This paper aims to investigate the concept of high power density and wider voltage window supercapacitors based on graphene-conducting polymer electrodes. The high conductivity, wider tunable potential window, stability of the electrode material in the doped form, faster charge transfer rate, and short charging times in graphene (G)-polyaniline (PANI) systems, contribute to the design and fabrication of high performance supercapacitors. Novel chemistries were used to synthesize a higher electronic conducting nanocomposite material based on graphene and polyaniline. The G-PANI nanocomposites were characterized, where an interesting structure was observed using different ratios of graphene with the aniline monomer. The G-PANI nanocomposite materials has shown the specific capacitance of 300 to 500 F/g at a current density of 0.1A/g. Based on the present experimental findings, it could be conclude that the G-PANI polymer nanocomposite supercapacitor technology could be transformative, and could surpass the existing technologies when the present synthesized novel material approach will be taken.

The synthesis and self-assembly of a water-soluble, tricyclic, self-complementary heterocycle that features the hydrogen bond donor-acceptor arrays of both guanine (G) and cytosine (C) juxtaposed between a pyridine ring is presented. In solution, this tricycle, which has been termed xK1, self-assembles into Rosette Nanotubes (RNTs) that have an inner diameter of 1.4 nm. Unlike the RNTs formed from the bicyclic congener K1, we demonstrate that xK1 with its extended ð system, forms a J-type RNT assembly determined through UV-Vis, CD and fluorescence spectroscopy experiments. This observation brings the possibility of developing electrically conducting RNTs for applications in the areas of photovoltaics and molecular wires.

Commercially available SiO2 nanoparticles (Aerosil, Degussa) with varying primary particle diameter, specific surface area (SSA), degree of aggregation and structure (fractal dimension) were compounded into PDMS-based nanocomposites. Thin sections of cured nanocomposites were analyzed with TEM and small and ultra-small angle X-ray scattering (U/SAXS) with respect to nanocomposite structure such as: filler primary particle, aggregate (chemically or sinter-bonded particles) and agglomerate (physically-bonded particles). Tensile tests (Young’s modulus) were used to determine the nanocomposite strength which increased with increasing filler volume fraction (up to 12 vol%) consistent with “bound rubber” theory.

Polymer nanocomposites are the largest commercial application for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) which determines the interest in their effect on crystallization processes of polymers. We chose Isotactic Polypropylene (iPP) as one of the most widely used polymers. Nanocomposites with multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) 0-5% by weight were studied, using differential scanning Calorimetry to measure the crystal nucleation and kinetics effects of MWCNTs. Isothermal crystallization at 138°C was performed and the data were analyzed using Avrami analysis. We obtained results for the effect of MWCNTs on the crystallization kinetics. The Avrami analysis showed a dramatic increase in the crystallization rate constant and constancy of the Avrami exponent with increase of the CNTs concentration. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the heat flow exotherm and the peak time for crystallization (tp) change dramatically. The crystallinity shows a slight variation with the CNTs concentration dipping at 2% CNTs which can be explored further at higher concentrations.

The integration of catalyst metals into the graphene-based composites can be a new way to ensure thermal and electronic conductivities of the catalyst support materials in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. In this work, graphene nanosheets were synthesized via a mild and safer chemical route including three major steps: graphite oxidation, ultrasonic treatment and chemical reduction. Then, polypyrrole was coated on graphene nanosheets by in-situ polymerization to fabricate polypyrrole/graphene nanosheet-based nanocomposites as the catalyst supports. Pt nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed on the surface of nanocomposites by sonication technique.

Conducting polypyrrole (PPy) nanowire array was electrochemically fabricated by using microphase-separated block copolymer (PEOm-b-PMA(Az)n) thin film as an electrode template. Electropolymerization proceeds selectively through the perpendiculary oriented PEO nanocylindrical microdomains on an ITO electrode coated by the above polymer film. The length of the PPy nanowires was controllable in range of 10-120 nm by the thickness of the coated template film and the amount of passed charge. A 10 nm of diameter, 27 nm of periodicity, and 12 of aspect ratio of the crystalline PPy nanowires were successfully achieved. Selective removal of the template is also achieved simply by rinsing with solubility-controlled mixed solvent.

Electroactive macroporous poly[(vinylidene fluoride)-co-trifluoroethylene] membranes have been processed by solvent evaporation at room temperature with different polymer/solvent concentrations. The pore architecture consists on interconnected spherical pores and this morphology is independent of the membrane thickness. The porosity of the produced membranes increases from 72% for the higher polymer concentration in the polymer/solvent solution (15/85), up to 80% for the lowest polymer concentration in the polymer/solvent solution.

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry measurements reveal that the polymer crystallizes in the ferroelectric phase and the polymer/solvent ratio does not influences the Curie transition and the melting temperature of the polymer.

Organic semiconducting oligomer – Pentacene, as a material and organic electronic devices based on it, are proposed here as total dose detectors for ionizing radiation. Pentacene, when exposed to ionizing radiation of γ – rays using Cobalt – 60 (60Co) radiation source, shows increase in the conductivity of the material which can be used as a sensing phenomenon for determining the dose of ionizing radiation. The change in material property was also verified using UV-visible (UV-VIS) spectrum for pentacene thin-films with rising absorption peaks at the oxidized positions in the wavelength. A pentacene resistor can be used as a detector, as the change in the conductivity of the pentacene film can be easily quantified by measuring the change in resistance of the pentacene resistor after different total radiation dose exposures. The experiments resulted in a sensitivity of 340 kΩ/Gy for a total 100 Gy radiation dose for the pentacene resistor. Furthermore, employing this simple electrical measurement technique for determining the dose of ionizing radiation and to improve the sensitivity of the sensor by transistor action, a pentacene based organic field effect transistor (OFET) was exposed to ionizing radiation. Change in OFF current (IOFF) of the OFET sensor with W/L = 19350 μm/100 μm, suggests a sensitivity of 21 nA/Gy for 100 Gy dose. Also, changes in various other parameters like threshold voltage, subthreshold swing, field effect mobility, number of interface states etc. can be extracted from the electrical characterizations which prove their usefulness as a detector for ionizing radiation.

Realization of property enhancements inherent to the presence of nanoparticles continues to be a challenge for the production of bulk nanocomposite materials with commercially available techniques. This study combines twin-screw compounding with surface modification of SiO2 nanoparticles to enable targeted dispersion in a SEBS block copolymer. Production of these composites with high levels of well-dispersed particulates aims to leverage aggregation for production of hierarchical structure. The aggregation state of the particles as well as the level of order in the block copolymer morphology was determined through USAXS and TEM. Particles coated with ligands miscible with the end-blocks of the BCP (minority component) increased dispersion at all loading levels observed up to 10 vol%. Ligands employed to increase miscibility of the nanoparticle with the mid-block (majority component) resulted in large aggregates for all loadings without disturbance of the BCP morphology.

ZnO nanostructures have attracted a great deal of interest because of their biocompatibility and outstanding optical and piezoelectric properties. Their uses are widely varying, including incorporation in sensors, solar cells, and nanogenerators. Biological systems are yet another area of application of ZnO nanowires. Apart from their electrical and optical properties, ZnO nanostructures can be used for the mechanical reinforcement of existing biomimetic scaffolds such as collagen and/or other biodegradable polymers (poly(lactic acid), polyglycolide, poly(alkyene succinate)s or polyhydroxylalkanoates). In this work, we have demonstrated a cheap and comparatively facile hydrothermal growth method for the bulk production of ZnO nanostructures exhibiting an aster-like geometry. The novel nanostructures of ZnO can be used as reinforced material to biopolymers. The aster shape has presented an increased surface area, providing a means for enhancing the stabilization of the gels and\or polymers. With controllable growth of ZnO nanostructures this method allows the geometry which could be tuned for maximal coupling between the two phases of composite and increased mechanical strength.

The surface modification of carbon nanotubes（CNTs）has been recently observed to influence the distribution of CNTs in epoxy resin and the mechanical properties and electrical conductivities of these CNTs. Accordingly, the treatment of CNTs with organic acids to oxidize them generates functional groups on the surface of CNTs. This investigation studies the consequent enhancement of the mechanical properties and electrical conductivities of CNTs. The influence of adding various proportions of CNTs to the epoxy resin on the mechanical properties and electrical conductivities of the composites thus formed is investigated, and the strength of the material is tested at different temperatures. Moreover, the creep behavior of carbon fiber （CF）/epoxy resin thermosetting composites was tested and analyzed at different temperatures and stresses. The creep exhibits only two stages- primary creep and steady-state creep. The effects of creep stress, creep time, and humidity on the creep of composites that contain various proportion of CNTs were investigated at various temperatures.

Creep strain is believed to increase with applied stress, creep time, humidity, and temperature. It also increases as hardness decrease. The test results also indicate that mechanical strength and electrical conductivity increase with the amount of CNTs added to the composites. Different coefficients of expansion of the matrix, fiber and CNTs, are such that overexpansion of the matrix at high temperature results in cracking in it. An SEM image of the fracture surface reveals debonding and the pulling out of longitudinal fibers because of poor interfacial bonding between fiber and matrix, which reduce overall strength.

Polyaniline (PANI) is one of the most interesting conducting polymers with a wide and controllable conductivity range, synthesized easily via chemical or electrical route, stable chemically and environmentally, having high absorption in the visible range and high mobility of charge carriers. Under different conditions, PANI morphology can be controlled yielding to the creation of nano-tubes, belts, rods, fibers and particles.

In this study, the chemical oxidative polymerization which consists of mixing aniline hydrochloride (A-HCl) with ammonium peroxydisulfate (APS) was used to synthesize HCl doped PANI. Fixing the weight ratio A-HCl/APS defined by the IUPAC while varying their quantities leads to the formation of PANI nanoparticles with variable diameters. In addition, PANI nano-needles of 60 nm average diameter at the center are also obtained. Different methods are used to investigate of 1-D morphologies. The electrical conductivity of bulk PANI pellets is measured using the four-point probe technique. The absorption in the visible range of PANI particles and nano-needles is determined by UV-Vis spectroscopy. XRD analysis was performed to study the effect of PANI particle size and morphology on the crystallinity of the powder. Such structures could be used in hybrid solar cells for higher conversion efficiencies.

A high dielectric constant was observed in 0-3 composites using P(VDF-TrFE) copolymer as matrix and CaCu3TiO4 (CCTO) ceramic powders as fillers with a composition of 50 vol% CCTO. CCTO-P(VDF-TrFE) 0-3 composites with a CCTO content from 0 to 50 vol% were prepared and their dielectric properties, including frequency dependence and temperature dependence of the dielectric constant and loss, were characterized. It was experimentally observed that the hot-press process, inlcuding the configuration and hot-press time, has a strong influence on the dielectric properties of the composites. Additionally, the influence of the CCTO partice size on the dielectric properties of the composites was studied.

The self-assembled block copolymer films with poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) and hydrophobic polymetharylate (PMA) with azobenzene mesogen in the side chain, denoted as PEOm-b-PMA(Az)n, were used as the template to prepare hexagonally ordered silica nanorod arrays by immersing the template films in the silicate precursor containing tetraetoxysilane (TEOS). The diameter and the center-to-center distance of the SiO2 nanorod arrays were controlled by selecting the block copolymer with different PEO volume fraction. In addition, the contact angles of different kinds’ solvents for the SiO2 nanorod arrays were characterized. We further found, the diameter and the period distance of silica nanorods are very important factors for controlling the contact angle of different kind’s solvents on the surface of the SiO2 nanorod arrays.

This paper discusses a new type of wire media based on amorphous ferromagnetic microwires. The combination of two effects, namely, a strong dispersion of the effective permittivity in metallic wire composites (resonance or plasmonic type) and giant magnetoimpedance effect in wires will result in unusual property that an effective dielectric response may strongly depend on the wire magnetization which can be changed with different external stimuli. We have demonstrated the effect of the external magnetic field on microwave response from composites containing CoFeSiBCr amorphous wires in free space at microwave frequency.

In order to apply P(VDF-TeFE) piezoelectric polymer to micro-generator as a membrane, the polymer is deposited on a substrate by spin-coating method. Since a solvent affects the film properties and surface stability, we have carried out the thermal process at a temperature higher than melting point. In the annealing process of a P(VDF-TeFE) thin film, electrical properties of the film was improved by an application of an electric field. The established study was the investigation of variations in characteristics by an application of a certain electric field. We have attempted to measure about the critical intensity of an electric field and investigate what the influences of the application is caused using a XPS spectrum in this study. Moreover, in order to control the intrusion of impurities, we have used the vacuum chamber to carry out the annealing process in it.

When comparing large numbers of TEM micrographs of insoluble additives in polymer-based nanocomposite systems, the ability to determine or estimate the dispersion quality (i.e. uniformity of size and/or spatial distribution) is often difficult. The objective of this study was to develop a method to quantify dispersions observed in TEM micrographs that enables both a numerical “ranking” to be assigned to individual dispersions as well as tabulation a multitude of images acquired over time. Several methods were reviewed and applied to a set of TEM dispersion images of an insoluble additive in polystyrene. Projected area diameter, particle area, and Euclidean distance between particle centroids were chosen from all the particle size distribution and spatial distribution parameters present in the literature, but none successfully yielded a quantitative indicator of dispersion quality for the micrographs. In contrast, generating cumulative volume percent curves for each sample appeared to be a preferred method of quantifying and comparing dispersions in TEM micrographs. The volume diameter values obtained by this method can be used for “ranking” and tabulation of dispersion quality and account for both “good” additive dispersions (i.e. those with small domains of a narrow size range around 1 μm or less) and “bad” additive dispersions (i.e. those with non-uniform domains ranging in size by several microns or more). As a result, the numerical values generated by this method can be used to quantitatively determine correlations between the dispersion quality of nanoparticles in polymer-based nanocomposite materials and various macroscale physical and/or performance properties of such materials. This method’s precision was statistically determined to decrease with increasing particle size and be heavily dependent on representative sampling.

We report on Cr2O3 layer by thermal evaporation of Cr2O3 powder as cathode interfacial layer to improve the stability in air for the bulk heterojunction solar cells of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Devices with Cr2O3 interfacial layers show higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) and stability than those without interfacial layer. Devices with Cr2O3 show improved stability approximately 100 times than that of devices without interfacial layer or with LiF interfacial layer.

ITO nanowires were synthesized by carbothermal reduction process, using a co-evaporation method, and have controlled size, shape, and chemical composition. The electrical measurements of nanowires showed they have a resistance of about 102 Ω. In order to produce nanocomposites films, nanowires were dispersed in toluene using an ultrasonic cleaner, so the PMMA polymer was added, and the system was kept under agitation up to obtain a clear suspension. The PMMA polymer was filled with 1, 2, 5 and 10 % in weight of nanowires, and the films were done by tape casting. The results showed that the electrical resistance of nanocomposites changed by over 7 orders of magnitude by increasing the amount of filler, and using 5 wt% of filler the composite resistance decreased from 1010 Ω to about 104 Ω, which means that percolation threshold of wires occurred at this concentration. This is an interesting result once for nanocomposites filled with ITO nanoparticles is necessary about 18% in weight to obtain percolation. The addition of filler up to 10 wt% decreased the resistance of the composite to 103 Ω, which is a value close to the resistance of wires. The composites were also analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and the TEM results are in agreement with the electrical ones about percolation of nanowires. These results are promising once indicates that is possible to produce conductive and transparent in the visible range films by the addition of ITO nanowires in a polymeric matrix using a simple route.

The peak output voltage (VL) of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric devices has been investigated as a function of load resistance (RL). Two identical piezoelectric devices were mounted, back to back, on a vibrating cantilever giving almost similar VL. Using RL values in the range of 4.6 KΩ to 1 MΩ, it was observed that VL was doubled when the devices were connected in parallel but it did not change when the devices were connected in series. For single, parallel and series configurations, VL increases linearly with increasing RL. These results are explained well by modeling the device as a discharging capacitor with internal source of charge generation.