Mahiar Hamedi

Highly conducting, strong nanocomposites based on nanocellulose-assisted aqueous dispersions of single-wall carbon nanotubes.

It is challenging to obtain high-quality dispersions of single-wall nanotubes (SWNTs) in composite matrix materials, in order to reach the full potential of mechanical and electronic properties. The most widely used matrix materials are polymers, and the route to achieving high quality dispersions of SWNT is mainly chemical functionalization of the SWNT. This leads to increased cost, a loss of strength and lower conductivity. In addition full potential of colloidal self-assembly cannot be fully exploited in a polymer matrix. This may limit the possibilities for assembly of highly ordered structural nanocomposites. Here we show that nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) can act as an excellent aqueous dispersion agent for as-prepared SWNTs, making possible low-cost exfoliation and purification of SWNTs with dispersion limits exceeding 40 wt %. The NFC:SWNT dispersion may also offer a cheap and sustainable alternative for molecular self-assembly of advanced composites. We demonstrate semitransparent conductive films, aerogels and anisotropic microscale fibers with nanoscale composite structure. The NFC:SWNT nanopaper shows increased strength at 3 wt % SWNT, reaching a modulus of 13.3 GPa, and a strength of 307 MPa. The anisotropic microfiber composites have maximum conductivities above 200 S cm(-1) and current densities reaching 1400 A cm(-2).

Self-assembled three-dimensional and compressible interdigitated thin-film supercapacitors and batteries

Traditional thin-film energy-storage devices consist of stacked layers of active films on two-dimensional substrates and do not exploit the third dimension. Fully three-dimensional thin-film devices would allow energy storage in bulk materials with arbitrary form factors and with mechanical properties unique to bulk materials such as compressibility. Here we show three-dimensional energy-storage devices based on layer-by-layer self-assembly of interdigitated thin films on the surface of an open-cell aerogel substrate. We demonstrate a reversibly compressible three-dimensional supercapacitor with carbon nanotube electrodes and a three-dimensional hybrid battery with a copper hexacyanoferrate ion intercalating cathode and a carbon nanotube anode. The three-dimensional supercapacitor shows stable operation over 400 cycles with a capacitance of 25 F g−1 and is fully functional even at compressions up to 75%. Our results demonstrate that layer-by-layer self-assembly inside aerogels is a rapid, precise and scalable route for building high-surface-area 3D thin-film devices.

Fiber‐Embedded Electrolyte‐Gated Field‐Effect Transistors for e‐Textiles

Electrolyte-gate organic field-effect transistors embedded at the junction of textile microfibers are demonstrated. The fiber transistor operates below I V and delivers large current densities. The ...

Nanocellulose Aerogels Functionalized by Rapid Layer‐by‐Layer Assembly for High Charge Storage and Beyond

Step by step: A robust and rapid method for the layer-by-layer assembly of polymers and nanoparticles on strong and elastic aerogels has been developed. Thin films of biomolecules, conducting polym ...

Electrochemical Devices Made from Conducting Nanowire Networks Self-Assembled from Amyloid Fibrils and Alkoxysulfonate PEDOT

Proteins offer an almost infinite number of functions and geometries for building nanostructures. Here we have focused on amyloid fibrillar proteins as a nanowire template and shown that these fibrils can be coated with the highly conducting polymer alkoxysulfonate PEDOT through molecular self-assembly in water. Transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy show that the coated fibers have a diameter around 15 nm and a length/thickness aspect ratio >1:1000 . We have further shown that networks of the conducting nanowires are electrically and electrochemically active by constructing fully functional electrochemical transistors with nanowire networks, operating at low voltages between 0 and 0.5 V.

Woven Electrochemical Transistors on Silk Fibers

Woven electrochemical transistors on silk fibers from the silkworm Bombyx mori are demonstrated. This is achieved with carefully chosen electrolyte chemistry: electrically conducting silk fibers ar ...

Integrating Electronics and Microfluidics on Paper

Paper microfluidics and printed electronics have developed independently, and are incompatible in many aspects. Monolithic integration of microfluidics and electronics on paper is demonstrated. This integration makes it possible to print 2D and 3D fluidic, electrofluidic, and electrical components on paper, and to fabricate devices using them.

Paper-based potentiometric ion sensing

This paper describes the design and fabrication of ion-sensing electrochemical paper-based analytical devices (EPADs) in which a miniaturized paper reference electrode is integrated with a small ion-selective paper electrode (ISPE) for potentiometric measurements. Ion-sensing EPADs use printed wax barriers to define electrochemical sample and reference zones. Single-layer EPADs for sensing of chloride ions include wax-defined sample and reference zones that each incorporate a Ag/AgCl electrode. In EPADs developed for other electrolytes (potassium, sodium, and calcium ions), a PVC-based ion-selective membrane is added to separate the sample zone from a paper indicator electrode. After the addition of a small volume (less than 10 μL) of sample and reference solutions to different zones, ion-sensing EPADs exhibit a linear response, over 3 orders of magnitude, in ranges of electrolyte concentrations that are relevant to a variety of applications, with a slope close to the theoretical value (59.2/z mV). Ion-selective EPADs provide a portable, inexpensive, and disposable way of measuring concentrations of electrolyte ions in aqueous solutions.

Electronic polymers and DNA self-assembled in nanowire transistors.

Aqueous self-assembly of DNA and molecular electronic materials can lead to the creation of innumerable copies of identical devices, and inherently programmed complex nanocircuits. Here self-assembly of a water soluble and highly conducting polymer PEDOT-S with DNA in aqueous conditions is shown. Orientation and assembly of the conducting DNA/PEDOT-S complex into electrochemical DNA nanowire transistors is demonstrated.

Understanding the Dispersive Action of Nanocellulose for Carbon Nanomaterials

This work aims at understanding the excellent ability of nanocelluloses to disperse carbon nanomaterials (CNs) in aqueous media to form long-term stable colloidal dispersions without the need for chemical functionalization of the CNs or the use of surfactant. These dispersions are useful for composites with high CN content when seeking water-based, efficient, and green pathways for their preparation. To establish a comprehensive understanding of such dispersion mechanism, colloidal characterization of the dispersions has been combined with surface adhesion measurements using colloidal probe atomic force microscopy (AFM) in aqueous media. AFM results based on model surfaces of graphene and nanocellulose further suggest that there is an association between the nanocellulose and the CN. This association is caused by fluctuations of the counterions on the surface of the nanocellulose inducing dipoles in the sp2 carbon lattice surface of the CNs. Furthermore, the charges on the nanocellulose will induce an electrostatic stabilization of the nanocellulose-CN complexes that prevents aggregation. On the basis of this understanding, nanocelluloses with high surface charge density were used to disperse and stabilize carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and reduced graphene oxide particles in water, so that further increases in the dispersion limit of CNTs could be obtained. The dispersion limit reached the value of 75 wt % CNTs and resulted in high electrical conductivity (515 S/cm) and high modulus (14 GPa) of the CNT composite nanopapers.