Effects of carbonaceous conductive fillers on electrical and thermal properties of asphalt-matrix conductive composites

The relationship between thermal/electrical conductivity enhancement in asphalt-matrix mixtures and the properties of filling conductive particles is studied. The thermal properties with filling the carbon fiber, graphite conductive particles in asphalt-matrix mixtures are investigated. Based on the generalized effective medium theory （ EMT ）, the effective thermal and electrical conductivity of carbon fiber/asphalt and graphite/asphalt composites are theoretically elucidated. The theoretical results are found to be in reasonably well agreement with the experimental data. Moreover, the theoretical and experimental results show that the large-aspect-ratio shape of particles can help to achieve a large enhancement of effective conductivity, and the use of disk-like high conductivity particles can limit the additive contents for preserving the volumetric properties and mechanical properties of asphalt composites. The generalized effective medium theory model can be used for predicting the thermal and electrical properties of asphaltmatrix composites, which is still available for most of the thermal/electrical modifications in two-phase composites.

Highly Thermally Conductive Polydimethylsiloxane Composites with Controllable 3D GO@f-CNTs Networks via Self-sacrificing Template Method

Constructing controllable thermal conduction networks is the key to efficiently improve thermal conductivities of polymer composites.In this work,graphite oxide(GO)and functionalized carbon nanotubes(f-CNTs)are combined to prepare“Line-Plane”-like hetero-structured thermally conductive GO@f-CNTs fillers,which are then performed to construct controllable 3D GO@f-CNTs thermal conduction networks via selfsacrificing template method based on oxalic acid.Subsequently,thermally conductive GO@f-CNTs/polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)composites are fabricated via casting method.When the size of oxalic acid is 0.24 mm and the volume fraction of GO@f-CNTs is 60 vol%,GO@f-CNTs/PDMS composites present the optimal thermal conductivity coefficient(λ,4.00 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1)),about 20 times that of theλof neat PDMS(0.20 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1)),also much higher than theλ(2.44 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1))of GO/f-CNTs/PDMS composites with the same amount of randomly dispersed fillers.Meanwhile,the obtained GO@f-CNTs/PDMS composites have excellent thermal stability,whoseλdeviation is only about 3%after 500 thermal cycles(20-200℃).

Enhanced methane recovery and exoelectrogen-methanogen evolution from low-strength wastewater in an up-flow biofilm reactor with conductive granular graphite fillers

Methane production from low-strength wastewater （LSWW） is generally difficult because of the low metabolism rate of methanogens. Here, an up-flow biofilm reactor equipped with conductive granular graphite （GG） as fillers was developed to enhance direct interspecies electron transfer （DIET） between syntrophie electroactive bacteria and methanogens to stimulate methanogcnesis process. Compared to quartz sand fillers, using condnctive fillers significantly enhanced methane production and accelerated the start-up stage ofbJ.ofilm reactor. At HRT of 6 h, the average methane production rate and methane yield of reactor with GG were 0.106 m3/（m3.d） and 74.5 L/kg COD, which increased by 34.3 times and 22.4 times respectively compared with the reactor with common quartz sand fillers. The microbial cornmunity analysis revealed that methanogens structure was significantly altered and the archaea that are involved in DIET （such as Methanohacterium） were enriched in GG fillet- The beneficial effects ot conductive fillers on methane production implied a practical strategy tbr efficient methane recovery from LSWW.

STUDY ON THE CONDUCTING FIBER REINFORCED PLASTIC

The conductive fiber reinforced plastic was prepared by dispersing electrical conducting filler particles such as aluminum powder, graphite and carbon black to glass fiber reinforced resin. The effects that each or double kinds of fillers, also the conductive fiber cloth had done on the electrical and mechanical properties of plastic composites were studied. This paper also provided discussion on the conductive mechanism of fiber reinforced plastic. (Author abstract) 8 Refs.

Porous garnet as filler of solid polymer electrolytes to enhance the performance of solid-state lithium batteries

In order to enhance the ionic conductivity of solid polymer electrolytes(SPEs)and their structural rigidity against lithium dendrite during lithium-ion battery(LIB)cycling,we propose porous garnet Li6.4La3Zr2Al0.2O12(LLZO),as the filler to SPEs.The porous LLZO with interlinked grains was synthesized via a resol-assisted cationic coordinative co-assembly approach.The porous structure of LLZO with high specific surface area facilitates the interaction between polymer and filler and provides sufficient entrance for Li^(+)migration into the LLZO phase.Furthermore,the interconnection of LLZO grains forms continuous inorganic pathways for fast Li^(+)migration,which avoid the multiple diffusion for Li^(+)in interface.As a result,the SPEs with porous LLZO(SPE-PL)show a high ionic conductive of 0.73 mS·cm^(-1) at 30℃ and lithium-ion transference number of 0.40.The porous LLZO with uniformly dispersed pores also acts as an ion distributor to regulate ionic flux.The lithium-symmetrical batteries assembled with SPE-PL show a highly stable Li plating/stripping cycling for nearly 3000 h at 0.1 mA·cm^(-2).The corresponding Li/LiFePO_(4) batteries also exhibit excellent cyclic performance with capacity retention of 75%after nearly 500 cycles.This work brings new insights into the design of conductive fillers and the optimization of SPEs.

Conductivity and mechanical properties of conductive adhesive with silver nanowires

The aim of this study was to develop conductive adhesive using silver nanowires prepared via solvothermal method as conductive fillers and epoxymodified organosilicone resin as matrix resin. Effect of the addition of silver nanowires/flakes on the conductive adhesive＇s electrical and mechanical properties was investigated. Compared with conventional conductive adhesive with silver flakes fillers, the percolation threshold of conductive adhesive with silver nanowires fillers is 10 % lower approximately. However, further rise of the content of silver nanowires has no obvious influence on improvement of the electrical conductivity of conductive adhesive. Both conductive and mechanical properties of conductive adhesive can be compatible by adding silver nanowires, which traditional silver conductive adhesives cannot reach.

The Elongation Performance of Spirulina-templated Silver Micro Springs Embedded in the Polydimethylsiloxane

Helical conductive particles have attracted much attention in preparing stretchable conductive materials because of their structural flexibility and uniform strain distribution under deformation. In this paper, Spirulina-templated silver micro springs were fabricated using electroless deposition of silver onto Spirulina surface. To investigate their potential application as con- ductive fillers for stretchable materials, they were mixed into polydimethylsiloxane （PDMS） uniformly, and then the mixture was spin coated on a polyfluortetraethylene （PTFE） plate to form a thin film, during which, micro springs tended to align its major axis along the radial direction of the plate. The tensile tests of micro springs were carried out using the film along the alignment direction of micro springs on the custom-made setup. Under the optimal condition of coating thickness of 0.67 gm, helical pitch of 29 gm and annealing temperature of 300 ~C, the average elongation of micro springs can reach up to -106.9%, which indicates that the as-prepared Spirulina-templated silver micro springs are promising flexible conductive fillers for fabricating stretchable conductive materials.