• Carbon letters
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• v.23
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• pp.30-37
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• 2017

Dyes are widely used in various industries including textile, cosmetic, paper, plastics, rubber, and coating, and their discharge into waterways causes serious environmental and health problems. Four different carbon nanostructures, graphene oxide, oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes, activated carbon and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, were used as adsorbents for the removal of Nile Blue A (NBA) dye from aqueous solution. The four carbon nanostructures were characterized by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffractometer. The effects of various parameters were investigated. Kinetic adsorption data were analyzed using the first-order model and the pseudo-second-order model. The regression results showed that the adsorption kinetics were more accurately represented by the pseudo-second-order model. The equilibrium data for the aqueous solutions were fitted to Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, and the equilibrium adsorption of NBA was best described by the Langmuir isotherm model. This is the first research on the removal of dye using four carbon nanostructures adsorbents.

• Carbon letters
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

In recent years, flame synthesis has absorbed a great deal of attention as a combustion method for the production of metal oxide nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, and other related carbon nanostructures, over the existing conventional methods. Flame synthesis is an energy-efficient, scalable, cost-effective, rapid and continuous process, where flame provides the necessary chemical species for the nucleation of carbon structures (feed stock or precursor) and the energy for the production of carbon nanostructures. The production yield can be optimized by altering various parameters such as fuel profile, equivalence ratio, catalyst chemistry and structure, burner configuration and residence time. In the present report, diffusion and premixed flame synthesis methods are reviewed to develop a better understanding of factors affecting the morphology, positioning, purity, uniformity and scalability for the development of carbon nanotubes along with their correlated carbonaceous derivative nanostructures.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.264-268
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• 2007

The filtration performance of micron-sized metal fibrous filter was improved by synthesizing carbon nanotubes grown on the surface of metal fibers. The carbon nanotubes are grown with bush-like nanostructures covered around the micron-fibers or web-like nanostructures crossing between the fibers at different synthetic conditions. Filtration efficiency of CNT-metal-filter was measured and compared with the efficiency of the raw metal filter without CNTs. The developed CNT-metal-filter has higher filtration efficiency without significant difference in pressure drop compared with the conventional metal filter, which is because the carbon nanotubes function as the trap of pollutant nanoparticles.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.91-109
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• 2024

Carbon nanotubes are drawing wide attention of research communities and several industries due to their versatile capabilities covering mechanical and other multi-physical properties. However, owing to extreme operating conditions of the synthesis process of these nanostructures, they are often imposed with certain inevitable structural deformities such as single vacancy and nanopore defects. These random irregularities limit the intended functionalities of carbon nanotubes severely. In this article, we investigate the mechanical behaviour of double-wall carbon nanotubes (DWCNT) under the influence of arbitrarily distributed single vacancy and nanopore defects in the outer wall, inner wall, and both the walls. Large-scale molecular simulations reveal that the nanopore defects have more detrimental effects on the mechanical behaviour of DWCNTs, while the defects in the inner wall of DWCNTs make the nanostructures more vulnerable to withstand high longitudinal deformation. From a different perspective, to exploit the mechanics of damage for achieving defect-induced shape modulation and region-wise deformation control, we have further explored the localized longitudinal and transverse spatial effects of DWCNT by designing the defects for their regional distribution. The comprehensive numerical results of the present study would lead to the characterization of the critical mechanical properties of DWCNTs under the presence of inevitable intrinsic defects along with the aspect of defect-induced spatial modulation of shapes for prospective applications in a range of nanoelectromechanical systems and devices.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.43-58
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• 2013

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a unique semiconductor material that exhibits numerous useful properties for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and other applications. Various thin-film growth techniques have been used to produce nanowires, nanorods, nanotubes, nanotips, nanosheets, nanobelts and terapods of ZnO. These unique nanostructures unambiguously demonstrate that ZnO probably has the richest family of nanostructures among all materials, both in structures and in properties. The nanostructures could have novel applications in solar cells, optoelectronics, sensors, transducers and biomedical sciences. This article reviews the various nanostructures of ZnO grown by various techniques and their application in DSSCs. The application of ZnO nanowires, nanorods in DSSCs became outstanding, providing a direct pathway to the anode for photo-generated electrons thereby suppressing carrier recombination. This is a novel characteristic which increases the efficiency of ZnO based dye-sensitized solar cells.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.329-337
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• 2017

This study concerns the vibrational behavior of multi-walled nested silicon-carbide and carbon nanotubes using the finite element method. The beam elements are used to model the carbon-carbon and silicon-carbon bonds. Besides, spring elements are employed to simulate the van der Waals interactions between walls. The effects of nanotube arrangement, number of walls, geometrical parameters and boundary conditions on the frequencies of nested silicon-carbide and carbon nanotubes are investigated. It is shown that the double-walled nanotubes have larger frequencies than triple-walled nanotubes. Besides, replacing silicon carbide layers with carbon layers leads to increasing the frequencies of nested silicon-carbide and carbon nanotubes. Comparing the first ten mode shapes of nested nanotubes, it is observed that the mode shapes of armchair and zigzag nanotubes are almost the same.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.111.2-111.2
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• 2010

One-dimensional nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes could be ideal templates for formation of metallic nanoparticles. Furthermore, bimetallic component nanoparticles have recently been interesting issues for having high catalytic activity. This work provides both a facile method to synthesize bimetallic catalysts via N atoms of carbon nanotubes and also a picture about how to design the optimal bimetallic catalyst for hydrogen generation from the hydrogen storage material. In principle, the ratio of one component to another component could be generically extended to fabricate the high-performance bimetallic catalysts on host nanostructures. Indeed, we demonstrate that the bimetallic catalyst composed of the optimum composition results in the excellent hydrogen generation property from an aqueous borane ammonia solution, thus being capable of satisfying the Depart of Energy in USA target required for many advanced applications even with the small amount of our bimetallic catalysts attached onto the N-doped carbon nanotubes. This high hydrogen generation rate is found to be attributed to the optimal distance between active Pt and cheap Ni atoms for effective hydrogen generation.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.416-420
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• 2012

Recently nanoscience and nanotechnology have been studied intensively, and many plants, insects, and animals in nature have been found to have nanostructures in their bodies. Among them, lotus leaves have a unique nanostructure and microstructure in combination and show superhydrophobicity and a self-cleaning function to wipe and clean impurities on their surfaces. Coating films with combined nanostructures and microstructures resembling those of lotus leaves may also have superhydrophobicity and self-cleaning functions; as a result, they could be used in various applications, such as in outfits, tents, building walls, or exterior surfaces of transportation vehicles like cars, ships, or airplanes. In this study, coating films were prepared by dip coating method using polypropylene polymers dissolved in a mixture of solvent, xylene and non-solvent, methylethylketon, and ethanol. Additionally, attempts were made to prepare nanostructures on top of microstructures by coating with the same coating solution with an addition of carbon nanotubes, or by applying a carbon nanotube over-coat on polymer coating films. Coating films prepared without carbon nanotubes were found to have superhydrophobicity, with a water contact angle of $152^{\circ}$ and sliding angle less than $2^{\circ}$. Coating films prepared with carbon nanotubes were also found to have a similar degree of superhydrophobicity, with a water contact angle of 150 degrees and a sliding angle of 3 degrees.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.228-234
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• 2017

Gas sensors based on metal-oxide-semiconductors are predominantly used in numerous applications including monitoring indoor air quality and detecting harmful substances such as volatile organic compounds. Nanostructures, e.g., nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanodomes, or nanofibers, have been widely utilized to improve the gas sensing properties of metal-oxide-semiconductors by increasing the effective surface area participating in the surface reaction with target gas molecules. Recently, 1-dimensional (1D) metal oxide nanostructures fabricated using glancing angle deposition (GAD) method with e-beam evaporation have been widely employed to increase the surface-to-volume ratio significantly with large-area uniformity and reproducibility, leading to promising gas sensing properties. Herein, we provide a brief overview of 1D metal oxide nanostructures fabricated using GAD and their gas sensing properties in terms of fabrication methods, morphologies, and additives. Moreover, the gas sensing mechanisms and perspectives are presented.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.209-222
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• 2009

This article describes recent work on mechanics of carbon nanotubes, one of the most fundamental and amazing man-made nanostructures. The noteworthy point is that "nano"-scale mechanics of carbon nanotubes can be well described by the continuum elastic theories for "macro"-scale thin shells. This provides an efficient means to elucidate mechanical deformation effects of carbon nanotubes on their physical and chemical properties, which is significant to develop new-generation nanomaterials based on nanotubes and their composites. Potential applications of the mechanical deformation of nanotubes in nano-electronics and nano-biology are also commented. In addition, theoretical investigations regarding external pressure buckling is carried out here and we have numerically confirmed that larger N (the number of layers) and a smaller D (the innermost diameter) make "corrugation modes" with a larger mode-index k be energetically favored.