Preparation and Characterization of NPC/SWNT Nanocomposite
- PDF / 139,514 Bytes
- 5 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 82 Downloads / 277 Views
0963-Q20-12
Preparation and Characterization of NPC/SWNT Nanocomposite Bo Yi1, Ramakrishnan Rajagopalan2, and Henry C. Foley3,4 1 Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 166 Fenske Lab, University Park, PA, 16802 2 Material Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, 133 Fenske Lab, University Park, PA, 16802 3 Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 332 Information Sciences and Technology Building, University Park, PA, 16802 4 Material Resarch Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802
ABSTRACT A nanocomposite carbon composed with single wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) and nanoporous carbon (NPC) was prepared by grafting a carbonizable polymer, poly(furfuryl alcohol) (PFA) to a SWNT. The SWNT was first functionalized with arylsulfonic acid groups on sidewall (SA-SWNT) and then converted to PFA-functionalized SWNT (PFA-SWNT) by in situ polymerization of furfuryl alcohol (FA). NPC/SWNT nanocomposite carbon was generated by heating PFA-SWNT in argon at 600˚C. A continuous phase was formed between SWNT and NPC. The deformation of the nanocomposite carbon at high temperature was studied by heating it at temperatures from 1200 to 2000 ˚C and characterized with HRTEM and Raman spectra. It was found that NPC tended to graphitize along the axis of neighboring nanotubes at temperature higher than 1400˚C. Complete graphitization of NPC and SWNTs was obtained at 2000 ˚C, when the NPC transformed to graphitic nanoribbon (GNR) and SWNT or DWNT collapsed within the confines of the GNR. Nanocomposite polymer and carbon fibers were prepared by dispersing small amount of SA-SWNT in FA, followed with polymerization, thermosetting and pyrolysis. The composite polymer fibers’ Young’s modulus was lower than the pure PFA fibers prepared at the same conditions. However, after heated in argon at 300 ˚C, 400 ˚C, 500 ˚C and 600 ˚C respectively, the Young’s modulus of the nanocomposite carbon fibers turned to be higher than the fibers derived from pure PFA with treating temperature higher than 400 ˚C. The average Young’s moduli enhancement is ~13% with only 0.1wt% of SA-SWNT in FA. INTRODUCTION Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), especially single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), exhibit exceptional mechanical and electronic properties, 1, 2 which make them attractive candidates as constituents of new high performance composites. Carbon/carbon (CC) composites are an important class of materials with applications in aerospace, the nuclear industry and the chemical industry. In CC composites, the carbon fibers with high mechanical strength are used to reinforce the brittle carbon matrix material. The fibers’ mechanical properties and the strength of the interface between the fibers and the carbon matrix determine, to a large extent, the strength and stiffness of the composite materials.3 Due to the extraordinary properties of SWNTs, it would be interesting to replace carbon fibers with SWNT in CC composites to create a nanocomposite. 6
On the other hand, although a wide range of host
Data Loading...
