Highly Active Carbonaceous Nanofibers: A Versatile Scaffold for Constructing Multifunctional Free-Standing Membranes

Translating the unique characteristics of individual nanoscale components into macroscopic materials such as membranes or sheets still remains a challenge, as the engineering of these structures often compromises their intrinsic properties. Here, we demonstrate that the highly active carbonaceous nanofibers (CNFs), which are prepared through a template-directed hydrothermal carbonization process, can be used as a versatile nanoscale scaffold for constructing macroscopic multifunctional membranes. In order to demonstrate the broad applicability of the CNF scaffold, we fabricate a variety of CNF-based composite nanofibers, including CNFs-Fe3O4, CNFs-TiO2, CNFs-Ag, and CNFs-Au through various chemical routes. Importantly, all of them inherit unique dimensionality (high aspect ratio) and mechanical properties (flexibility) of the original CNF scaffolds and thus can be assembled into macroscopic free-standing membranes through a simple casting process. We also demonstrate the wide application potentials of these multifunctional composite membranes in magnetic actuation, antibiofouling filtration, and continuous-flow catalysis.