Preformed Nano-Porous Carbon Nanotube Architecture for the Mechanical Reinforcement of the Polymer Matrix Nanocomposites
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Foam structures made of low-dimensional nanomaterials are fascinating for various applications including electrodes for electrochemical energy storage, supports, templates, and membranes. Especially, porous architectures made of carbon nanotubes are attractive candidates for composite preforms. Here, we introduce a novel approach to creating a three-dimensional nanotube porous architecture with shape-controllability, using van der Waals interaction among isolated SWCNTs. The resulting isotropic SWCNT network acts as a composite preform that can be used to make nanocomposites achieved by resin impregnation process. The polymer nanocomposite exhibit remarkable improvements in both tensile modulus and strength, showing enhancements of 40,000% and 9,700%, respectively, compared to bare polymer control sample. Furthermore, we observed that the nanoporous nanotube networks have the ability to suppress the polymer glass transition and extend the mechanical integrity of the polymer well above its polymer melting temperature. This suggests that the SWCNT/polymer composites have potential for structural applications in high-temperature environments. (1) K. H. Kim, et al., Nat. Nanotechnol., 7, 562 (2012). (2) Y. Oh, et al., ACS Nano, 9, 4103 (2015).