PhD Student Ao Li

A major challenge in science and engineering today is the development of stronger, tougher, and lightweight structural materials. Various fields, including construction, transportation, energy, and healthcare, require materials that offer exceptional mechanical performance in demanding environments. Natural nacre has been widely studied for next-generation high-performance structural composites due to its unique brick-and-mortar nanostructure. This architecture provides remarkable toughening efficiency, resulting in a toughness that is three orders of magnitude higher than that of its main constituent, aragonite (CaCO₃). The nacre-like composites have been extensively studied using brittle structural ceramics. However, limited attention has been given to the nanoscale replication of natural nacre. The main objective of this project is to use van der Waals (vdW) materials as main constituent to develop a new generation of ceramic-based composites. VdW materials, including graphite and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), exhibit a nano-layered structure with strong in-plane covalent bonds, making them candidates for mimicking the nanoscale structure of nacre. Our focus will be on the design and fabrication of vdW composites exhibiting chemical and thermal stability together with high specific strength and toughness and to combine these structural capabilities with other functionalities (e.g. high thermal or electrical conductivity)