Advances in top-down and bottom-up surface nanofabrication: techniques, applications & future prospects.

The innovation on the low dimensional nanomaterials brings the rapid growth of nano community. Developing the controllable production and commercial applications of nanomaterials for sustainable society is highly concerned. Herein, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with sp(2) carbon bonding, excellent mechanical, electrical, thermal, as well as transport properties are selected as model nanomaterials to demonstrate the road of nanomaterials towards industry. The engineering principles of the mass production and recent progress in the area of CNT purification and dispersion are described, as well as its bulk application for nanocomposites and energy storage. The environmental, health, and safety considerations of CNTs, and recent progress in CNT commercialization are also included. With the effort from the CNT industry during the past 10 years, the price of multi-walled CNTs have decreased from 45 000 to 100 $ kg(-1) and the productivity increased to several hundred tons per year for commercial applications in Li ion battery and nanocomposites. When the prices of CNTs decrease to 10 $ kg(-1) , their applications as composites and conductive fillers at a million ton scale can be anticipated, replacing conventional carbon black fillers. Compared with traditional bulk chemicals, the controllable synthesis and applications of CNTs on a million ton scale are still far from being achieved due to the challenges in production, purification, dispersion, and commercial application. The basic knowledge of growth mechanisms, efficient and controllable routes for CNT production, the environmental and safety issues, and the commercialization models are still inadequate. The gap between the basic scientific research and industrial development should be bridged by multidisciplinary research for the rapid growth of CNT nano-industry.

The Road for Nanomaterials Industry: A Review of Carbon Nanotube Production, Post‐Treatment, and Bulk Applications for Composites and Energy Storage

Carbon nanotubes are promising materials for various applications. In recent years, progress in manufacturing and functionalizing carbon nanotubes has been made to achieve the control of bulk and surface properties including the wettability, acid–base properties, adsorption, electric conductivity and capacitance. In order to gain the optimal benefit of carbon nanotubes, comprehensive understanding on manufacturing and functionalizing carbon nanotubes ought to be systematically developed. This review summarizes methodologies of manufacturing carbon nanotubes via arc discharge, laser ablation and chemical vapor deposition and functionalizing carbon nanotubes through surface oxidation and activation, doping of heteroatoms, halogenation, sulfonation, grafting, polymer coating, noncovalent functionalization and nanoparticle attachment. The characterization techniques detecting the bulk nature and surface properties as well as the effects of various functionalization approaches on modifying the surface properties for specific applications in catalysis including heterogeneous catalysis, photocatalysis, photoelectrocatalysis and electrocatalysis are highlighted.

Carbon nanotube catalysts: recent advances in synthesis, characterization and applications.

Nano reinforced cement and concrete composites and new perspective from graphene oxide

Graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs) are a type of graphitic nanofillers composed of stacked 2D graphene sheets, having outstanding electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. Furthermore, owing to the abundance of naturally existing graphite as the source material for GNPs, it is considered an ideal reinforcing component to modify the properties of polymers. The 2D confinement of GNPs to the polymer matrix and the high surface area make the GNP a distinctive nanofiller, showing superiorities in modification of most properties, compared with other carbon nanofillers. This review will summarize the development of polymer/GNP nanocomposites in recent years, including the fabrication of GNPs and its nanocomposites, processing issues, viscoelastic properties, mechanical properties, electrical and dielectric properties, thermal conductivity and thermal stability. The discussion of reinforcing effect will be based on dispersion, particle geometry, concentrations, as well as the 2D structures and exfoliation of GNPs. The synergy of GNPs with other types of carbon nanofillers used as hybrid reinforcing systems shows great potential and could significantly broaden the application of GNPs. The relevant research will also be included in this review.

Review on polymer/graphite nanoplatelet nanocomposites

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are crystalline, tubular, carbon structures with extraordinary mechanical, chemical, optical, and electrical properties. These unique properties make CNTs potentially valuable in a wide range of end-use applications. Currently, research into nanotubes and their applications is hampered by the lack of a suitable technique for manufacturing them in large quantities, which we define here as 10 000 tons per plant per year. Consequently, research into large-scale manufacturing techniques is ongoing. There are three established methods of CNT synthesis:  (i) arc discharge, (ii) laser ablation, and (iii) chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Of these, CVD techniques show the greatest promise for economically viable, large-scale synthesis, based upon yields reported in the literature and the inherent scalability of similar technologies, e.g., fluidized catalytic cracking. In particular, the fluidized-bed CVD (FBCVD) technique (where the CVD reaction occurs within a fluidized bed of catalyst par...

Chee Howe See and

Papers

A Review of Carbon Nanotube Synthesis via Fluidized-Bed Chemical Vapor Deposition