar structure , microstructure , nanotechnology , metallurgy , cement
A nacre mimicking layered composite consisting of multilayer graphene (MLG) flakes and copper is fabricated in this study by a two‐step process including cementation reaction and Joule heating via spark plasma sintering (SPS). In situ cementation reaction deposits copper nanodroplets on activated graphene flakes with the aid of reducer Magnesium metal. The copper‐coated graphene flakes are subjected to pressure and localized Joule heating, resulting in a hierarchical 3D architecture comprising of uniformly aligned graphene flakes firmly bonded together by intermediate copper layers. The lamellar microstructure is characterized by a heterogeneous variation of elastic modulus. The impact of this hierarchical structure on the composite's mechanical behavior is explored by indentation loading, revealing a four‐fold increase in the load bearing ability of MLG/Cu hybrid as compared to MLG monolith. The Nacre‐inspired MLG‐Cu hybrid exhibits work of indentation ≈22.4 mJ, which is 500% improvement over MLG monolith (≈3.7 mJ). Copper deposition on graphene significantly improves the inter‐layer adhesion and restricts the sliding, pull‐out, and delamination of graphene flakes. The intimate interfacial contact between the constituent layers of the 3D hybrid facilitates effective stress‐transfer, thereby improving the overall load‐bearing ability. The novel processing route proposed here can be applied to other 2D materials for developing bioinspired 3D architectures with superior mechanical properties for a wide range of applications.