Bioinspired inosculation of heterogeneous carbon network structures to prompt heat conduction

It is a common approach to construct material structures using high-aspect-ratio units for specific functionalities. However, the realisation of structural and functional continuity from individual building blocks remains challenging. Inspired by the inosculation of twinned-trunk in nature and the capability of resource sharing and exchange, a new strategy for assembling porous 3D carbon networks is developed in this study. In this design, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were in-situ grown on carbon fibres (CFs) to initiate nano-branching by chemical vapour deposition, and pyrolytic carbon (PyC) was subsequently deposited on the CNTs and CFs to form an interconnection between adjacent fibres. This inosculation structure, mimicking the cellular fusion between trunks and branches, established continuous interconnections between independent carbon phases. As proof of resource sharing with functional continuity, the inosculated heterogeneous carbon network was incorporated into polydimethylsiloxane matrices after graphitisation for prompting heat conduction. The fabricated composites demonstrated substantially improved thermal conductivity, attaining a through-plane value of 18.8 W/(m K) at 21.4 vol% carbon material loading. This inosculation assembly strategy provides a transformative paradigm for constructing advanced functional materials requiring continuous interconnected 3D networks.