Tunable Hybridized Morphologies Obtained through Flash Joule Heating of Carbon Nanotubes

Paul A. Advincula, Jacob L. Beckham, Chi Hun Choi, Weiyin Chen, Yimo Han, Dmitry V. Kosynkin, Alexander Lathem, Alvaro Mayoral, Miguel Jose Yacaman, James M. Tour

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Hybrid carbon nanomaterials, such as those that incorporate carbon nanotubes into graphene sheets, have been found to display interesting mechanical and electrical properties because of their covalent bonding and π-πstacking domains. However, synthesis of these hybrid materials is limited by the high energetic cost of techniques like chemical vapor deposition. Here, we demonstrate the solvent- and gas-free synthesis of a 2D carbon nanotube/graphene network through flash Joule heating of pristine carbon nanotubes. The relative proportion of each morphology in the hybrid material can be tuned by varying the pulse time, as confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and microscopy. Triboindentation of epoxy composites made with the hybrid material shows increases of 162% and 64% to the hardness and Young's modulus, respectively, compared with the neat epoxy. These results demonstrate that flash Joule heating can be used to inexpensively convert carbon nanotubes into a hybrid network of nanotubes and graphene for use as an effective reinforcing additive in epoxy composites.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2506-2516
Number of pages11
JournalACS Nano
Volume17
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 14 2023

Keywords

  • carbon nanotubes
  • composites
  • cross-linking
  • flash Joule heating
  • flash graphene
  • hybrid morphologies
  • unzipping

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • General Engineering
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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