Assembling nanostructured building blocks into network materials unlocks macroscopic properties inaccessible with monolithic solids, notably toughness and tolerance to electrochemical alloying. A method is reported for large-scale, continuous synthesis of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) suspended in the gas phase and their direct assembly into macroscopic sheets. Performing gas-phase growth of SiNWs through floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition using an aerosol of gold nanoparticles eliminates the need for substrates, increasing the growth rate by a factor of 500, reaching 1.4 μm s⁻¹ and leading to very long SiNWs. The combined high aspect ratio (>210) and large concentration of SiNWs in the gas-phase (1.5 × 10⁷ cm⁻³) enable the formation of macroscopic solids solely composed of percolated SiNWs, such as free-standing sheets and continuous metre-long SiNW tapes. Sheet samples of small diameter SiNWs (<25 nm) combine extraordinary flexibility in bending, tensile ductility around 3%, and over 50-fold higher toughness than Si-based anodes (fracture energy 0.18 ± 0.1 J g⁻¹). This synthesis and assembly process should be applicable to virtually any one-dimensional inorganic nanomaterial producible by thermochemical methods.

中文翻译：

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产生的坚韧纳米线片在气相中漂浮

将纳米结构构件组装到网络材料中，可以释放出整体固体无法获得的宏观性能，尤其是韧性和对电化学合金的耐受性。据报道，有一种方法可以大规模，连续地合成悬浮在气相中的硅纳米线（SiNW），并将其直接组装成宏观薄片。通过使用金纳米颗粒的气溶胶通过浮式催化剂化学气相沉积进行SiNW的气相生长，消除了对基板的需求，将生长速率提高了500倍，达到1.4μms ^-1并导致了非常长的SiNW。高纵横比（> 210）和气相中高浓度SiNW的组合（1.5×10 ⁷ cm ^-3）可以形成仅由渗透的SiNW组成的宏观固体，例如独立的薄片和连续的米长SiNW胶带。与Si基阳极相比，小直径SiNW（<25 nm）的板材样品具有出色的弯曲柔韧性，约3％的拉伸延展性和高出50倍的韧性（断裂能0.18±0.1 J g ^-1）。这种合成和组装过程实际上应适用于可通过热化学方法生产的任何一维无机纳米材料。