The unusual combination of high electrical and extremely low thermal conductivity now is highlighted by a comparison with more than 3,900 materials of all types, including ceramics, carbons, natural materials, synthetic polymers, metals, glasses, and various composites. Electron transport and thermal energy insulation were more coupled in the new electrospun composite fiber material than in those other materials.
"Our electrospun nonwovens combine highly attractive multifunctional properties that are usually distributed among different classes of materials: high electrical conductivity, thermal insulation familiar from polymer foams, and non-flammability and heat resistance characteristic of ceramics. The fibers are based on a simple material concept, and they were made from commercial polymers," says first author Dr. Xiaojian Liao, a postdoctoral researcher in macromolecular chemistry at the University of Bayreuth. "We are convinced that our new fibers are suited for several application areas: for example, in the fields of energy management, battery-powered electromobility, smart textiles, or aerospace," says Prof. Dr. Seema Agarwal, professor of macromolecular chemistry at the University of Bayreuth and one of the corresponding authors of this new study. The interdisciplinary team at the University of Bayreuth, with expertise in ceramics, polymers, electrospinning, physical chemistry, and electron microscopy, made this work successful.
Interdisciplinary collaboration on the Bayreuth campus
Bayreuth scientists from different research centers collaborated in the development of the new material and the necessary preliminary studies: the Bavarian Polymer Institute (BPI), the Bayreuth Center for Colloids and Interfaces (BZKG), the Bavarian Research Institute of Experimental Geochemistry & Geophysics (BGI), and the Bavarian Center for Battery Technology (BayBatt).
Research funding
The research was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of a joint research project between the Chair of Ceramic Materials Engineering and the Chair of Macromolecular Chemistry II. The DFG also financed a transmission electron microscope at the Bavarian Research Institute of Experimental Geochemistry & Geophysics (BGI), which was used in the research work.
Publication:
Xiaojian Liao, Jakob Denk, Thomas Tran, Nobuyoshi Miyajima, Lothar Benker, Sabine Rosenfeldt, Stefan Schafföner, Markus Retsch, Andreas Greiner, Günter Motz, Seema Agarwal: Extremely low thermal conductivity and high electrical conductivity of sustainable carbonceramic electrospun nonwoven materials. Science Advances (2023), Vol 9, Issue 13, DOI: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade6066