Technology | German Researchers Create Flexible Ceramics

Researchers at Kiel University in Germany recently created flexible ceramics that could be used in heat shields, filters and medical devices, according to The American Ceramic Society.

Above image: Flexible, stretchable ceramic material made from tin oxide. Photograph by Claudia Eulitz.

A press release from the university states that the material is created by “baking” nanostructures made from tin oxide. The university explains:

“Metal oxides in bulk form are generally brittle, which limits their desired utilizations. Their one-dimensional (1D) structures, such as belt-like nanostructures, exhibit much more application potential because of their high surface to volume ratio. This ratio induces extraordinary physical and chemical properties, including a high degree of bendability.

“’However, 1D nanostructures are still difficult to use, because integrating them in real devices is a challenging task. To overcome this issue, we have developed three-dimensional (3D) macroscopic material from 1D tin oxide belt-like nanostructures. The resulting ceramic networks exhibit most of the nanoscale properties, including flexibility. It can therefore be freely utilized for any desired application. We are very pleased that our recently introduced flame transport synthesis method on the basis of zinc oxide now enables the simple synthesis of interconnected 3D networks from tin oxide’, says Dr Yogendra Kumar Mishra, group leader of the working group ‘Functional Nanomaterials’ at Kiel University, and main author of the study.”

The American Ceramic Society points out that the material looks like woven noodles, which you can see in the microscope images included below. It has a wooly, cotton-like appearance.

Any thoughts about this post? Share yours in the comment box below.