Hybrid Aeromaterials for Enhanced and Rapid Volumetric Photothermal Response

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Conversion of light into heat is essential for a broad range of technologies such as solar thermal heating, catalysis and desalination. Three-dimensional (3D) carbon nanomaterial-based aerogels have been shown to hold great promise as photothermal transducer materials. However, until now, their light-to-heat conversion is limited by near-surface absorption, resulting in a strong heat localization only at the illuminated surface region, while most of the aerogel volume remains unused. We present a fabrication concept for highly porous (>99.9%) photothermal hybrid aeromaterials, which enable an ultrarapid and volumetric photothermal response with an enhancement by a factor of around 2.5 compared to the pristine variant. The hybrid aeromaterial is based on strongly light-scattering framework structures composed of interconnected hollow silicon dioxide (SiO2) microtubes, which are functionalized with extremely low amounts (in order of a few μg cm−3) of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets, acting as photothermal agents. Tailoring the density of rGO within the framework structure enables us to control both light scattering and light absorption and thus the volumetric photothermal response. We further show that by rapid and repeatable gas activation, these transducer materials expand the field of photothermal applications, like untethered light-powered and light-controlled microfluidic pumps and soft pneumatic actuators (Figure Presented).

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)22444-22455
Number of pages12
JournalACS nano
Volume17
Issue number22
Publication statusPublished - 28 Nov 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 37963588

Keywords

Keywords

  • 2D nanomaterials, aerogel, aeromaterial, graphene, microfluidics, photothermal effect, soft robotics