Brigitte Vigolo
University of Lorraine
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Featured researches published by Brigitte Vigolo.
Carbon | 2002
Philippe Poulin; Brigitte Vigolo; Pascale Launois
As-produced nanotubes form a light, fragile and isotropic soot. Different efforts are made to process nanotubes into macroscopic forms of more practical use and more controlled properties. We briefly review in this paper two methods recently proposed to make films of magnetically aligned nanotubes and fibers by using an electrophoretic method. Preferential orientation of the nanotubes in the plane of the films or along the fiber axis is an important feature of the obtained materials. Then we describe in details a different, spinning like, process for making fibers out of single wall carbon nanotubes. This process consists of dispersing the nanotubes in a surfactant solution, re-condensing the nanotubes in the flow of a polymer solution to form a nanotube mesh, and then collating this mesh to a nanotube fiber. The behaviors of the surfactant-stabilized dispersions, which are also presented, are critical for this process. The degree of nanotubes alignment in dried fibers has been characterized by X-ray scattering. It is found to be smaller than the alignment obtained in the previous materials. However, the processing is simpler and faster and potentially scalable for large-scale production.
Applied Physics Letters | 2002
Brigitte Vigolo; Philippe Poulin; Marcel Lucas; Pascale Launois; P. Bernier
This letter describes a method to improve the alignment of single-wall carbon nanotubes in macroscopic fibers produced by a simple spinning process. By contrast to classical composite fibers, where the nanotubes are embedded in a polymeric matrix, they consist of an interconnected network of polymers and nanotubes. This network can be swollen and stretched when the fibers are immersed in an appropriate solvent. The nanotubes alignment, studied by x-ray scattering, is significantly improved by the treatment. The fiber Young’s modulus can also be increased by a factor of 4.
New Journal of Chemistry | 2013
Guillaume Mercier; Claire Hérold; Jean-François Marêché; Sébastien Cahen; Jérôme Gleize; Jaafar Ghanbaja; Gianrico Lamura; Christine Bellouard; Brigitte Vigolo
Large scale production of high quality CNT samples is still challenging. The presence of structural defects and metallic particles in pristine single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) is responsible for the alteration of both their chemical stability and their magnetic and electrical properties. The commonly used purification procedures are based on multi-step treatments that are often too aggressive towards the CNTs, leading to disappointing yields. Here, we propose an alternative process that allows preparing high-quality and high-purity SWNT samples. The proposed process merely consists of heating up SWNT powder under high chlorine partial pressure and high temperature. These thermodynamic conditions favor high chlorine diffusion to metal impurities embedded in carbon shells thus inducing an avalanche process of metal chloride formation and sublimation. The purified samples have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, magnetic measurements and Raman spectroscopy. We show that the developed process combines selective elimination of catalytic impurities and high yields. More importantly, we show that this process preserves the quality of the resulting purified nanotubes.
MRS Proceedings | 2000
Brigitte Vigolo; Alain Pénicaud; Claude Coulon; Cédric Sauder; René Pailler; C. Journet; P. Bernier; Philippe Poulin
We study the phase behavior of single walled carbon nanotubes in aqueous solutions of surfactant molecules or amphiphilic polymers. Homogeneous dispersions can be obtained by using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in a well-defined concentration range. In contrast, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is not efficient at stabilizing the tubes. Carbon nanotubes stick with each other when PVA is added to homogeneous dispersions initially stabilized by SDS. This behavior is the basis of a simple method that we developed to assemble single walled carbon nanotubes into indefinitely long ribbons and fibers. The processing consists of dispersing the nanotubes in SDS solutions, re-condensing the nanotubes in the flow of a PVA solution to form a nanotube mesh, and then collating this mesh to a nanotube fiber. Flow induced alignment may lead to a preferential orientation of the nanotubes in the mesh that has the form of a ribbon. Unlike classical carbon fibers, the nanotube fibers can be strongly bent without breaking. Their obtained elastic modulus is 10 times higher than the modulus of high-quality bucky paper.
Archive | 2011
Brigitte Vigolo; Claire Hérold
Due to their combined superior chemical and physical properties, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are recognized to have a huge potential in many fields of applications (Ajayan, 1999; Rao et al., 2001; Dai, 2002; Van Noorden, 2011). These molecular-scale tubes of graphitic carbon are one of the stiffest and strongest fibers known. Besides, they have remarkable electronic, optical, thermal and chemical properties. For these reasons their interest in both academic and industrial areas is unique. Nevertheless, the as-produced material is extremely difficult to process. Development of CNT-based devices or composites of interest for new applications has been consequently hindered. CNTs are hydrophobic and incompatible with a majority of solvents, including monomers and polymers; they indeed have a high tendency to agglomerate. Moreover, CNTs and especially single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are assembled in bundles of generally several tens of tubes. Development of efficient processes and chemical treatments that are able to control the quality of the CNT samples and to induce both their dispersion and partial or complete debundling remains highly challenging. CNTs can be produced using different methods that basically consist in heating carboncontaining solid or gas. On the contrary to the preparation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), SWNT growing requires a metal catalyst. The characteristics of the samples depend on the control and the choice of the experimental parameters used for the synthesis. A better understanding of the growth mechanisms has permitted the development of mass production processes (Grobert, 2007). Nevertheless, their uniformity (length, diameter, chirality), the quality of their walls (number of defects) and also their purity are still partially controlled. The quality of the samples has to be improved in order to benefit of the exceptional properties of CNTs in new materials. Depending on the type and the synthesis method, the CNTs can differently behave through the applied chemical treatments. Whatever the synthesis method, CNT samples persistently contain several kinds of heterogeneities: (i) carbonaceous species like fullerenes, amorphous carbon, graphitic and carbon particles, ...; (ii) impurities such as residual metallic catalyst often protected by more or less graphitized carbon shells or polyhedra; (iii) defects at the CNT surface or oxygenated grafted functions, (iv) dispersion in diameter, chirality and morphology (aspect ratio) and (v) aggregation into bundles. These heterogeneities represent a major obstacle for both the establishment of universal behaviors and the development of efficient processing methods. Nano-scaled particles exhibit an enormous surface area being of several orders of magnitude larger than that of conventional fibers. This surface area can potentially act as a
Nanotechnology | 2008
Brigitte Vigolo; Costel-Sorin Cojocaru; Jacques Faerber; J. Arabski; L. Gangloff; P. Legagneux; H Lezec; F. Le Normand
Using a combination of top-down lithographic techniques, isolated, individual and oriented multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were grown on nickel or iron nanoscaled dots. In the first step of the process, micron-sized catalytic metallic dots (either iron or nickel) were prepared using UV lithography. MWNTs were then synthesized from these catalysts using a direct current plasma-assistance and hot-filament-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor. Samples were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy. It turns out that the splitting up of the micron-sized dot is favored in the iron case and that the surface diffusion of the metal is enhanced using ammonia in the gaseous mixture during the CVD process. The results are discussed giving arguments for the understanding of the MWNT growth mechanism. In a second step, a focused ion beam (FIB) procedure is carried out in order to reduce the initial dot size down to submicronic scale and subsequently to grow one single MWNT per dot. It is found that nickel is most appropriate to control the size of the dot. Dots of size 200 nm +/- 40 nm are then required to grow individual MWNTs.
Applied Physics Letters | 2006
Brigitte Vigolo; Rodrigue R Mafouana; C. Goyhenex; J. Faerber; J. Arabski; Charles Hirlimann; Jean-Luc Rehspringer
The control of synthesis, stabilization, and organization of metallic nanoparticles is one of the most active subjects in condensed matter science because of possible applications in high performance technology. A route to prepare a collection of ordered nanoparticles in large quantities consists of using the original combination of soft chemistry and surface science. A metal thin film deposited onto a self-assembled two-dimensional silica bead array can restructure through annealing. Pure metallic nanoparticles do form in an ordered array offering the opportunity of studying properties of an individual nanoparticle, thanks to a natural amplifier effect.
Structural and Electronic Properties of Molecular Nanostructures. XVI International Winterschool on Electronic Properties of Novel Materials | 2002
Marcel Lucas; Brigitte Vigolo; Stéphane Badaire; David Le Bolloc’h; Alessandra Marucci; Dominique Durand; Miles Hamilton; Cécile Zakri; Philippe Poulin; Pascale Launois
A simple spinning process has been recently developed to assemble carbon nanotubes into long macroscopic fibers. Due to the high aspect ratio of the nanotubes, the fiber’s physical properties are expected to depend significantly on the nanotube orientation. The alignment of the nanotubes is studied by X‐ray scattering. It is characterized by the Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of the azimuthal intensity distribution. Our first studies gave FWHM≈75°. Treatments developed to improve nanotube alignment, such as solvent‐wetting or drawing of the fibers, are reported here. Results obtained from nanotubes synthesized by the arc‐discharge method and by the HiPCO process are discussed. Stretched fibers processed with HiPCO single‐wall nanotubes exhibit FWHMs as low as 32°. Moreover, the above‐mentioned treatments induce a substantial increase (by a factor 4) of their Young’s modulus. An example of electromechanical actuation is reported.
Catalysis Letters | 2017
Sebastian Dayou; Brigitte Vigolo; Jaafar Ghanbaja; Ghouti Medjahdi; Mohd Zharif Ahmad Thirmizir; Hariy Pauzi; Abdul Rahman Mohamed
A facile chemical vapor deposition method was used to grow multi-layer graphene. A copper-based catalyst was homogeneously deposited on magnesium oxide powder surface by impregnation. The synthesis was conducted under atmospheric pressure without a dedicated reduction step prior to the reaction. The mechanism of multi-layer graphene growth was investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. For the first time, we show that copper under its oxide form could catalyze the growth of multi-layer graphene. Such a simple method leading to produce multi-layer graphene of quite high structural quality could help to develop alternative ways for graphene production by chemical vapor deposition.Graphical Abstract
Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology | 2014
Victor Mamane; Guillaume Mercier; Junidah Abdul Shukor; Jérôme Gleize; Aziz Azizan; Yves Fort; Brigitte Vigolo
Summary The effect of microwaves on the functionalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by the diazonium method was studied. The usage of a new approach led to the identification of the strength of the interaction (physical or chemical) between the functional groups and the carbon nanotube surface. Moreover, the nature (chemical formula) of the adsorbed/grafted functional groups was determined. According to thermogravimetric analysis coupled with mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy, the optimal functionalization level was reached after 5 min of reaction. Prolonged reaction times can lead to undesired reactions such as defunctionalization, solvent addition and polymerization of the grafted functions. The strength (chemi- vs physisorption) of the bonds between the grafted functional groups and the SWNTs is discussed showing the occurrence of physical adsorption as a consequence of defunctionalization after 15 min of reaction under microwaves. Several chemical mechanisms of grafting could be identified, and it was possible to distinguish conditions leading to the desired chemical grafting from those leading to undesired reactions such as physisorption and polymerization.