• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.300-305
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• 2013

Zinc oxide (ZnO) and reduced graphite oxide (rGO) composites were synthesized and tested as adsorbents for the hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) adsorption at mid-to-high (300 to $500^{\circ}C$) temperatures. In order to investigate the critical roles of oxygen containing functional groups, such as hydroxyl, epoxy and carboxyl groups, attached on rGO surface for the $H_2S$ adsorption, various characterization methods (TGA, XRD, FT-IR, SEM and XPS) were conducted. For the reduction process for graphite oxide (GO) to rGO, a microwave irradiation method was used, and it provided a mild reduction environment which can remain substantial amount of oxygen functional groups on rGO surface. Those functional groups were anchoring and holding nano-sized ZnO onto the 2D rGO surface; and it prevented the aggregation effect on the ZnO particles even at high temperature ranges. Therefore, the $H_2S$ adsorption capacity had been increased about 3.5 times than the pure ZnO.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2017

In this paper, we present a strain-sensitive composite skin-like film made up of piezoresistive zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods embedded in a flexible poly(dimethylsiloxane) substrate, with added reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to facilitate connections between the nanorod clusters and increase strain sensitivity. Preparation of the composite is described in detail. Cyclic strain sensing tests are conducted. Experiments indicate that the resulting ZnO-PDMS/rGO composite film is strain-sensitive and thus capable of sensing cycling strain accurately. As such, it has the potential to be molded on to a structure (civil, mechanical, aerospace, or biological) in order to provide a strain sensing skin.