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    Halloysite Nanotubes Noncovalently Functionalised with SDS Anionic Surfactant and PS-b-P4VP Block Copolymer for Their Effective Dispersion in Polystyrene as UV-Blocking Nanocomposite Films
    (New York, NY : Hindawi Publ., 2017) Tzounis, Lazaros; Herlekar, Shreya; Tzounis, Antonios; Charisiou, Nikolaos D.; Goula, Maria; Stamm, Manfred
    Asimple and versatilemethod is reported for the noncovalent functionalisation of natural and "green" halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) allowing their effective dispersion in a polystyrene (PS) thermoplastic matrix via solvent mixing. Initially, HNTs (pristine HNTs) were modified with physically adsorbed surfactant molecules of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and PS-b-P4VP [P4VP: poly(4-vinylpyridine)] block copolymer (BCP). Hereafter, SDS and BCP modified HNTs will be indicated as SDS-m-HNT and BCP-m-HNT.Nanocomposite films with 1, 2, and 5 wt.%HNTloadingswere prepared, abbreviated as PS-SDS-m-HNT1, PS-SDS-m-HNT2, and PS-SDS-m-HNT5 and PS-BCP-m-HNT1, PS-BCP-m-HNT2, and PS-BCP-m-HNT5 (where 1, 2, and 5 correspond to the wt.% of HNTs). All nanocomposites depicted improved thermal degradation compared to the neat PS as revealed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed the good dispersion state of HNTs and the importance of modification by SDS and BCP. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies showed the characteristic interlayer spacing between the two silicate layers of pristine and modified HNTs. The PS/HNT nanocomposite films exhibited excellent ultraviolent-visible (UV-vis) absorbance properties and their potential application as UV-filters could be envisaged.
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    Cellulose-carbon nanotube composite aerogels as novel thermoelectric materials
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2018) Gnanaseelan, Minoj; Chen, Yian; Luo, Jinji; Krause, Beate; Pionteck, Jürgen; Pötschke, Petra; Qu, Haisong
    Thermoelectric materials based on cellulose/carbon nanotube (CNT) nanocomposites have been developed by a facile approach and the effects of amount (2–10 wt%) and types of CNTs (single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)) on the morphology (films and aerogels) and the thermoelectric properties of the nanocomposites have been investigated. Composite films based on SWCNTs showed significantly higher electrical conductivity (5 S/cm at 10 wt%) and Seebeck coefficient (47.2 μV/K at 10 wt%) compared to those based on MWCNTs (0.9 S/cm and 11 μV/K, respectively). Lyophilization, leading to development of aerogels with sub-micron sized pores, decreased the electrical conductivity for both types by one order of magnitude, but did not affect the Seebeck coefficient of MWCNT based nanocomposites. For SWCNT containing aerogels, higher Seebeck coefficients than for films were measured at 3 and 4 wt% but significantly lower values at higher loadings. CNT addition increased the thermal conductivity from 0.06 to 0.12 W/(m∙K) in the films, whereas the lyophilization significantly reduced it towards values between 0.01 and 0.09 W/(m∙K) for the aerogels. The maximum Seebeck coefficient, power factor, and ZT observed in this study are 49 μV/K for aerogels with 3 wt% SWCNTs, 1.1 μW/(m∙K2) for composite films with 10 wt% SWCNTs, and 7.4 × 10−4 for films with 8 wt% SWCNTs, respectively.