Nano Letters
Nano Letters
5 years ago

Ultralight Conductive Silver Nanowire Aerogels

Ultralight Conductive Silver Nanowire Aerogels
Megan C. Freyman, T. Yong-Jin Han, Ted Baumann, Marcus A. Worsley, Pui Ching Lan, Tianyi Kou, Christopher M. Spadaccini, Eric B. Duoss, Cheng Zhu, Fang Qian, Wen Chen, Tammy Y. Olson
Low-density metal foams have many potential applications in electronics, energy storage, catalytic supports, fuel cells, sensors, and medical devices. Here, we report a new method for fabricating ultralight, conductive silver aerogel monoliths with predictable densities using silver nanowires. Silver nanowire building blocks were prepared by polyol synthesis and purified by selective precipitation. Silver aerogels were produced by freeze-casting nanowire aqueous suspensions followed by thermal sintering to weld the nanowire junctions. As-prepared silver aerogels have unique anisotropic microporous structures, with density precisely controlled by the nanowire concentration, down to 4.8 mg/cm3 and an electrical conductivity up to 51 000 S/m. Mechanical studies show that silver nanowire aerogels exhibit “elastic stiffening” behavior with a Young’s modulus up to 16 800 Pa.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b02790

DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b02790

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