Russia studies the morphology and properties of carbon nanomaterials

Carbon nanomaterials can be used to manufacture new composite materials. Carbon nanomaterials can be divided into carbon nanofibers, single-walled carbon nanotubes, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, nano-structured platelets, and the like. The morphology of a single-walled carbon nanotube is much like that of a micro-reticular tube, and its interior can be filled with different substances such as hydrogen, chemicals, metals, and the like. Carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers can be easily chemically modified to improve their dispersibility and enhance their adsorptivity.

The structure of carbon nanotubes makes it have good mechanical strength, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and chemical stability. Carbon nanotubes are added with conductive fillers to make antistatic materials and coatings. The structural consistency of carbon nanotubes makes it a raw material for nanocarbon paper production. The further use of carbon nanotubes can create new fiber composites and new film-like composites.

The State University of Technology and Design St. Petersburg, Russia, studied the morphology and properties of different types of carbon nanostructures, scanned carbon nanotubes with electron microscopy, and analyzed them.

The microscopic morphology of each type of carbon nanotubes is not the same. The morphology and structure of the carbon nanotubes have different properties such as packing density, specific surface area, and adsorption space. In the polymerization solution and solvent, to prepare a suspension of carbon nanotubes, the filling density value must be accurately calculated, but also have to undergo physical or chemical treatment, this poor float can remain stable. In order to separate individual carbon nanotubes from agglomerates, physical and chemical methods are used. More physical methods are used for filtration, centrifugation, electrophoresis, and sonication. Under the different effects of (mechanical, ultrasonic and electric arc) experiments, the research group isolated carbon nanotubes in the organic solvent N,N-dimethylformamide. Get the following result:

1. Mechanical influence: There is a strong clustering and compactness on the structure of carbon nanotubes, making it evenly distributed in the polymer.

2. Using multiple ultrasonics to treat the carbon nanotube suspension in the organic solvent, the carbon nanotube suspension is then separated to separate individual carbon nanotubes from the agglomerates.

3, the impact of discharge, so that the carbon nanotubes in water to form a dense fiber structure, their length can reach a few millimeters. Their formation of the same structure may be related to the orientation of the carbon nanotubes along the current direction in the liquid medium and the high temperature of the discharge current.

The most promising method of carbon nanotube separation is the functionalization of carbon nanotube suspensions by sonication in organic solvents.

To create composites, not only must the nanoparticles be uniformly separated from the polymer matrix, but also the chemical composition of the surface of the carbon nanotubes to distinguish between different functional groups that determine the behavior of carbon nanotubes in liquids. Dispersion, aggregation tendency, stickiness, conductivity, and resistance.