Limiting Growth Mechanisms and Continuous Manufacturing of Aligned Carbon Nanotube Films

这项研究将寻求一种通过化学气相沉积(CVD)连续大规模生产定向碳纳米管(CNT)薄膜的制造技术，并将这些薄膜集成到包括结构复合材料在内的新型混杂材料体系中。对碳纳米管薄膜衬底生长的催化剂活化、演化、失活和再活化的详细研究将有助于更广泛地理解碳纳米管的化学气相沉积生长机理，特别是碳纳米管森林的特性如何依赖于四个关键工艺阶段的工艺变量。我们将使用我们的表征数据，特别是实时动力学测量和X射线散射对碳纳米管森林的空间测绘，创建一个预测性的数学模型。这将使碳纳米管森林的生产具有特定的直径、长度和结构质量公差，既可用于批式加工，也可用于连续加工。将定向碳纳米管薄膜直接集成到纳米工程先进复合材料中，将克服分散和混合法制备的复合材料的缺点，并将作为评价碳纳米管特性与块体工程性能之间关系的试验台。业界参与了皮？S通过麻省理工学院？S NECST联合体的持续合作，为这项研究提供了强大的应用背景。在教育方面，生长和制造过程模型将被纳入密歇根大学皮？S新开设的纳米材料制造研究生课程中，我们用于间歇式研究的加热平台反应堆将用于新的本科生实验练习中碳纳米管的合成和表征以及实验设计。高中生的互动讲座将介绍纳米材料，并以应用为特色，集思广益和物理建模挑战。此外，我们将创建碳纳米管的高分辨率电子显微镜图像和碳纳米管生长的视频等可视化效果，这是皮埃尔？S纳米技术努力的先驱，以吸引和教育更广泛和更年轻的受众。

This research will seek to enable a manufacturing technology for continuous large-scale production of aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) films by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and for integration of these films in new hybrid material architectures including structural composites. A detailed study of catalyst activation, evolution, deactivation, and reactivation for substrate-bound growth of CNT films will contribute to a broader understanding of the growth mechanism of CNTs by CVD, particularly how the characteristics of a CNT forest depend on process variables in each of four critical processing stages. A predictive mathematical model will be created using our characterization data, particularly real-time kinetics measurements and spatial mapping of CNT forests by X-ray scattering. This will enable production of CNT forests having specified tolerances on diameter, length, and structural quality, for both batch-style and continuous processing. Direct integration of aligned CNT films to create nano-engineered advanced composites will overcome drawbacks of composites which are made by dispersion and mixing, and will serve as a testbed for evaluating the relationship between CNT characteristics and bulk engineering properties. Industry involvement in the continuing collaboration between PI?s through MIT?s NECST Consortium provides a strong application context for the research.Educationally, growth and manufacturing process models will be incorporated in the PI?s new graduate course on nanomaterials manufacturing at the University of Michigan, and the heated platform reactor used for our batch-style studies will be used in new undergraduate laboratory exercises in synthesis and characterization of CNTs and in design of experiments. Interactive lectures to high school students will introduce nanomaterials and feature application brainstorming and physics modeling challenges. Further, we will create visualizations such as high-resolution electron microscope images of CNTs and videos of CNT growth, as already pioneered by the PI?s nanobliss effort, to engage and educate broader and younger audiences.