Engineering thermally and electrically conductive nanomaterial-polymer composites for thermal sensing applications

在制药、制造、能源和其他行业中，准确了解材料的温度和热物性至关重要。在某些情况下，必须在生产过程中对这些值和属性进行表征。一些用于进行热测量的精确系统已经可以在商业上获得；这些系统的一个关键部分是具有温度相关特性的传感材料(例如，金属的电阻随温度变化)。这些系统的适用性和可用性受到以下事实的限制：由于使用传统材料和工艺制造可靠设备的困难，它们的成本仍然很高。此外，这些设备可能既笨重又易碎。这项工作的目的是设计可用于在各种不同类型的表面上快速且廉价地制造可靠的热传感设备的材料。在该项目中，艾伯塔大学将与C-Therm Technologies Ltd合作，C-Therm Technologies Ltd是一家生产和分销尖端热分析设备的加拿大公司，旨在开发基于聚合物-纳米材料复合材料的新型可打印材料，用于热传感应用。这项工作将利用通过复合材料工程可以实现的独特的热学和电学性能。这些复合材料可以被设计成作为温度的函数在电特性(例如，电阻和/或电容)上经历非常大且可逆的变化，从而使它们能够形成传感器件的有源材料。本研究将围绕两个主要目标展开。(目标1)开发可印刷的温度响应材料，该材料的电阻随温度的变化而变化，并可被图案化以形成传感器阵列，用于实时绘制热性能(包括热导率和热容)图。(目标2)利用纳米材料的独特性质设计电容随温度变化的复合材料。成果将包括对材料特性的深入了解和用于工业的新设备。

In pharmaceutical, manufacturing, energy, and other industries, accurate knowledge of both temperature and thermal properties of materials is of critical importance. In some cases, these values and properties must be characterized during the production process. Some accurate systems for making thermal measurements are commercially available; one key part of these systems is a sensing material that has temperature-dependent properties (such as the electrical resistance of a metal, which changes with temperature). The applicability and availability of these systems is limited by the fact their cost remains high due to the difficulty in manufacturing reliable devices using conventional materials and processes. In addition, these devices can be bulky and brittle. The purpose of this work is to engineer materials that can be used to rapidly and inexpensively manufacture reliable thermal sensing devices on a variety of different types of surfaces. In this project, the University of Alberta will partner with C-Therm Technologies Ltd, a Canadian company that produces and distributes cutting-edge thermal analysis equipment to develop new, printable materials for thermal sensing applications based on polymer-nanomaterial composites. This work will take advantage of the unique thermal and electrical properties that can be achieved through engineering of composite materials. These composite materials can be designed to undergo very large and reversible changes in electrical properties (e.g. resistance and/or capacitance) as a function of temperature, allowing them to form the active material of sensing devices. This research will focus on two main aims. (AIM 1) Develop printable temperature-responsive materials that undergo a change in resistance as a function of temperature, and that can be patterned to form arrays of sensors for real-time mapping of thermal properties (including effusivity and heat capacity). (AIM 2) Utilize the unique properties of nanomaterials to engineer composites that undergo a change in capacitance in response to temperature. Outcomes will include both an in-depth understanding of material properties and new devices for industry.