Preparation of Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes/Graphene Composites with Cadmium Sulfide in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs)

In the present work, Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) have been fabricated by utilizing a dense layer of photoelctrode cadmium sulfide thin film (CdS) as n-type, which prepared by spray coating, while p-type electrode was multi-wall carbon nanotubes/graphene (MWNT-G) composites. The experimental results showed the higher energy conversion efficiency for CdS/MWNT-G was 0.056% in comparison with the others, which were CdS/MWNT with 0.044% and CdS/G with 0.037% respectively, which referred to improvement in the conductivity by using MWNT-G. The microstructure and nanostructure of CdS, MWNT, G, and MWNT-G nanocomposite were carried out by employing Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) has been used to get crystal size of CdS, Raman scattering, and optical absorption also used for characterizations the samples. This study promised to increase and enhance the conversion efficiency of photovoltaic devices.

Toxicity of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes,Graphene Oxide,and Reduced Graphene Oxide to Zebrafish Embryos

Objective This study was aimed to investigate the toxic effects of 3 nanomaterials, i.e. multi-walled carbon nanotubes （MWCNTs）, graphene oxide （GO）, and reduced graphene oxide （RGO）, on zebrafish embryos. Methods The 2-h post-fertilization （hpf） zebrafish embryos were exposed to MWCNTs, GO, and RGO at different concentrations （1, 5, 10, 50, 100 mg/L） for 96 h. Afterwards, the effects of the 3 nanomateria on spontaneous movement, heart rate, hatching rate, length of larvae, mortality, and malformations Is were evaluated. Results Statistical analysis indicated that RGO significantly inhibited the hatching of zebrafish embryos. Furthermore, RGO and MWCNTs decreased the length of the hatched larvae at 96 hpf. No obvious morphological malformation or mortality was observed in the zebrafish embryos after exposure to the three nanomaterials. Conclusion MWCNTs, GO, and RGO were all toxic to zebrafish embryos to influence embryos hatching and larvae length. Although no obvious morphological malformation and mortality were observed in exposed zebrafish embryos, further studies on the toxicity of the three nanomaterials are still needed.

An experimental study on thermal characteristics of nanofluid with graphene and multi-wall carbon nanotubes

High-thermal conductivity enhancement of nanofluid is one of the promising topics of the nanoscience research field. This work reports the experimental study on the preparation of graphene(GN) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs) based nanofluids with the assistance of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate(SDBS) and sodium dodecyl sulfate(SDS) surfactants, and their thermal behaviors. The present work suggests not a solution, but a solution approach and deduces a new conclusion by trying to resolve the agglomeration problem and improve the dispersibility of nanoparticles in the base fluid. The analysis results of FESEM, thermal conductivity, diffusivity, effusivity and heat transfer coefficient enhancement ratio of nanofluid with surfactants SDS and SDBS expose strong evidence of the dispersing effect of surfactant on the making of nanofluid.

Acetylcholinesterase Biosensor Based on Poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride)-multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes-graphene Hybrid Film

In this paper, an amperometric acetylcholinesterase(ACh E) biosensor for quantitative determination of carbaryl was developed. Firstly, the poly(diallyldimethy-lammonium chloride)-multi-walled carbon nanotubes-graphene hybrid film was modified onto the glassy carbon electrode(GCE) surface, then ACh E was immobilized onto the modified GCE to fabricate the ACh E biosensor. The morphologies and electrochemistry properties of the prepared ACh E biosensor were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. All variables involved in the preparation process and analytical performance of the biosensor were optimized. Based on the inhibition of pesticides on the ACh E activity, using carbaryl as model compounds, the biosensor exhibited low detection limit, good reproducibility and high stability in a wide range. Moreover, the biosensor can also be used for direct analysis of practical samples, which would provide a new promising tool for pesticide residues analysis.

A comparative study of polymer nanocomposites containing multi-walled carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoplatelets

Featuring exceptional mechanical and functional performance, MWCNTs and graphene(nano)platelets(GNPs or Gn Ps;each platelet below 10 nm in thickness) have been increasingly used for the development of polymer nanocomposites. Since MWCNTs are now cost-effective at US$30 per kg for industrial applications, this work starts by briefly reviewing the disentanglement and surface modification of MWCNTs as well as the properties of the resulting polymer nanocomposites. GNPs can be made through the thermal treatment of graphite intercalation compounds followed by ultrasonication;GNPs would have lower cost yet higher electrical conductivity over 1,400 S cmthan MWCNTs. Through proper surface modification and compounding techniques, both types of fillers can reinforce or toughen polymers and simultaneously add anti-static performance. A high ratio of MWCNTs to GNPs would increase the synergy for polymers. Green, solvent-free systhesis methods are desired for polymer nanocomposites. Perspectives on the limitations, current challenges and future prospects are provided.

Abnormal magnetic behavior of prussian blue analogs modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes

This work examines the origin of the abnormal magnetism exhibited by Cu Mn Fe-PBAs modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs).The system of Cu Mn Fe-PBAs@MWCNTs coexists with both large and small clusters.Cu Mn Fe-PBAs clusters have an average particle size of 28 nm,and some of the smaller particles are adsorbed on the surface of MWCNTs.Surprisingly,the magnitude of magnetization increases linearly with decreasing temperature.When above the Curie temperature,the magnitude of magnetization is significantly greater than that of PBAs without being modified.This phenomenon can be attributed to magnetostatic interactions between ultra-fine magnetic nanoparticles adsorbed on the surface of MWCNTs.Using the Monte Carlo method,we simulated the magnetostatic interaction of cylindrical adsorbed particles,and the simulation results are almost identical to those observed experimentally.The results indicate that 0.089Cu Mn Fe-PBAs clusters per 1 nm^(2)can be adsorbed onto the surface area of MWCNTs.We demonstrate that MWCNTs adsorbing magnetic particles exhibit magnetic behavior,and suggest a method for producing ultrafine materials.It also introduces a new method of calculating the adsorption efficiency of carbon nanotubes,offering theoretical guidance for future research on nanomaterials with enhanced adsorption efficiency.

Carbon nanotube and graphene reinforced magnesium matrix composites:A state-of-the-art review

Magnesium(Mg)composites reinforced with carbon-based nanomaterial(CBN)often exhibit low density,enhanced strength,good conductivity,improved wear resistance,and excellent biocompatibility when compared to current industry Mg alloys.This review aims to critically evaluate recent developments in Mg-CBN composites and is divided into five sections:First,a brief introduction to Mg-CBN composites is provided,followed by a discussion of different fabrication techniques for these composites,including powder metallurgy,casting,friction stir processing,and selective laser melting.A particular focus is on the current processing challenges,including dispersion strategies to create homogeneous Mg-CBN composites.The effect of processing on the quantifying disorder in CBNs and distinguishing different sp2carbon materials is also highlighted.Then,the effect of CBN on various properties of Mg-CBN composites is thoroughly analyzed,and the strengthening efficiency of CNTs and graphene in the Mg matrix is examined.Finally,the potential applications of Mg-CBN composites in various industries are proposed,followed by a summary and suggestions for future research directions in the field of Mg-CBN composites.

Three-Dimensional N-Doped Carbon Nanotube/Graphene Composite Aerogel Anode to Develop High-Power Microbial Fuel Cell

Optimizing the structure of electrode materials is one of the most effective strategies for designing high-power microbial fuel cells(MFCs).However,electrode materials currently suffer from a series of shortcomings that limit the output of MFCs,such as high intrinsic resistance,poor electrolyte wettability,and low microbial load capacity.Here,a three-dimensional(3D)nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon nanotube/graphene(N-MWCNT/GA)composite aerogel is synthesized as the anode for MFCs.Comparing nitrogen-doped GA,MWCNT/GA,and N-MWCNT/GA,the macroporous hydrophilic N-MWCNT/GA electrode with an average pore size of 4.24μm enables high-density loading of the microbes and facilitates extracellular electron transfer with low intrinsic resistance.Consequently,the hydrophilic surface of N-MWCNT can generate high charge mobility,enabling a high-power output performance of the MFC.In consequence,the MFC system based on N-MWCNT/GA anode exhibits a peak power density and output voltage of 2977.8 mW m^(−2)and 0.654 V,which are 1.83 times and 16.3%higher than those obtained with MWCNT/GA,respectively.These results demonstrate that 3D N-MWCNT/GA anodes can be developed for high-power MFCs in different environments by optimizing their chemical and microstructures.

An Overview of Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene for Biosensing Applications

With the development of carbon nanomaterials in recent years, there has been an explosion of interests in using carbon nanotubes(CNTs) and graphene for developing new biosensors. It is believed that employing CNTs and graphene as sensor components can make sensors more reliable, accurate, and fast due to their remarkable properties. Depending on the types of target molecular, different strategies can be applied to design sensor device. This review article summarized the important progress in developing CNT-and graphene-based electrochemical biosensors, field-effect transistor biosensors, and optical biosensors. Although CNTs and graphene have led to some groundbreaking discoveries, challenges are still remained and the state-of-the-art sensors are far from a practical application. As a conclusion, future effort has to be made through an interdisciplinary platform, including materials science, biology, and electric engineering.

Applications of carbon nanotubes and graphene for third-generation solar cells and fuel cells

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene have attracted great attention since decades ago because of their interesting structure and properties and important application in many areas. They can have high conductivity, high specific surface area, high transparency in the visible range and high mechanical flexibility. They have important application in energy conversion systems including solar cells and fuel cells. They have been extensively studied as the transparent electrode and interfacial materials of organic solar cells (OSCs) and perovskite solar cells (PSCs). They are also used as the catalytic counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In addition, graphene oxide (GO) is exploited as an auxiliary binder of TiO2 paste for the mesoporous TiO2 layer of DSSCs, and GO and functionalized CNTs are adopted as gelators of gel electrolyte for quasi-solid state DSSCs. CNTs and graphene also have important application in fuel cells. They can be used as catalyst support for the oxidation of fuels or oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). CNTs and graphene, particularly when doped with nitrogen, can be directly used metal-free catalysts. This article provides a brief review on the application of CNTs and graphene in OSCs, PSCs, DSSCs and fuel cells.

Ultrasensitive electrochemical determination of metronidazole based on polydopamine/carboxylic multi-walled carbon nanotubes nanocomposites modified GCE

An ultrasensitive electrochemical sensor based on polydopamine/carboxylic multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs à COOH) nanocomposites modified glassy carbon electrode(GCE) was presented in this work, which has been developed for highly selective and highly sensitive determination of an antimicrobial drug, metronidazole. The preparation of polydopamine/MWCNTs–COOH nanocomposites/GCE sensor is simple and possesses high reproducible, where polydopamine can be coated on the surface of MWCNTs–COOH via a simple electropolymerization process. Under optimized conditions, the proposed sensor showed ultrasensitive determination for metronidazole with a wide linear detection range from5 to 5000 mmol/dm^3 and a low detection limit of 0.25 mmol/dm^3(S/N=3). Moreover, the proposed sensor has been successfully applied for the quantitative determination of metronidazole in real drug samples. This work may provide a novel and effective analytical platform for determination of metronidazole in application of real pharmaceutical and biological samples analysis.

In situ synthesis of palladium nanoparticles on multi-walled carbon nanotubes and their electroactivity for ethanol oxidation

Pd nanoparticles(Pd-NPs)were prepared and directly anchored on the surface of multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs)in the absence of chemical reduction agent,where MWCNTs were used as both the chemical reduction agent and the support substrate of Pd-NPs.Effect of various surfactants on the in situ deposition of PdNPs on MWCNTs was investigated.When MWCNTs were modified with a cationic surfactant(hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide,CTAB),the amount of the Pd-NPs(Pd-NP/CTAB-MWCNT)generated by such an in situ deposition method gets a notable increase,and the size of the as-synthesized Pd-NPs becomes smaller,compared with those in the absence of any surfactant(Pd-NP/MWCNT)or in the presence of an anionic surfactant SDS(Pd-NP/SDS-MWCNT)and a neutral surfactant OP(PdNP/OP-MWCNT).Results show that the MWCNTs modified with CTAB are propitious to the in situ reduction of Pd2?.Among the prepared catalysts,Pd-NP/CTABMWCNT displays the highest electroactivity for ethanol oxidation in alkaline media.

Production of High Purity Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes from Catalytic Decomposition of Methane

Acid-based purification process of multi-walled carbon nanotubes （MWNTs） produced via catalytic decomposition of methane with NiO/TiO2 as a catalyst is described. By combining the oxidation in air and the acid refluxes, the impurities, such as amorphous carbon, carbon nanoparticles, and the NiO/TiO2 catalyst, are eliminated. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM） images confirm the removal of the impurities. The percentage of the carbon nanotubes purity was analyzed using thermal gravimetric analysis （TGA）. Using this process, 99.9 wt% purity of MWNTs was obtained.

Adsorption and desorption phenomena on thermally annealed multi-walled carbon nanotubes by XANES study

The multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs) studied in this work were synthesized by the catalytic chemical vapor deposition(CCVD) process, and were thermally annealed by the hot filament plasma enhanced(HF PE) method at 550℃ for two hours.The x-ray absorption near edge structure(XANES) technique was used to investigate the adsorption and desorption phenomena of the MWCNTs at normal and grazing incidence angles.The adsorbates were found to have different sensitivities to the thermal annealing.The geometry of the incident beam consistently gave information about the adsorption and desorption phenomena.In addition, the adsorption of non-intrinsic potassium quantitatively affected the intrinsic adsorbates and contributed to increase the conductivity of the MWCNTs.The desorption of potassium was almost 70% greater after the thermal annealing.The potassium non-intrinsic adsorbates are from a physisorption mechanism whereas the intrinsic adsorbates result from chemisorption.

FLEXURAL WAVE DISPERSION IN MULTI-WALLED CARBON NANOTUBES CONVEYING FLUIDS

Motivated by the great potential of carbon nanotubes for developing nanofluidic devices, this paper presents a nonlocal elastic, Timoshenko multi-beam model with the second order of strain gradient taken into consideration and derives the corresponding dispersion relation of flexural wave in multi-walled carbon nanotubes conveying fuids. The study shows that the moving flow reduces the phase velocity of flexural wave of the lowest branch in carbon nanotubes. The phase velocity of flexural wave of the lowest branch decreases with an increase of flow velocity. However, the effects of flow velocity on the other branches of the wave dispersion are not obvious. The effect of microstructure characterized by nonlocal elasticity on the dispersion of flexural wave becomes more and more remarkable with an increase in wave number.

Adsorption of Cr(Ⅵ) in wastewater using magnetic multi-wall carbon nanotubes

Magnetic multi-wall carbon nanotubes were prepared with wet chemical treatments and characterized by a transmission electron microscope （TEM） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. They were used as adsorbents for the removal of Cr（VI） in aqueous solutions. The effects of adsorbent dosage, the concentration of Cr（VI） in aqueous solution, temperature, and pH value on the removal efficiency were studied. Results showed that the adsorption capacity of the magnetic multi-wall carbon nanotubes increased with the initial Cr（VI） concentration, but decreased with the increase of adsorbent dosage. The adsorption amount increased with contact time. The adsorption kinetics were best represented by the pseudo second-order kinetic model, and the adsorption isotherms indicated that the Langmuir model better reflected the adsorption process. The ob- tained calculation results for the Gibbs free energy revealed that the adsorption was a spontaneous and endothermic process. The enthalpy deviation was 3.835 kJ.mol 1. The magnetic multi-wall carbon nanotubes showed significant potential for application in adsorption of heavy metal ions.

Purified oxygenand nitrogen-modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes as metal-free catalysts for selective olefin hydrogenation

Oxygen and nitrogen-functionalized carbon nanotubes （OCNTs and NCNTs） were applied as metal-free catalysts in selective olefin hydro- genation. A series of NCNTs was synthesized by NH3 post-treatment of OCNTs. Temperature-programmed desorption, N2 physisorption, Raman spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were employed to characterize the surface properties of OCNTs and NCNTs, aiming at a detailed analysis of the type and amount of oxygen- and nitrogen-containing groups as well as surface defects. The gas-phase treatments applied for oxygen and nitrogen functionalization at elevated temperatures up to 600 ℃ led to the increase of surface defects, but did not cause structural damages in the bulk. NCNTs showed a clearly higher activity than the pristine CNTs and OCNTs in the hydrogenation of 1,5-cyclooctadiene, and also the selectivity to cyclooctene was higher. The favorable catalytic properties are ascribed to the nitrogen-containing surface functional groups as well as surface defects related to nitrogen species. In contrast, oxygen-containing surface groups and the surface defects caused by oxygen species did not show clear contribution to the hydrogenation catalysis.

Review of Electrochemical Capacitors Based on Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene

Electrochemical capacitors, which can store large amount of electrical energy with the capacitance of thousands of Farads, have recently been attracting enormous interest and attention. Carbon nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes and graphene are considered as the potentially revolutionary energy storage materials due to their excellent properties. This paper is focused on the application of carbon nanostructures in electrochemical capacitors, giving an overview regarding the basic mechanism, design, fabrication and achievement of latest research progresses for electrochemical capacitors based on carbon nanotubes, graphene and their composites. Their current challenges and future prospects are also discussed.

Preconcentration of copper with multi-walled carbon nanotubes pretreated by potassium permanganate cartridge for solid phase extraction prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometry

A procedure for the preconcentration of copper was described in this paper using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) oxidized by potassium permanganate as the adsorbent for the enrichment of trace copper in water samples. Important parameters, such as the sample pH, the concentration and volume of eluent, sample flow rate and volume, and interference of coexisting ions, were investigated. The obtained results indicated that proposed method possessed an excellent analytical performance. The linear range, the detection limit, and precison (RSD) were 1–100 ng/mL (R(2) = 0.9993), 0.32 ng/mL and 2.88%, respectively. The results showed that copper could be adsorbed quantitatively on the pretreated MWCNTs with potassium permanganate, and proposed method was very useful in the monitoring of copper in the environment.

Synthesis and Characterization of W-doped TiO_2 Supported by Hybrid Carbon Nanomaterials of Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes and C_(60) Fullerene by a Hydrothermal Method

W-doped TiO2 supported by hybrid carbon nanomaterials of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and C60 fullerene was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method. The material displayed high visible light photocatalytic activity. X-ray diffraction, field emission transmission electron microscopy, ultra violet/visible light absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy were used to characterize the material as photoeatalyst. Photocatalytic activity on the degradation of Rhodamine B dye in an aqueous solution under ultraviolet light and visible light irradiation was also studied. The experimental results indicated that the photocatalytic activity of the material was much higher than that of pure TiO2 or Degussa P25 TiO2.