Visible Microfluidic Deprotonation for Aramid Nanofibers as Building Blocks of Cascade‐Microfluidic‐Processed Colloidal Aerogels

 Microfluidic deprotonation approach is proposed to realize continuous, scalable, efficient, and uniform production of aramid nanofibers (ANFs) by virtue of large specific surface area, high mixing efficiency, strong heat transfer capacity, narrow residence time distribution, mild laminar‐flow proce...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2024-06, Vol.36 (25), p.e2400101-n/a
Main Authors: Ding, Yafei, Cheng, Qingqing, Lyu, Jing, Liu, Zengwei, Yuan, Ruizhe, Ma, Fengguo, Zhang, Xuetong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerogels
aramid nanofiber
cascade processing
colloidal aerogel
Colloiding
Exfoliation
in situ observation
Laminar flow
Microchannels
microfluidic deprotonation
Microfluidics
Nanofibers
Residence time distribution
Shearing
Synergistic effect
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary: Microfluidic deprotonation approach is proposed to realize continuous, scalable, efficient, and uniform production of aramid nanofibers (ANFs) by virtue of large specific surface area, high mixing efficiency, strong heat transfer capacity, narrow residence time distribution, mild laminar‐flow process, and amplification‐free effect of the microchannel reactor. By means of monitoring capabilities endowed by the high transparency of the microchannel, the kinetic exfoliation process of original aramid particles is in situ observed and the corresponding exfoliation mechanism is established quantificationally. The deprotonated time can be reduced from the traditional several days to 7 min for the final colloidal dispersion due to the synergistic effect between enhanced local shearing/mixing and the rotational motion of aramid particles in microchannel revealed by numerical simulations. Furthermore, the cascade microfluidic processing approach is used to make various ANF colloidal aerogels including aerogel fibers, aerogel films, and 3D‐printed aerogel articles. Comprehensive characterizations show that these cascade‐microfluidic‐processed colloidal aerogels have identical features as those prepared in batch‐style mode, revealing the versatile use value of these ANFs. This work achieves significant progress toward continuous and efficient production of ANFs, bringing about appreciable prospects for the practical application of ANF‐based materials and providing inspiration for exfoliating any other nano‐building blocks. A microfluidic deprotonation approach with an in situ observation function is proposed first to realize the continuous, scalable, efficient, and uniform production of aramid nanofibers. The kinetic exfoliation process is established quantificationally, bringing about appreciable prospects for the cascade‐microfluidic‐processed colloidal aerogels and providing inspiration for exfoliating any other nano‐building blocks.
ISSN:0935-9648
1521-4095
1521-4095
DOI:10.1002/adma.202400101