Hegde, MarutiYang, LinVita, FrancescoFox, Ryan J.van de Watering, ReneeNorder, BenLafont, UgoFrancescangeli, OrianoMadsen, Louis A.Picken, Stephen J.Samulski, Edward T.Dingemans, Theo J.2020-05-182020-05-182020-02-112041-1723830http://hdl.handle.net/10919/98412Combining polymers with small amounts of stiff carbon-based nanofillers such as graphene or graphene oxide is expected to yield low-density nanocomposites with exceptional mechanical properties. However, such nanocomposites have remained elusive because of incompatibilities between fillers and polymers that are further compounded by processing difficulties. Here we report a water-based process to obtain highly reinforced nanocomposite films by simple mixing of two liquid crystalline solutions: a colloidal nematic phase comprised of graphene oxide platelets and a nematic phase formed by a rod-like high-performance aramid. Upon drying the resulting hybrid biaxial nematic phase, we obtain robust, structural nanocomposites reinforced with graphene oxide.application/pdfenCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 InternationalArticle - Refereedhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14618-011132047162