An-Ting Chien

Polyacrylonitrile Fibers Containing Graphene Oxide Nanoribbons

Graphene oxide nanoribbon (GONR) made by the oxidative unzipping of multiwalled carbon nanotube was dispersed in dimethylformamide and mixed with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) to fabricate continuous PAN/GONR composite fibers by gel spinning. Subsequently, PAN/GONR composite fibers were stabilized and carbonized in a batch process to fabricate composite carbon fibers. Structure, processing, and properties of the composite precursor and carbon fibers have been studied. This study shows that GONR can be used to make porous precursor and carbon fibers. In addition, GONR also shows the potential to make higher mechanical property carbon fibers than that achieved from PAN precursor only.

Individually Dispersed Wood-Based Cellulose Nanocrystals

Good dispersion of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) in the polymer matrix is one of the key factors to obtaining good properties in the resulting nanocomposites. However, the preparation of individually dispersed CNCs in solvents or in polymer matrices has been a challenge. In this study, individually dispersed wood-based CNCs have been successfully prepared in solvents, including dimethylformamide (DMF), H2O, and a mixture of H2O/DMF, by sonication of moisture-containing CNCs. The CNCs dispersions were characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS). It is found that CNCs containing above about 3.8 wt % moisture is critical for achieving individually dispersed CNC in solvents. Hydrodynamic radius (Rh) of CNCs is smaller in H2O/DMF co-solvent mixture than that in pure DMF or in pure H2O under same sonication treatment conditions. Experimental results have been corroborated using molecular simulation study.

Double-sided tin nanowire arrays for advanced thermal interface materials

This investigation examines a fundamentally new type of thermal interface material (TIM) based on a double-sided array of tin nanowires (NWs) prepared using a hot-pressing approach with the assistance of anodic aluminum oxide templates. The metal based TIM effectively reduces the contact resistance, while the flexible nanowires show excellent mechanical compliance to increase the actual contact area with the mating rough surfaces. The results indicate that the overall thermal contact resistance of the two rough copper surfaces assisted by the tin NW array can reduce the overall resistance to 29 mm2KW-1 at 0.25 MPa and 20 mm2KW-1 at 1.0 MPa.