Ceramic nanomaterials

Dr. Hui has worked on various projects, including chemical sensors, solid oxide fuel cells, magnetic materials, gas separation membranes, nanostruc-tured materials, thin film fabrication, and protective coatings for metals. He has more than 80 research publications, one worldwide patent, and one U.S. patent (pending). He is currently leading and involved in several projects for the development of metal-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), ceramic nanomaterials as catalyst supports for high-temperature PEM fuel cells, protective ceramic coatings on metallic substrates, ceramic electrode materials for batteries, and ceramic proton conductors. Dr. Hui is also an active member of the Electrochemical Society and the American Ceramic Society. 

Non-oxide ceramic nanomaterials, such as carbides, nitrides, borides, phosphides and silicides, have received considerable attention due to their potential applications in electronics, optics, catalysis, and magnetic storage. In contrast with the traditional processes, such as solid state reactions, CVD, MOCVD and PVD, which involve using high temperatures, toxic organometallic precursors, or complicated reactions and posttreatments, solvothermal method is a low temperature route to these materials with controlled shapes and sizes. 

The 38th ICACC hosted more than 1,000 attendees from 40 countries and approximately 800 presentations. The topics ranged from ceramic nanomaterials to structural reliability of ceramic components which demonstrated the linkage between materials science developments at the atomic level and macro level structural applications. Papers addressed material, model, and component development and investigated the interrelations between the processing, properties, and microstructure of ceramic materials. 

PPy-coated ceramic nanomaterial (zeohte and titanium sihcate) has been fabricated with microscopic structural homogeneity [216]. The core-shell nanoparticle was synthesized via a self-assembled array of cetylpyridinium chloride on the surface of core material. Cetylpyridinium chloride played a critical role for sustaining the colloidal stability of resulting product and providing a nanoscopically confined environment for the growth of ordered PPy film. An ultrathin PPy layer (thickness 10-30 nm) was successfully deposited on the ceramic nanoparticle (diameter 100 nm). Even with a fairly low amount of PPy in the core-shell nanoparticle (8%), a high conductivity (5 S cm ) was obtained. The result was attributed to the enhanced molecular order of PPy chains compared with conventional PPy. 

Key words oxidation, deposition, coating, sputtering, ceramic, nanomaterials. 

The chemical processing and synthesis of high performance technological catalysts requires the use of high purity precursors. Recently several attempts have been made to find out an intriguing technique to quickly produce performing catalysts for any kind of industrial application. In particular, methods based on solution combustion synthesis (SCS) have received a remarkable interest. These processes, in fact, make use of highly exothermic redox chemical reactions between metals and non-metals, to synthesize the desired ceramic nanomaterials [1-3],... 

Mukhopadhyay, A. (2008). Tribological properties and processing challenges of bulk structural ceramic nanomaterials. Tribology - Materials. Surfaces Interfaces, 2, 169-184. doi 10.1179/175158309X408351. 

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