Novel Polymer Nanocomposites with Recycled Carbon Materials

碳升级循环技术(CUT)从石油废料中回收的石墨烯纳米颗粒(GNPs)可用于聚合物纳米复合材料中，在许多工业应用中发挥重要作用。卡尔加里大学(UC)将与CUT合作，通过合成GNPs与聚合物的复合材料来创造新材料。这些材料有潜力用于汽车、航空航天的电子和建筑行业。这些新材料还具有降低水蒸气、二氧化碳或其他气体渗透率的阻隔应用潜力。使用石墨烯类材料的聚合物复合材料开发更复杂的印刷电路板(PCB)，如将在本赠款中研究的GNPs，可能会产生重大影响。考虑到社会对可持续发展的强烈需求，这种可回收的填充材料允许重复利用废旧材料，同时提高聚合物的材料性能。我们将利用该大学的聚合物加工设施和表征基础设施，结合Cut的GNP制造技术来制造新型纳米材料，并将其转化为加拿大的聚合物工业。我们将实施三管齐下的策略，其中包括(I)纳米填料的合成和表征，(Ii)将聚合物与纳米填料混合以获得所需的形态，以及(Iii)表征所产生的导电聚合物纳米复合材料(CPN)的最终性能。纳米填料结构的合成和操纵为研究人员从根本上改善CPN的性能提供了额外的自由度。通过产学合作的协同，我们可以获得定制化的纳米薄膜和新型纳米复合材料。此外，可以产生一个由不同二氧化碳水平的不同填料组成的平台，因此，我们计划启动一个广泛的项目，以创建这些纳米复合材料，它们的加工行为及其相应的性能。我们将研究几种聚合物基质，如尼龙6、尼龙6、6、环氧树脂、聚丙烯、聚乙烯和聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯。通过这个项目将培训四名高素质的人员。

Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) recycled from petroleum waste products by Carbon Upcycling Technologies (CUT) can be used in polymer nanocomposites to play a significant role in many industrial applications. The University of Calgary (UC) will create new materials collaborating with CUT, by synthesizing composites of GNPs with polymers. These materials have potential to be used in automotive, aerospace's electronics and construction industries. These novel materials also have potential in barrier applications to lower permeability of water vapor, CO2 or other gases. Development of more complex printed circuit boards (PCBs) using polymer composite with graphene-like materials like the GNPs that will be studied in this grant can have significant impact. Considering society's strong desire for sustainability, this recycled filler material allows for reutilization of waste materials while increasing material properties of polymers. We will use the university's polymer processing facilities and characterization infrastructure combined with CUT's GNP manufacturing technology to fabricate novel nano materials that will be translated to Canadian polymer industry.We will implement a three-pronged attack, where the three sides are (i) synthesis and characterization of nanofiller, (ii) blending polymer with nanofiller to obtain desired morphology, and (iii) characterizing the final properties of generated conductive polymer nanocomposites (CPNs). Synthesis and manipulation of nanofiller structure provides researchers with an extra degree of freedom to radically improve properties of CPNs. Via synergy of industry and university collaboration, we can obtain customized nanofillers and novel nano composites. Moreover, a platform of different fillers with different levels of CO2 can be generated, and thus, we plan to initiate an extensive project on creating these nanocomposites, their processing behaviour and their corresponding properties. We will investigate several polymer matrices, such as nylon 6, nylon 6,6, epoxy, polypropylene, polyethylene, and poly(ethylene terephthalate). Four highly qualified personnel will be trained through this project.