Vacuum-Assisted Self-Assembly for the Creation of Layered Nanocomposites
- Technology Benefits
- Highly flexible technique Rapid production Inexpensive and simple setup Wider material selection Faster buildup of layers Wide range of intergallery polymer content
- Detailed Technology Description
- An improved method for producing well-ordered free-standing nanocomposite films and papers.#materials #graphene/graphite #nanotechnology #fabrication
- *Abstract
-
Northwestern researchers have developed an improved method for producing nanocomposites. While composites produced by layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly, a common methodology, have excellent mechanical properties, LBL has a number of drawbacks, including limited material selection, setup cost and complexity, fabrication speed, and a narrow range of interlayer polymer composition. This new technology called vacuum-assisted (VASA) is a highly flexible technique for fabricating well-ordered, free-standing graphene oxide–polymer nanocomposite films/papers with high nanofiller concentrations (>50 wt%). It uses a simple, inexpensive membrane filter to obtain material with significant proportions of both polymer and nanofiller components from a colloidal solution of graphene oxide and polymer. VASA rapidly produces macroscopic samples of homogenous layered graphene oxide-polymer nanocomposities with either hydrophilic or hydrophobic polymers. Because VASA relies on filtration for assembly instead of alternating layer deposition, it is a complimentary method to LBL for fabricating layered polymer nanocomposites, expanding the scope of these layered materials with the following advantages: wider material selection, inexpensive and simple setup, faster buildup of layers, and wide range of intergallery polymer content.
- *Inventors
- Owen Compton Karl Putz L. Catherine Brinson SonBinh Nguyen*
- *Publications
- Putz KW, Compton OC, SonBinh NT, Brinson LC (2010) Graphene Oxide-Polymer Nanocomposites via Vacuum-assisted Self-assembly. Advanced Functional Materials. 20: 3322-3329.
- Country/Region
- USA
