Inspired by the nacre layered multistage structure and high toughness and strength of the unity of mechanical properties, a graphene oxide/carboxyl functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes/konjac glucomannan (GO-SC-KGM) nanocomposite is successfully fabricated through a vacuum filtration method for the first time. The GO nanosheets with carboxyl and hydroxyl groups, SC with carboxyl groups, and the KGM molecule chains with abundant hydroxyl groups could easily form hydrogen bonding networks, resulting in a strong interface interaction. The tensile strength of prepared GO-SC-KGM nanocomposites reaches 311.4 ± 9.2 MPa. At the same time, it can maintain toughness up to 11.1 ± 0.5 MJ m-3. Its strength and toughness are much higher than nacres and other nacre-like GO-base composites. Thus, this kind of SC enhances high tensile strength and toughness, and the bioinspired nanocomposite exhibits promising potential applications for food packaging, aerospace, tissue engineering, or as a replacement for conventional chemical synthetic organic based materials.
Keywords: bioinspired; carboxyl functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes; graphene oxide; konjac glucomannan; mechanical properties.