In this work multi-walled carbon-nanotubes (MWCNTs) were doped with nitrogen using cyanamide (CM) or dicyandiamide (DCDA). To incorporate nitrogen into the CNT structure, high-temperature pyrolysis in an inert atmosphere was performed. For surface characterisation of nitrogen-doped CNTs (NCNTs) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used. According to the results of XPS analysis, nitrogen was successfully incorporated into the carbon nanotube network. The electrocatalytic activity of NCNT catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media was examined using the rotating disk electrode (RDE) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) measurements. The NCNT-DCDA material showed a better ORR performance than the NCNT-CM catalyst. The RDE results reveal that the NCNT materials studied could be considered as interesting alternatives to Pt-based catalysts in alkaline membrane fuel cells.
Stretchable and flexible
electronics has attracted broad attention
over the last years. Nanocomposites based on elastomers and carbon
nanotubes are a promising material for soft electronic applications.
Despite the fact that single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) based
nanocomposites often demonstrate superior properties, the vast majority
of the studies were devoted to those based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes
(MWCNTs) mainly because of their higher availability and easier processing
procedures. Moreover, high weight concentrations of MWCNTs are often
required for high performance of the nanocomposites in electronic
applications. Inspired by the recent drop in the SWCNT price, we have
focused on fabrication of elastic nanocomposites with very low concentrations
of SWCNTs to reduce the cost of nanocomposites further. In this work,
we use a fast method of coagulation (antisolvent) precipitation to
fabricate elastic composites based on thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)
and SWCNTs with a homogeneous distribution of SWCNTs in bulk TPU.
Applicability of the approach is confirmed by extra low percolation
threshold of 0.006 wt % and, as a consequence, by the state-of-the-art
performance of fabricated elastic nanocomposites at very low SWCNT
concentrations for strain sensing (gauge factor of 82 at 0.05 wt %)
and EMI shielding (efficiency of 30 dB mm–1 at 0.01
wt %).
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