(Nanowerk Highlight) Carbon nanomaterials provide vital potential for remodeling industries that rely on light-weight, high-strength, and conductive supplies. Amongst them, buckypaper – a skinny sheet manufactured from entangled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) – stands out for its distinctive mixture of properties: excessive tensile energy, wonderful thermal and electrical conductivity, and light-weight construction. These traits make it an excellent candidate for a variety of functions, from aerospace and power storage to electronics and drugs.
Nevertheless, regardless of a long time of analysis, the widespread use of buckypaper has been held again by two persistent points: the excessive price of synthesizing CNTs and the numerous environmental impression of conventional manufacturing strategies, significantly chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The manufacturing prices of high-quality carbon nanotubes has traditionally been costly, and CVD itself is an energy-intensive course of that generates its personal carbon emissions.
“The inability to scale carbon nanotube production efficiently has prevented buckypaper from becoming a material of choice for large-scale industrial applications, even though its potential is well-known,” Stuart Licht, a professor of Chemistry at George Washington College, tells Nanowerk. “However, recent developments in carbon capture technology and advances in electrochemical processes have opened new avenues for addressing these barriers.”
Researchers like Licht have been exploring methods to not solely produce CNTs at a decrease price but additionally to seize and make the most of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a feedstock for these nanomaterials (as an example, see our latest Nanowerk Highlight: “Carbon nanotubes from captured CO2 strengthen plastics and minimize environmental impression“).
“Using CO2 as a raw material to produce valuable carbon-based products, while simultaneously reducing atmospheric CO2 levels, presents a powerful solution to two major global challenges: material sustainability and climate change,” Licht factors out. “Our process can use CO2 from a variety of sources, including industrial emissions and direct air capture, making it flexible enough to adapt to different carbon capture scenarios.”
In a brand new paper in RSC Advances (“Buckypaper made with carbon nanotubes derived from CO2“), Licht and his crew current a novel technique of synthesizing buckypaper by immediately capturing CO2 and changing it into carbon nanotubes by molten carbonate electrolysis.
This technique not solely addresses the fee and environmental points related to conventional CNT manufacturing but additionally consumes CO2, providing a scalable, eco-friendly strategy to producing superior supplies. The method outlined within the paper demonstrates how 4 tonnes of CO2 could be consumed for each tonne of CNTs produced, offering a twin profit: creating high-performance supplies whereas concurrently sequestering CO2.
A 35 cm diameter carbon nanotube buckypaper ready by way of the electrolysis of CO2. (Picture: Stuart Licht, George Washington College)
On the coronary heart of this analysis is molten carbonate electrolysis, a course of by which CO2 is cut up into carbon and oxygen by passing electrical energy by a molten lithium carbonate electrolyte. “We applied this method to capture CO2 directly from industrial emissions or from the atmosphere and convert it into carbon nanotubes,” Licht explains. “The electrolysis takes place at a high temperature – around 770 °C – causing the CO2 to break down and form solid carbon at the cathode in the form of carbon nanotubes, while oxygen gas is released as a byproduct. The nanotubes produced in this way form a network structure called a carbanogel, which is subsequently processed into buckypaper.”
Not like conventional strategies that require complicated steps like sonication and filtration to type buckypaper sheets, this course of permits for direct urgent of the carbanogel into skinny, sturdy sheets, simplifying the general manufacturing and enhancing scalability.
One of many main benefits of this technique is its skill to provide high-quality carbon nanotubes with management over their construction. By adjusting parameters equivalent to temperature, present density, and electrolyte composition, the researchers have been in a position to fine-tune the properties of the carbon nanotubes.
For instance, decrease temperatures throughout electrolysis favored the manufacturing of carbon nano-onions, whereas larger temperatures produced multi-walled carbon nanotubes, which are perfect for functions requiring each energy and electrical conductivity. This degree of management permits the manufacturing of buckypaper tailor-made for particular industrial wants, from versatile electronics to power storage units.
The researchers show of their paper that the buckypaper produced by this technique affords distinctive mechanical properties, together with excessive tensile energy and light-weight composition, which make it appropriate for functions within the aerospace business. Moreover, its electrical conductivity, which could be enhanced by chemical doping, opens up prospects to be used in batteries and supercapacitors, the place power storage and cost supply effectivity are vital.
The crew discovered that doping the carbon nanotubes with components like boron and nitrogen improved their catalytic exercise and conductivity, additional increasing the potential functions of buckypaper in fields equivalent to chemical reactors, water purification, and even medical units.
Maybe essentially the most vital implication of this analysis is its potential to mitigate local weather change. The electrolysis course of consumes CO2, turning it right into a secure, precious materials whereas releasing oxygen as a byproduct. Given the steadiness of carbon nanotubes, this technique affords a method of long-term carbon sequestration, locking carbon away for thousands and thousands of years within the type of CNTs. Furthermore, the method is powered by electrical energy, that means that as renewable power sources like photo voltaic and wind turn into extra prevalent, the general carbon footprint of this manufacturing technique will lower even additional.
From an financial perspective, this course of affords substantial price financial savings. “We estimate that producing buckypaper through molten carbonate electrolysis could reduce the cost of CNT production to around $1,000 per tonne—significantly less than the costs associated with traditional CVD methods,” says Licht. “This dramatic reduction in cost, combined with the scalability of the process, could make buckypaper a commercially viable material in the near future, replacing metals like steel or aluminum in certain applications.”
Along with its standalone makes use of, buckypaper will also be mixed with different supplies to type composites. The crew demonstrated that when infused with polymers equivalent to epoxy resin, buckypaper creates a composite that mixes the energy and conductivity of carbon nanotubes with the flexibleness and sturdiness of the polymer. These composites might be utilized in industries starting from automotive manufacturing to building, the place supplies have to be sturdy but light-weight.
Moreover, as a result of buckypaper could be infused with lively supplies equivalent to catalysts or magnetic particles, it holds promise to be used in superior sensors and chemical reactors.
“The scalability of this method is one of its most promising aspects,” Licht concludes. “We showed that large sheets of buckypaper could be produced by increasing the size of the electrolysis cells and adjusting the pressure applied during pressing. This scalability is key to making the material commercially viable, as industries such as aerospace and electronics would require large quantities of buckypaper.”
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