• Carbon letters
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.335-338
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• 2009

In this work, the effect of co-carbon fillers on the electrical and mechanical properties of epoxy nanocomposites was investigated. The graphite nanosheets (GNs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were used as co-carbon fillers. The results showed that the electrical conductivity of the epoxy nanocomposites showed a considerable increase upon an addition of MWNTs when GNs were fixed at 2 wt.%. This indicated that low content GNs formed the bulk conductive network and then MWNTs added were intercalated between the GN layers, resulted in the formation of additional conductive pathway. Furthermore, the flexural strength of the epoxy nanocomposites was enhanced with increasing the MWNT content. It was probably attributed to the flexible MWNTs compared with rigid GNs, resulted in the enhancement of the mechanical properties.

• Carbon letters
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.266-270
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• 2006

Multi-walled carbon nanotube-poly methyl methacrylate (MWNT/PMMA) nanocomposite has been prepared by in situ polymerization of MMA dispersed with MWNTs. The MWNTs were functionalized by nitric acid and sulfuric acid treatment, and this was confirmed by FTIR spectrometer. The solution mixture of MWNTs and MMA was partially polymerized at $80^{\circ}C$, followed by the addition of AIBN and polymerization at $50^{\circ}C$. The MWNT-PMMA composite was prepared by casting the pre-polymer on the glass plate, and the optical properties have been studied using UV-vis spectrometer. The acid treated MWNTs were well dispersed in MMA with fairly good dispersion stability, while flocculation and sedimentation was observed from raw MWNTs in MMA.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.406-409
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• 2009

In this work, the magnetite ($Fe_3O_4$)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) composites for lithium secondary battery were prepared. Nano-$Fe_3O_4$ was deposited by chemical coprecipitation of $Fe^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ in the presence of MWNTs in alkaline solutions. Transmission electron spectroscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses indicated that nano-$Fe_3O_4$ particles had a good crystallinity of cubic specimens and many tiny particles attached on the surfaces of the MWNTs. The electrochemical properties of $Fe_3O_4$/MWNTs composites as anodes in lithium-secondary batteries were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge techniques. The as-prepared $Fe_3O_4$/MWNTs composites showed an initial lithium storage capacity of 1120 mAh/g and a reversible capacity of 394 mAh/g after 100 cycles, demonstrating better performance than that of the commercial graphite anode materials.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.765-768
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• 2009

In this work, we prepared the activated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Acti-MWNTs) with well developed physical surface structures, high specific surface area, and higher adsorption capacity by a physical activation process, in order to enhance the hydrogen storage capacity. The Acti-MWNTs' changes in the crystalline phase and in their lattice distortions were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The textural properties of the Acti-MWNTs were investigated by a nitrogen adsorption isotherms by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) equation and Harvath-Kawazoe (H-K) calculation, respectively. The hydrogen storage capacity of the Acti-MWNTs was investigated by BEL-HP at 298 K/100 bar. The hydrogen storage capacity of the Acti-MWNTs was improved with the physical activation, resulted from the formation of new hydrogen-favorable sites on the Acti-MWNT surfaces. In conclusion, the physical activation was one of the effective method to enhance the hydrogen storage capacity of the MWNTs.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.206-211
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• 2005

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) pre-treated by concentrated mixed acid or oxidized at high temperature were melt mixed with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) using a twin screw extruder. The morphologies and electrical properties of the MWNT/PMMA composites were investigated. The thermally treated MWNTs (t-MWNTs) were well dispersed, whereas the acid treated MWNTs (a-MWNTs) were highly entangled, forming large-sized clusters. The resulting electrical properties of the composites were analyzed in terms of the carbon nanotube (CNT) dispersion. The experimental percolation threshold was estimated to be $3 wt\%$ of t-MWNTs, but no percolation occurred at similar concentrations in the a-MWNT composites, due to the poor dispersion in the matrix.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.93-98
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• 2010

In this work, the electrochemical properties of surface treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were studied. Nitrogen and oxygen functional groups of the MWNTs were introduced by urea and acidic treatment, respectively. The surface functional groups of the MWNTs were confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements and zeta-potential method. The characteristics of $N_2$ adsorption isotherm at 77 K, specific surface area, and total pore volumes were investigated by BET eqaution, BJH method and t-plot method. Electrochemical properties of the functionalized MWNTs were accumulated by cyclic voltammetry at the scan rates of 50 $mVs^{-1}$ and 100 $mVs^{-1}$ in 1M $H_2SO_4$ as electrolytes. As a result, the functionalized MWNTs led to an increase of capacitance as compared with pristine MWNTs. It was found that the increase of capacitance for urea treated MWNTs was attributed to the increase in density of surface functional groups, resulting in improving the wettability between electrode materials and charge species.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.240-249
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• 2014

Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) reinforced poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) composites are studied. To increase the interfacial interactions between PET and MWNTs, the MWNTs are functionalized with bishydroxy-ethylene-terephthalate (BHET). The functionalized MWNTs are melt blended into PET matrix using a twin screw extruder. The amount of MWNTs loaded in PET matrix ranges from 0.5 to 2.0 wt%. After compounding and spinning, the filaments are post-drawn and annealed. To verify the chemical modifications of carbon nanotubes, Raman, $^1H$ NMR, XPS, TGA and FE-SEM are used. The nanocomposites are also analyzed with DSC, TGA, and UTM. These tests show that crystallization temperature and thermal degradation temperature increase due to the functionalized MWNTs. Also, tensile test shows that yield strength and toughness increase more than 30% with addition of only 1 wt% of MWNTs. These results show that the introduction of BHET onto the MWNTs is a very effective way in manufacturing MWNT/PET composite.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.326-335
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• 2010

In this paper, the effect of electrical characteristics and electrode shape on the alignment and attachment of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) has been studied. The attraction and alignment of MWNTs between the gaps has been investigated by applying electric field which is called electrophoresis and dielectrophoresis. According to the frequency of electric field, positive or negative dielectrophoretic force can be determined. The concentration of MWNTs solution was $5\;{\mu}g/ml$, and a droplet of $1.0{\sim}1.5\;{\mu}l$ was dropped between two electrodes. Through the repeated experiments, the optimal electrical conditions for aligning and attaching MWNTs in the desired places were obtained. Since the frequency range of 100 kHz~10 MHz generated positive dielectrophoretic force, MWNTs were attracted and aligned between the gaps with this frequency range. For generating enough force to attract MWNTs, the appropriate voltage range was $0.3{\sim}1.3\;V_{rms}/{\mu}m$. Furthermore, the effect of electrode shape on the alignment of MWNTs was investigated. A single MWNT attachment was accomplished on the round shaped with 70% yield.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.658-662
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• 2009

In this work, the amine-treated activated carbon nanotubes (A-MWNTs) were used to investigate the $CO_2$ adsorption behaviors. A-MWNTs were prepared by impregnation with amine in methanol after chemical activation methods using a KOH. The characteristics of amine-treated A-MWNTs were studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), $N_2$ adsorption, desorption isotherms at 77 K. The specific surface area and pore volume of the A-MWNTs were analyzed by BET equation, BJH method, and t-plot method. $CO_2$ capture capacity as a function of temperature was measured by temperature programmed desorption (TPD). From the results, the amine treatment increased the basicity and nitrogen content of the A-MWNTs. The $CO_2$ adsorption capacity of the amine-nontreated A-MWNTs showed the highest value at room temperature and then greatly decreased with increasing the temperature. However, the amine-treated A-MWNTs presented a softer slope with temperature compared to the amine-nontreated ones. It was due to the strong interactions between $CO_2$ and amino groups presented on the carbon surfaces studied.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.233-239
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• 2009

The electrocatalytic behavior of the PtCo catalyst supported on the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) has been evaluated and compared with commercial Pt/C catalyst in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC). A PtCo/MWNTs electrocatalyst with a Pt:Co atomic ratio of 79:21 was synthesized and applied to a cathode of PEMFC. The structure and morphology of the synthesized PtCo/MWNTs electrocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. As a result of the X-ray studies, the crystal structure of a PtCo particle was determined to be a face-centered cubic(FCC) that was the same as the platinum structure. The particle size of PtCo in PtCo/MWNTs and Pt in Pt/C were 2.0 nm and 2.7 nm, respectively, which were calculated by Scherrer's formula from X-ray diffraction data. As a result we concluded that the specific surface activity of PtCo/MWNTs is superior to Pt/C's activity because of its smaller particle size. From the electrochemical impedance measurement, the membrane electrode assembly(MEA) fabricated with PtCo/MWNTs showed smaller anodic and cathodic activation losses than the MEA with Pt/C, although ohmic loss was the same as Pt/C. Finally, from the evaluation of cyclic voltammetry(CV), the unit cell using PtCo/MWNTs as the cathode electrocatalyst showed slightly higher fuel cell performance than the cell with a commercial Pt/C electrocatalyst.