CAREER: Structure-property-processing Relations for Aggregation-resistant Graphene

这个教师早期职业发展（Career）项目的研究目标是测试一个广泛的假设，即石墨烯可能通过同时剥离和非共价功能化而呈现抗聚集性。这将有助于在一系列有前途的块状材料应用中使用，并且这将大大改进现有的石墨烯生产技术，这些技术受到一系列问题的困扰（小规模，由于缺陷产生而影响性能，聚集）。该项目将通过一系列研究重点来解决这些关键挑战。这包括(1)将块体插入技术与稳定剂溶液相结合，(2)对分散的原始石墨烯进行后处理，以诱导新的、抗聚集的形态，以及(3)研究处理对导电、低密度复合材料和整体石墨烯性能的影响。如果成功，这项研究的结果将产生比先前处理稳定石墨烯的方法更有效的技术。该项目还提供了加工技术（剥离、稳定、喷雾干燥）如何决定结构（化学功能、表面覆盖、形态）以及性能（抗聚集性、气体阻隔性、电渗透、复合增强）的见解。原始石墨烯可扩展加工的发展涉及广泛的多功能工业材料，包括航空航天结构复合材料、传感器、超级电容器和阻燃纺织品。这个多方面的教育计划包括(1)研究生、本科生和高中生的指导；(2)一个旨在鼓励工程师继续研究生学习的新项目；(3)扩大PI？成功了吗？科学和科幻小说？该课程旨在提高当地高中对STEM的兴趣。

The research objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) project is to test the broad hypothesis that graphene may be rendered aggregation-resistant by simultaneous exfoliation and non-covalent functionalization. This would facilitate use in a range of promising bulk material applications, and this would substantially improve upon existing graphene production techniques, which suffer from a range of problems (small-scale, compromising properties via defect generation, aggregation). This project will address these critical challenges through a number of research thrusts. These include (1) combining bulk intercalation techniques with stabilizer solutions, (2) the post-processing of dispersed pristine graphene to induce novel, aggregation-resistant morphologies, and (3) investigation of processing effects on graphene performance in conductive, low density composites and monoliths. If successful, the results of this research will yield techniques that are orders-of-magnitude more effective than prior methods in processing stabilized graphene. The proposed project also provides insight into how the processing technique (exfoliation, stabilization, spray drying) determines the structure (chemical functionality, surface coverage, morphology) and hence the properties (aggregation resistance, gas barrier, electrical percolation, composite enhancement). The development of scalable processing for pristine graphene is relevant to a wide range of multifunctional industrial materials including aerospace structural composites, sensors, supercapacitors, and flame-retardant textiles. The multifaceted educational plan includes (1) graduate, undergraduate, and high school student mentorship, (2) a new program designed to encourage engineers to pursue graduate studies, and (3) an expansion of the PI?s successful ?Science and Science Fiction? outreach course that aims to increase STEM interest at local high schools.