The effects of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) content on the mechanical and electrical properties of MWCNT/ epoxy composites were investigated. Results indicate that both tensile strength and flexural modulus exhibit maxima at MWCNT contents of 0. 1% and 0. 25% (mass fraction), respectively. The tensile modulus increases and the strain to failuredecreases with MWCNT content, indicating a transition from plastic to brittle failure with increasing MWCNT content. The flexural strength of a sample with a MWCNT content of 0. 05% is the highest. The electrical percolation threshold of the composite is found to occur at a 0. 5% MWCNT addition. A good dispersion of MWCNTs in epoxy is important to improve the mechanical properties of the composites. A non-uniform dispersion leads to agglomeration of MWCNTs, which causes an early stage failure under loading. The electrical properties of the composites are less affected by the presence of agglomerates.

A Ni(OH) ₂ -graphenehybrid with a three dimensional (3D) interconnected graphene network was prepared by a simple one-pot hydrothermal method. The 3D structure constructed of flexible and planar graphene sheets (GS) forms an effective electron transfer network and provides a continuous pore structure for ion transport. Moreover, this structure avoids the aggregation of GS and Ni(OH) ₂ , resulting in a high utilization rate of Ni(OH) ₂ at high contents. This study shows the hybrid has a high rate capability and cyclic stability and exhibits a high specific capacitance of ~1 461 F · g ^-1 at a scan rate of 5 mV · s ^-1 with a Ni(OH) ₂ mass loading of ~84 mass%.

Thermally reduced graphene oxide was pretreated consecutively in solutions of SnCl 2 in HCl and PdCl 2 in HCl. The resulting material was then plated with nickel nanoparticles under sonication to prepare Ni/ graphene nanocomposites. XRD, TEM and EDS were used to investigate the microstructure, elemental composition and the chemical plating mechanism. Results show that Sn nanoparticles are distributed evenly on the reduced graphene oxide. Pd nanoparticles are located preferentially at the edges of graphene sheets and at wrinkles in them, and are also found on some Sn nanoparticles. Ni nanoparticles are formed on the Pd nanoparticles and act as active centers for Ni growththat results in covering most of the graphene sheet after plating.

Developing a simple and cost-effective strategy to diagnose and treat cancer with a single and minimum dose through noninvasive strategies is highly challenging. Nano-sized graphene and graphene oxide (GO) are promising for biomedical applications, such as drug delivery and the photo thermal therapy of cancer. An acute promyelocytic leukemia line, such as NB4 cells, was detected by modified GO in extracellular and intracellular experiments. Results shows that GO can quench the fluorescence of the ssDNA fluorescent probe and its fluorescence is restored after a PML/ RAR fusion gene of NB4 cell lines is added. Therefore, the fusion gene can be detected accurately with this phenomenon. The best detection conditions for the fusion gene are found with assDNA fluorescent probe concentration of 200 nmol/ L in the presence of 0. 04 mg/ L GO at room temperature for 1 h.

Two carbonized oxidized polyacrylonitrile fiber (OPF) felts and one polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber (CF) felt were used as preforms to prepare two kinds of carbon/ carbon composites by chemical vapor infiltration,and the effect of fiber type on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the composites were investigated. The microstructure was characterized bypolarized light microscopy and Raman spectroscopy and the mechanical properties were characterized by nanoindentation and three-point bend tests. The two carbonized OPFs are surrounded by a darklaminar layer about 1. 4-2. 6 μm thick followed by a rough laminar layer of about 10. 2-11. 6 μm, while the CFs are surrounded by a smooth laminar layer about 8. 8 μm thick and arough laminar layer of about 4. 4μm. Nanoindentation indicates that the modulus and hardness of the carbonized OPFsare obviously lower than those of the CFs, and the modulus and hardness of the matrix decrease with increasing extinction angle. The low modulus of the matrix and the OPFsresult in a decrease of the tensile and flexural strength by about 14. 5%-24. 2% and 7. 3%-15. 4% and a decrease of the tensile and flexural modulus by about 9. 7%-19. 8% and 15. 1%-18. 6%, respectively, for the OPF-derived composites compared with the CF-derived composites. However, for the OPF-derived composites the ductility factor increases by about 224%-235% because of the high content of rough laminarcarbon and the obvious shrinkage of the OPFs after graphitization. Meanwhile, a modelin-volving the three components in the composites is proposed to predict their tensile modulus, which shows deviations between experimental and predicted results below 9. 9%.

A series of carbon fiber (CF) / polyether polyurethane (PU) composites were prepared by in situ polymerization and a casting compression molding technique. The influence of CF content and its pretreatment with a coupling agent and oxidation by 65%-68% (mass fraction) nitric acid on the mechanical performance, thermal properties and morphology of the composites was investigated by TGA, SEM and mechanical tests. Results showed that coupling agents improve the mechanical performance of the CF/ PU composites, especially for silane coupling agents KH5501, KH602 and the titanate coupling agent TCA-K44. Nitric acid oxidation also improved the mechanical performance and thermal stability of the composites. The adhesion between PU and nitric acid-oxidized CFs was better than that between PU and fibers treated with silane coupling agents.

Polyimide(PI)-based carbon fibers with different properties were prepared by carbonization of PI fibers at 800°C Polyimide(PI)-based carbon fibers with different properties were prepared by carbonization of PI fibers at 800°C, followed by heat treatment from 800 to 2 800°C. The effect of heat treatment temperature (HTT) on elemental composition, surface morphology, mechanical properties, and the thermal and electrical conductivities of PI-based carbon fibers were investigated by elemental analysis, SEM, HRTEM, Raman spectroscopy, mechanical testing, and electrical and thermal conductivity measurements. Results showed that as a result of HTT the carbon content increased from 78. 97% to 99. 72%, the tensile strength exhibited a maximum of 924. 4 MPa, and the degree of graphitization and the size of graphite crystallites were both increased. Distinct reductions in strain-to-failure and electrical resistivity were observed with increasing HTT. The thermal conductivity can reach 228. 4 W · m ^-1 · K ^-1 after heat treatment at 2 800 °C. PI fiber may be a good precursor for carbon fibers with a high thermal conductivity. Polyimide(PI)-based carbon fibers with different properties were prepared by carbonization of PI fibers at 800 Polyimide(PI)-based carbon fibers with different properties were prepared by carbonization of PI fibers at 800°C Polyimide(PI)-based carbon fibers with different properties were prepared by carbonization of PI fibers at 800°C, followed by heat treatment from 800 to 2 800°C. The effect of heat treatment temperature (HTT) on elemental composition, surface morphology, mechanical properties, and the thermal and electrical conductivities of PI-based carbon fibers were investigated by elemental analysis, SEM, HRTEM, Raman spectroscopy, mechanical testing, and electrical and thermal conductivity measurements.
Results showed that as a result of HTT the carbon content increased from 78. 97% to 99. 72%, the tensile strength exhibited a maximum of 924. 4 MPa, and the degree of graphitization and the size of graphite crystallites were both increased. Distinct reductions in strain-to-failure and electrical resistivity were observed with increasing HTT. The thermal conductivity can reach 228. 4 W · m ^-1 · K ^-1
after heat treatment at 2 800 °C. PI fiber may be a good precursor for carbon fibers with a high thermal conductivity. Polyimide(PI)-based carbon fibers with different properties were prepared by carbonization of PI fibers at 800°C, followed by heat treatment from 800 to 2 800 °C. The effect of heat treatment temperature (HTT) on elemental composition, surface morphology, mechanical properties, and the thermal and electrical conductivities of PI-based carbon fibers were investigated by elemental analysis, SEM, HRTEM, Raman spectroscopy, mechanical testing, and electrical and thermal conductivity measurements.Results showed that as a result of HTT the carbon content increased from 78. 97% to 99. 72%, the tensile strength exhibited a maximum of 924. 4 MPa, and the degree of graphitization and the size of graphite crystallites were both increased. Distinct reductions in strain-to-failure and electrical resistivity were observed with increasing HTT. The thermal conductivity can reach 228. 4 W · m ^-1 · K ^-1 after heat treatment at 2 800°C. PI fiber may be a good precursor for carbon fibers with a high thermal conductivity., followed by heat treatment from 800 to 2 800°C. The effect of heat treatment temperature (HTT) on elemental composition, surface morphology, mechanical properties, and the thermal and electrical conductivities of PI-based carbon fibers were investigated by elemental analysis, SEM, HRTEM, Raman spectroscopy, mechanical testing, and electrical and thermal conductivity measurements. Results showed that as a result of HTT the carbon content increased from 78. 97% to 99. 72%, the tensile strength exhibited a maximum of 924. 4 MPa, and the degree of graphitization and the size of graphite crystallites were both increased. Distinct reductions in strain-to-failure and electrical resistivity were observed with increasing HTT. The thermal conductivity can reach 228. 4 W · m ^-1 · K ^-1 after heat treatment at 2 800 °C. PI fiber may be a good precursor for carbon fibers with a high thermal conductivity, followed by heat treatment from 800 to 2 800 °C. The effect of heat treatment temperature (HTT) on elemental composition, surface morphology, mechanical properties, and the thermal and electrical conductivities of PI-based carbon fibers were investigated by elemental analysis, SEM, HRTEM, Raman spectroscopy, mechanical testing, and electrical and thermal conductivity measurements. Results showed that as a result of HTT the carbon content increased from 78. 97% to 99. 72%, the tensile strength exhibited a maximum of 924. 4 MPa, and the degree of graphitization and the size of graphite crystallites were both increased. Distinct reductions in strain-to-failure and electrical resistivity were observed with increasing HTT. The thermal conductivity can reach 228. 4 W · m ^-1 ·  K ^-1 after heat treatment at 2 800°C. PI fiber may be a good precursor for carbon fibers with a high thermal conductivity., followed by heat treatment from 800 to 2 800°C  . The effect of heat treatment temperature (HTT) on elemental composition, surface morphology, mechanical properties, and the thermal and electrical conductivities of PI-based carbon fibers were investigated by elemental analysis, SEM, HRTEM, Raman spectroscopy, mechanical testing, and electrical and thermal conductivity measurements. Results showed that as a result of HTT the carbon content increased from 78. 97% to 99. 72%, the tensile strength exhibited a maxi mum of 924. 4 MPa, and the degree of graphitization and the size of graphite crystallites were both increased. Distinct reductions in strain-to-failure and electrical resistivity were observed with increasing HTT. The thermal conductivity can reach 228. 4 W · m ^-1 · K ^-1 after heat treatment at 2 800°C. PI fiber may be a good precursor for carbon fibers with a high thermal conductivity.

The microstructures of amorphous solid-core carbon nanofibers (CNFs) synthesized in flames show long-range disorder, which makes it difficult to reconstruct their three-dimensional atom configurations by popular characterization methods. Using a reverse Monte Carlo method, the atom configurations of CNFs were derived from X-ray diffraction data, and these were used to calculate the Fermi levels, density of electronic states and electrical conductivity of the CNFs. The calculated electronic structures of CNFs indicate that the amorphous CNFs are semiconducting. Experimentally, the I-V curve of the CNFs was investigated and shown to be symmetrical and nonlinear, indicating the semiconductivity of the CNFs, which is good agreement with calculated results.

Ordered mesoporous carbon/ CdS composites have been synthesized by a “one-pot assembly strategy associated with a direct carbonization process using phenolic resol as the carbon source, thiocarbamide and cadmium nitrate as matrix precursor and amphiphilictri block copolymer Pluronic F127 as a template. The composite structure was characterized by XRD, BET and TEM. The obtained mesoporous CdS/ carbon composites with ordered mesostructures have uniform pore sizes (3. 5-4. 1 nm) and high specific surface areas (554. 2 m ² / g). The CdS nanoparticles were dispersed evenly on the mesoporous carbon surface. The mesostructure ordering decreases with the increase of CdS content.

A columnarbamboo/ lignite material was prepared by briquetting a mixture of bamboo carbon and lignite. Activated carbons were obtained by carbonizing the material at 500 °C for 30 min, followed by activation at 850 °C for 2 h using either steam or a gaseous mixture of ammonia in water with an ammonia concentration of 2. 42 mass%. The ammonia-activated carbon was soaked in 21. 91% ammonia water for 5 h and dried at 200 °C to modify its surface chemical properties. The pore structure and surface chemical states of the activated carbons were investigated by physical adsorption and XPS. Their desulfurization performance was  evaluated in a simulated flue gas (SO ₂ 0. 1439%, O ₂ 8. 02% and water vapor 10. 11%) at 100°C. Results show that the activated carbons produced with and without ammonia have similar pore size distributions in the range 1-2. 5 nm. Sulfur adsorption capacity of the ammonia-activated one (106. 1 mg/ g) is significantly higher than those of the steam-activated one (69. 8 mg/ g). Surface modification of the ammonia-activated carbon further improves its sulfur adsorption capacity to 155. 9 mg/ g. The surfaces of the two kinds of activated carbons contain the same type of carbon groups. The ammonia-activated carbon and its surface modified derivative have similar nitrogen contents with a similar proportion of pyridine or nitrile groups (398. 3-398. 9 eV), amine, amide, imide and pyrrole class groups (400. 2-400. 8 eV).

Porous carbons (PCs) for supercapacitors were prepared from coal tar pitch by a one-step microwave-assisted KOH activation with low KOH consumption. The surface area of the PC (PC _2-M ) made at a KOH/ pitch mass ratio of 2 with microwave heating for 30 min reaches 1 786 m ² / g. The electrochemical performance of the PC electrode for supercapacitors was evaluated in different electrolytes including KOH, K ₂ SO ₄ , Na ₂ SO ₄ , Li ₂ SO ₄ in water, and tetraethylammoniatetra fluoroborate in propylene carbonate. The supercapacitors have a high specific capacitance of 267 F/ g in 6 mol/ L KOH aqueous electrolyte at 0. 1 A/ g and a high energy density of 12. 0 Wh/ kg at 1 318 W/ kg in a 0. 5 mol/ L K ₂ SO ₄ neutral electrolyte. The one-step microwave-assisted KOH activation is a simple, efficient and low energy-consumption approach for the preparation of high performance PCs for supercapacitors.

Waste semi-coke powder generated in semi-coke production and transportation was doped with 8 mass% boron by a high temperature treatment at 2 300 °C. Results indicate that the doping overcomes the shortcomings of low coulombic efficiency, short cycle life, and there are no charge and discharge platforms due to a high content (15 mass%) of impurity in the raw materials. The first discharge capacity is 361 mAh/ g at a rate of 0. 1 C and the reversible capacity is 314 mAh/ g after 300 cycles at charge and discharge ratesof 1 C, showing excellent cycling performance.

A graphite electrode (GE) was modified in a 2. 3 mol/ L H₂SO₄ solution using GE as a working electrode, Pt as a counter electrode andsaturatedcalomelelectrode (SCE) as a reference electrodeby a galvanic method under a constant current. Results showed thatafter the GE was optimally modified at a current of 200 mA for 300 s and -120 mA for 100 s for 6 cycles, it had a porous, rough and three-dimensional active layer with a pseudo capacitance of 2. 08 F/ cm ² . The modified GE had a much lower resistance and higher sweep rate than the unmodified one

Highly ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) designated CMK-3 were synthesized using mesoporous Al-SBA-15 with different textural properties as hard templates and sucrose as a carbon source. Al-SBA-15 is an ordered mesoporous alumina-silica synthesized with a soft template, P123. The effect of the aging temperature for the hard templates on the pore structure of CMK-3 was investigated. X-ray diffraction, N 2 adsorption and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the pore structures of the hard templates and the resultant CMK-3. Result indicates that CMK-3 with different pore structures can be obtained by tailoring the pore structures of the hard templates bysimply controlling the aging temperature in an acid-free medium. The best CMK-3 possessed a highly-ordered pore structure, and a very high BET surface area (1 688 m ² ·g ^-1 ) and pore volume (0. 95 cm ³ ·g ^-1 ) when the hard template was aged at 90 °C. The microporous character of the CMK-3 was related to the thickness of the mesopore wall of the hard templates. The textural characteristics of the resultant CMK-3 can be improved by simply adjusting the aging temperature in the synthesis of the hard templates to control their mesopore structure.

A carbon fiber preform was chemical vapor infiltrated with a pyrocarbon (PyC) interphase and a SiC matrix, and then coated with a SiC outer layer by chemical vapor deposition to prepare 2D C/ SiC composites with a density of 2. 1 g/ cm 3 . The composites were oxidized at 700, 1000, 1300°C for 2, 5 and 10h, respectively. The damping behavior of the oxidized composites was measured by a dynamical mechanical analyzer and the microstructural damage produced by the oxidation was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Results show that the damping of the composites oxidized at 700 °C and 1000 °C increases initially and then decreases with increasing oxidation time while that of the composites oxidized at 1300°C is independent of the oxidation time. The damping capacity of the C/ SiC composites is determined by the carbon fibers, PyC interphase, SiC matrix and their interaction. The oxidation of the composites increases the damping by weakening the interfacial bonding due to the oxidation of PyC during the initial stage of oxidation, and decreases the damping by the oxidation loss of carbon fibers and excessive damage of the PyC interphase during the latter stages of oxidation. SiO ₂ formed at 1300°C by the oxidation of SiC fills the voids produced by carbon oxidation, which increases the dampingand compensates for the decrease of damping produced by carbon loss and excess damage of the PyC interphase.