Nano-ordered composite materials

We measured the electrical conductivity of Pt-C nanocomposites using two-point measurements. In a representative example the NP-polymer hybrid had a conductivity of 2.5 mS cm-1, which increased to 400 S cm-1 upon pyrolysis. Despite the presence of carbon, to the best of our knowledge this value represented the highest electrical conductivity yet measured for ordered mesoporous materials derived from block copolymers. This discovery creates a potential pathway to a new class of ordered mesoporous metals made from nanoparticles of different elements and/or distinct compositions. Such nano-heterogeneous mesoporous metals may have a range of exceptional electrical, optical, and catalytic properties. 

Ordered mesoporous materials, due to their periodic and size-controllable pore channels and high surface areas, have been regarded as a nano-reactor to construct novel ordered and well dispersed nanostructured composites with controlled size and size distribution.[303] A number of studies have reported on the encapsulation of guest materials, such as metal oxides,[304] semiconductors, metal sulfides,[305] carbon, metals,[306] and polymers into mesoporous silica hosts. 

For most PEM fuel cell catalysts, carbon black and other order carbon materials (such as carbon nanotubes) are usually used as support materials. These supports can give catalysts good electron conductivity, a very important feature in a fuel cell catalyst. Platinum and its alloys are popular active components, generally highly dispersed on the surface of support materials as micro- and nano-particles. Catalyst performance is related not only to the conductivity and supporting amounts of noble metals, but also, and more importantly, to the dispersion and composition of the active components. Because the hydrogen molecule is small and easily diffused in catalysts, in general the catalyst pore structure is not more important than the surface area. 

Over the past few years, research efforts have focused on the use of nano-structured anode materials (nanoparticles, nanocrystals, nanowires, nanorods etc., including complex core-shell and composite structures) in order to mitigate the effects of volume change upon Li uptake. Nanostructured materials present the add-on advantage of shorter diffusion distances for Li species, thus offering the possibility to increase charging and discharging rates (i.e., battery power). This chapter will essentially concentrate on such recent developments. 

Ordered nanostructured materials were prepare by the template technique. This method consists of a thermal decomposition of the sol—gel precursor within the pores of a membrane. The template is dipped into the sol for 10 min and taken out for heating at r>400 °C resulting in the formatimi of nanomaterial within the template pores. Different types of template have been widely investigated such as anodic alununum oxides (AAO), porous polymer and nano-channel glass templates. The final nano-specimens are obtained by dissolutimi the template composites in 6 mol NaOH solutimi. The template method with porous membranes of AAO has... 

Given the actual scenario, one can state that the emerging field of nanotechnology represents new effort to exploit new materials as well as new technologies in the development of efficient and low-cost solar cells. In fact, the technological capabilities to manipulate matter under controlled conditions in order to assemble complex supramolecular structures within the range of 100 nm could lead to innovative devices (nano-devices) based on unconventional photovoltaic materials, namely, conducting polymers, fuUerenes, biopolymers (photosensitive proteins), and related composites. 

Layered materials are of special interest for bio-immobilization due to the accessibility of large internal and external surface areas, potential to confine biomolecules within regularly organized interlayer spaces, and processing of colloidal dispersions for the fabrication of protein-clay films for electrochemical catalysis [83-90], These studies indicate that layered materials can serve as efficient support matrices to maintain the native structure and function of the immobilized biomolecules. Current trends in the synthesis of functional biopolymer nano composites based on layered materials (specifically layered double hydroxides) have been discussed in excellent reviews by Ruiz-Hitzky [5] and Duan [6] herein we focus specifically on the fabrication of bio-inorganic lamellar nanocomposites based on the exfoliation and ordered restacking of aminopropyl-functionalized magnesium phyllosilicate (AMP) in the presence of various biomolecules [91]. 

The development of composite structural materials based on ordered nanostructures in a matrix material has been surprisingly difficult to accomplish, and has only proved successful in a few cases165. Part of the difficulty is that the surface chemistry of the nanostructures must be controlled carefully so that the structure truly is a composite and that the nanostructured phase in the matrix is ordered. Given the importance of nano-scale heterogeneity in determining the mechanical properties of materials, this area is one of great theoretical and practical interest. 

This book contains papers from the Fourth International Conference on Computational Methods and Experiments in Materials Characterisation which brought researchers who use computational methods, those who perform experiments, and of course those who do both, in all areas of materials characterisation, to discuss their recent results and ideas, in order to foster the multidisciplinary approach that has become necessary for the study of complex phenomena. The papers in the book cover the follow topics Advances in Composites Ceramics and Advanced Materials Alloys Cements Biomaterials Thin Films and Coatings Imaging and Image Analysis Thermal Analysis New Methods Surface Chemistry Nano Materials Damage Mechanics Fatigue and Fracture Innovative Computational Techniques Computational Models and Experiments Mechanical Characterisation and Testing. 

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