Special assembly of laminated nanocomposite that mimics nacre

Assembly of organic–inorganic nanocomposite with nacre-like structure has long been considered a valuable bio-inspired route to design materials with excellent mechanical properties. However, effective control of nanostructure and organic content concurrently is a key problem. In this research, a special assembly method—hydrothermal–electrophoretic assembly was introduced into preparing nanocomposite that mimics nacre, both in structure and composition. The two-step assembly process included intercalation of polymer into interlayer space of montmorillonite by hydrothermal process and the subsequent electrophoretic deposition. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis and scanning electronic microscopy were employed to characterize the structure and composition of the films. Reduced Young's modulus was determined by nanoindentation. Results showed that by constructing brick-and-mortar nanostructure, reduced Young's modulus of the composite film was effectively enhanced even when organic content was low.