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

https://blogs.epfl.ch/biofuelcells/documents/Enzyme-based%20biofuel%20cells.pdf

Enzyme-based biofuel cells

The state-of-art and key problems of carbon nanotube (CNT) based polymer composites (CNT/polymer compos- ites) including CNT/polymer structural composites and CNT/polymer functional composites are reviewed. Based on the results reported up to now, CNTs can be an effective reinforcement for polymer matrices, and the tensile strength and elas- tic modulus of CNT/polymer composites can reach as high as 3600 MPa and 80 GPa, respectively. CNT/polymer compos- ites are also promising functional composite materials with improved electrical and thermal conductivity, etc. Due to their multi-functional properties, CNT/polymer composites are expected to be used as low weight structural materials, optical devices, thermal interface materials, electric components, electromagnetic absorption materials, etc. However, the full potential of CNT/polymer composites still remains to be realized. A few key problems, such as how to prepare structure- controllable CNTs with high purity and consistently dependable high performance, how to break up entangled or bundled CNTs and then uniformly disperse and align them within a polymer matrix, how to improve the load transfer from matrix to CNT reinforcement, etc, still exist and need to be solved in order to realize the wide applications of these advanced com- posites.

http://www.expresspolymlett.com/letolt.php?file=EPL-0000158&mi=c

The present status and key problems of carbon nanotube based polymer composites

Due to the remarkable physical and mechanical properties of individual, perfect carbon nanotubes (CNTs), they are considered to be one of the most promising new reinforcements for structural composites. Their impressive electrical and thermal properties also suggest opportunities for multifunctional applications. In the context of inorganic matrix composites, researchers have particularly focussed on CNTs as toughening elements to overcome the intrinsic brittleness of the ceramic or glass material. Although there are now a number of studies published in the literature, these inorganic systems have received much less attention than CNT/polymer matrix composites. This paper reviews the current status of the research and development of CNT-loaded ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials. It includes a summary of the key issues related to the optimisation of CNT-based composites, with particular reference to brittle matrices and provides an overview of the processing techniques developed to optimise dispersion quality, interfaces, and density. The properties of the various composite systems are discussed, with an emphasis on toughness; a comprehensive comparative summary is provided, together with a discussion of the possible toughening mechanism that may operate. Last, a range of potential applications are discussed, concluding with a discussion of the scope for future developments in the field.

Ceramic matrix composites containing carbon nanotubes

CNT-reinforced ceramics and metals

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00917575/document

Florent Lefèvre-Schlick

Papers

Percolation of single-walled carbon nanotubes in ceramic matrix nanocomposites