Dispersions of Carbon Nanotubes in Organic Solvents and Resins

Carbon nanotubes can now be produced in the ton scale in the form of powders, but they need to be further processed, usually by solution-based routes, into disaggregated and more usable forms for applications. Despite extensive efforts in the past few decades, there is still no scalable solution processing strategy that can disperse nanotubes without damaging their functional surface, or leaving behind hard-to-remove dispersing agents. The project will be conducted with Prof. Huang at Northwestern University. Based on the previous work of Prof. Huang, the dispersion of CNTs in organic solvents and resin will be systematically studied to obtain the suitable solvent and resin. Besides, the effect of CNTs loading in resin is also discussed. The proposed work can help to solve a long-standing problem that has hindered the practical use of carbon nanotubes at large scale, such as in polymer nanocomposite applications.