Nanotechnology

Composite material

Materials science

Mica

Nature Communications

Biomimetic assembly of high-quality nanosheets into nacre-like structures can produce macroscopic films with favorable mechanical and optical performances due to the intrinsic properties and high level of ordering of the nanoscale building blocks. Natural ground mica is abundant and exhibits great application potential. However, large size and low aspect ratio greatly limit its biomimetic assembly. Moreover, exfoliation of ground mica into high-quality nanosheets remains a significant challenge. Here, we report that large-scale exfoliation of ground mica into mono- or few-layered mica nanosheets with a production rate of ~1.0 g h

Transforming ground mica into high-performance biomimetic polymeric mica film