NER: Fabrication of an Integrated Structure of 3D Macroporous Silica and Carbon Nanotubes

提案编号： CTS-0210195主要制造商：亨利杜因机构： 摘要：具有高度有序的互连孔和碳纳米管的三维多孔材料是科学和工程的前沿。 这项纳米探索性研究（NER）提案旨在通过探索碳纳米管在高表面积微孔二氧化硅孔壁上的对齐生长来整合这两个领域。 为实现拟议目标，正在开展若干工作。 具体而言，平衡驱动的胶体自组装过程以及胶体外延超细TEM网格被用来获得蛋白石的聚苯乙烯球作为结构模板。 一个溶胶-凝胶路线被用于有效的渗透的模板，以产生倒置的二氧化硅蛋白石模板蛋白石后，随后的热分解。 一种合成策略也正在开发的均匀，纳米尺寸的催化钴颗粒的孔壁上的沉积。 该方法被用于使用等离子体增强化学气相沉积在整个大孔二氧化硅体积的孔壁上生长对齐的碳纳米管。该项目代表了已知的第一次尝试制造由3D大孔材料和碳纳米管组成的集成结构。 关键的挑战正在解决与钴颗粒的沉积和孔壁上对齐的碳纳米管的受控生长有关。 这项工作的两个方面的整合将产生潜在的强大的结构的应用程序中，大量的纳米管阵列是需要系统的效率。 这些应用包括DNA和蛋白质的捕获、催化载体、海水淡化和燃料电池的氢储存。 在这项调查中产生的知识可以扩展到其他3D大孔材料，如半导体的制造。 因此，该项目的成功为碳纳米管在纳米技术竞技场以及科学和工程领域的应用提供了令人兴奋的前景。

PROPOSAL NO.: CTS-0210195PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: HENRY DUINSTITUTION: STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYABSTRACT: 3D porous materials with highly ordered interconnecting pores and carbon nanotubes are at the frontier of science and engineering. This Nanoscale Exploratory Research (NER) proposal aims to integrate these two areas by exploring aligned growth of carbon nanotubes on the pore walls of high-surface-area microporous silica. Several tasks are being pursued to achieve the proposed goal. Specifically, equilibrium-driven colloidal self-assembly processes as well as colloidal epitaxy on ultra-fine TEM grids is being used to obtain opals of polystyrene spheres as structural templates. A sol-gel route is being employed for effective infiltration of the templates to produce inverted silica opals upon subsequent thermal decomposition of the template opals. A synthesis strategy is also being developed for deposition of uniform, nanometer-sized, catalytic cobalt particles on the pore walls. The approach is being used to grow aligned carbon nanotubes on the pore walls throughout the volume of the macroporous silica using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. This project represents the first known attempt to fabricate an integrated structure composed of 3D macroporous materials and carbon nanotubes. Critical challenges are being addressed related to the deposition of cobalt particles and the controlled growth of aligned carbon nanotubes on pore walls. The integration of the two aspects of this work will yield potentially robust structures for applications where an abundance of nanotube arrays is needed for system efficiency. Such applications include entrapment of DNA and proteins, catalytic supports, desalination of seawater, and hydrogen storage for fuel cells. Knowledge generated in this investigation can be extended to the fabrication of other 3D macroporous materials, such as semiconductors. The success of the project thus offers exciting prospects for the exploration of carbon nanotubes for applications in the nanotechnology arena and across science and engineering.