Research Terms
Engineering Industrial Engineering Manufacturing Engineering
Keywords
Additive Manufacturing Composites Famu-Fsu College Of Engineering Multifunctional Composites Nanomaterials Non-Metal Conductor Printed Sensors Sem/Tem Analysis Thermal Protection System (Tps)
Industries
Industrial Engineering Manufacturing Engineering
High-Performance Materials Institute
Director |
Zhiyong Liang |
Phone | (850) 645-8984 |
Website | http://hpmi.research.fsu.edu/ |
Mission | The High-Performance Materials Institute (HPMI) is a leading center in the composite R&D consisting of multidisciplinary professional researchers: students, staff and faculty. HPMI is dedicated to: -Become a leader in developing cost-effective high-performance composites and multifunctional nanomaterials and product prototypes, -Develop an interdisciplinary research team with a wide range of technical backgrounds for conducting world-class research towards making high-performance materials scalable, affordable and energy efficient, -Develop unique capabilities for concept-prototype development, nanomanufacturing, advanced manufacturing, -Establish a leading institute for undergraduate and graduate study and degree production in the related areas, and -Accelerate technical transfer and commercialization of the developed technologies to create local and national impacts. |
This invention provides a novel technique to enhance carbon nanotube dispersion and interfacial bonding in epoxy-based nanotube nanocomposites through in-situ polymerization. The in-situ polymerization reaction grafts peroxide groups onto the surfaces of nanotubes and the functionalized carbon nanotubes or nanofibers react with epoxy resin during nanocomposites fabrication. This in-situ polymerization can lead to high-exfoliation and uniform dispersion of carbon nanotubes or nanofibers in the epoxy polymer matrix during modification of nanotube surface characters. Furthermore the in-situ reaction produces covalent bond between nanotubes or nanofibers and the epoxy polymer matrix during composite fabrication through drafted peroxide groups to substantially improve load-transfer between nanotubes and resin. The significantly improved dispersion and interface bonding considerably increase the load-transfer and acquire high performance.
The present invention provides a new material and its manufacturing process to create improved binder-free composite materials having a network of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and activated carbon (aC) particles in which one or more types of particles or fibers is embedded. The activated carbon particles are embedded in a network or matrix of single-walled or multiple-walled CNTs. The highly dispersed and entangled CNT network provides essential high electrical conductivity, mechanical strength and durability which provides for the free-standing and binder-free characteristics. The high aspect ratio of the entangled CNTs allow for the incorporation of micron sized particles within the network structure. The absence of binders, which block surface pores and thus decrease usable surface area, allows for maximum adsorption of desired materials onto the carbon's highly microporous surface. The composite materials may be made by filtering suspensions containing carbon nanotubes, particles or fibers of interest, or both carbon nanotubes and particles or fibers of interest. The particles may be silicon particles, activated carbon particles, particles of a lithium compound, any other particles, or a combination thereof.
The produced sheets can have a multitude of uses where high surface area, low electrical resistivity, low mass density and the chemical or electrochemical properties of carbon are desired. These applications include but are not limited to: batteries, fuel cells and electrochemical capacitor electrodes, water purification systems (capacitive deionization electrode, membrane filtration), hydrogen storage materials, gas purification, etc.