Baomin Wang

Synthesis and characterization of multi-walled carbon nanotube doped silica aerogels

Multi-walled carbon nanotube doped silica aerogels(MWCNT-SAs) were synthesized from a wet gel of well-dispersed MWCNT by one-step solvent exchange/surface modification and ambient pressure drying(APD). Waterglass was employed as a precursor to prepare wet gel. The content of MWCNT varied from 0 to 15% volume by wet gel. The surface group, thermal stability and microstructure of pure silica aerogel and MWCNT-SAs were investigated by FTIR, DTA, and TEM. Experimental results show that MWCNT-SAs are hydrophobic when the temperature is below 400 °C, MWCNT-SAs exhibit a mesoporous network structure, and they achieve the largest scale with least shrinkage and lowest density when doped with 5 vol% MWCNT.

Preparation and properties of PMMA modified silica aerogels from diatomite

Diatomite was used as raw material to prepare sodium silicate with a modulus of 3.1 by alkali dissolution method and the resulted sodium silicate solution was employed as a precursor. Methyl methacrylate monomers were introduced in wet gels through solution-immersion, and upon heating at 70 °C, the mesoporous surfaces throughout the skeletal framework were coated with the polymer layer. PMMA modified silica aerogels were successfully synthesized via ambient pressure drying. The properties were investigated by FTIR, NMR, TGA, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, FESEM and nano-indentation, etc. Results indicate that with the increasing of PMMA incorporated into silica aerogels, the bulk density and the BET surface area increase, the porosity decreases. Through the observation of FESEM, it is found that the interconnecting pores and the big pores add, the pore size distribution expands from 5–17 to 28–150 nm. By comparison, the PMMA modified silica aerogels achieve a 52-fold increase in hardness and a 10-fold increase in modulus.

Mechanical and morphological properties of highly dispersed carbon nanotubes reinforced cement based materials

Stable homogeneous suspensions of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were prepared using gum arabic (GA) as dispersant and were incorporated to Portland cement paste. The dispersion was examined by ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), and the concentration measurement shows that the optimum concentration of GA is 0.45 g · L−1. The dispersibility of the surface-modified MWCNTs in aqueous solution and cement matrix were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and the mechanical properties of the composites were investigated. The results show that the addition of the treated nanotubes can improve both the flexural strength and the compressive strength of the Portland cement composite significantly. The flexural strength of the composite increases up to 43.38% with the MWCNT concentration of 0.08% (by weight of cement). The porosity and pore size distribution of the composites were measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), and the results indicate that the cement paste doped with MWCNTs obtained lower porosity and concentrated pore size distribution. The morphological structure was analyzed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and EDS. It is shown that MWCNTs act as bridges and networks across cracks and voids, which transfer the load in case of tension, and the interface bond strength between the nanotubes and matrix is very strong.

Preparation and characterization of silica aerogels from diatomite via ambient pressure drying

The silica aerogels were successfully fabricated under ambient pressure from diatomite. The influence of different dilution ratios of diatomite filtrate on physical properties of aerogels were studied. The microstructure, surface functional groups, thermal stability, morphology and mechanical properties of silica aerogels based on diatomite were investigated by BET adsorption, FT-IR, DTA-TG, FESEM, TEM, and nanoindentation methods. The results indicate that the filtrate diluted with distilled water in a proportion of 1: 2 could give silica aerogels in the largest size with highest transparency. The obtained aerogels with density of 0.122–0.203 g/m3 and specific surface area of 655.5–790.7 m2/g are crack free amorphous solids and exhibited a sponge-like structure. Moreover, the peak pore size resided at 9 nm. The initial aerogels were hydrophobic, when being heat-treated around 400°C, the aerogels were transformed into hydrophilic ones. The obtained aerogel has good mechanical properties.

Porosity and pore size distribution measurement of cement/carbon nanofiber composites by 1H low field nuclear magnetic resonance

The dispersion effect of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) in aqueous solution and the mechanical properties, porosity, pore size distribution and microstructure of CNFs reinforced cement-based composites were investigated in this paper. To achieve effective dispersion of CNFs, a method utilizing ultrasonic processing and a commercially surfactant were employed. CNFs were incorporated to cementitious materials with the addition of 0.1 wt% and 0.2 wt% of cement with a water/cement ratio of 0.35. The mechanical properties of CNFs/cement composites were analyzed, the porosity and pore size distribution were characterized by 1H low field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and the microstructure was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that the optimum concentration ratio of MC to CNFs is 2:1 for dispersing in aqueous solution. Moreover, in the field of mechanical properties, CNFs can improve the flexural strength and compressive strength. The increased mechanical properties and the decreased porosity of the matrices correspond to the increasing CNFs content and CNFs act as bridges and networks across cracks and voids.