2023 Author: Bryan Walter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 22:24
Ceramic matrix structure
The use of carbon nanotubes to create bulk silicon-based composite materials has increased their strength tenfold, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications.
Carbon nanomaterials, in particular, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, attract scientists for their unusual properties. But these properties are rather difficult to apply, because technologies for obtaining bulk structures from such materials are still poorly developed. Scientists have made the greatest advances with graphene, for example, by learning how to create it from sugar and even wood.
Researchers led by Rainer Adelung of the University of Keele in Germany have developed a technology for creating macroscopic bulk structures from carbon nanotubes. To begin with, a highly porous zinc oxide structure is created, which serves as the skeleton of the composite. Then a solution of multilayer carbon nanotubes in water is created, which is added to the porous matrix, after which the nanotubes are attached to the oxide framework.
Composite creation scheme
Researchers tested the mechanical properties of such a composite and found that its tensile strength increased 40 times compared to the original matrix, and almost 150 times in compression. The composite can support 100,000 times its own weight. Scientists have also demonstrated that the ceramic matrix can be dissolved, resulting in a significant increase in surface area.
Recently, a team of researchers from the United States and China created a composite from multilayer graphene and aluminum oxide with extremely low density and thermal conductivity, as well as high strength and electrical conductivity.
