Graphene is known to display an unmatched combination of strength and electrical and thermal properties, making it highly attractive for use in small-scale devices. Achieving such performance in large-scale graphene-based materials is desirable, yet extremely challenging. Jie Lian and colleagues have now demonstrated graphene fibres that exhibit thermal and electrical conductivities of up to 1,290 W m−1 K−1 and 2.21 × 105 S m−1, respectively, and a maximum tensile strength of 1,080 MPa. To achieve this performance, a unique hierarchical structuring approach is adopted, consisting of large-sized graphene oxide sheets intercalated by small-scale graphene oxide sheets. Thermal reduction, followed by annealing, is then used to reduce graphene oxide to graphene, achieving a compact and ordered structure. This study demonstrates how utilizing unique hierarchical structures in artificial materials can yield improved performance.
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Plummer, J. Hierarchical fibres. Nature Mater 14, 1075 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4470
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4470
