Nanotube-reinforced graphene twice as resistant to cracking
Graphene is a two-dimensional material made of atomsoin carbon. It is attracting interest due to its unique properties. It is 300 times stronger than steel, and lightweight and flexible. It is an excellent electrical conductor. Has bacteriob propertiesoycze, is waterproof and nearly transparent.
In 2010, Andrei Gejm and Konstantin Novosiolov of the University of Manchester were awarded the Nobel Prize for graphene research. The theoretical description of the material itself, however, was developed much earlier, in 1947. Although graphene is stronger than steel on a two-dimensional scale, its thinness makes it brittle and prone to cracking.
In the laboratories of Rice University’and in 2014 developed a graphene reinforced with carbon nanotubes. The idea was turned into reality by James Tour, a young chemist studying at the university.
Carbon nanotubes were used, as is the case with steel-bar reinforced concrete. Tour placed nanotubes from a single layer of atomoin carbon on a copper substrate, and then chemically deposited the graphene from the gas phase of the.
In the new study, the ktore appeared in the journal „ACS Nano”, Jun Lu, along with Emily Hacopian and a team of scientistsow from Rice University’a, in ktohe aforementioned Tour, conducted stress tests of reinforced graphene. The tests took place under scanning and transmission electron microscopes.
Experiments have shown that nanotubes, acting as a rodow reinforcements make the material twice as strong, while retaining its flexibility and partly also its conductivity. Graphene not reinforced with nanotubes withstood a load of 4 megapascals, but the reinforced version withstood a load of 10.7 megapascals.
– Such a material could be useful not only for flexible electronics, but also in devices in which theorych stress tolerance, flexibility, transparency and mechanical stability are desirable, Lou said.
Sourceosource: Rice University, photo. Emily Hacopian/Lou Group. The photo shows probce of reinforced graphene after strength tests. Cracks spread in the wayob zigzag, rather than straight, as would be seen in ordinary graphene.