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Indexed by:期刊论文

Date of Publication:2014-03-01

Journal:RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY A

Included Journals:SCIE、EI

Volume:88

Issue:3

Page Number:484-488

ISSN No.:0036-0244

Key Words:carbon nanofibers (CNFs); methylcellulose; polycarboxylate superplasticizer; dispersion; UV absorbency; zeta potential; surface tension

Abstract:As a novel functional nanomaterial, the dispersion effect of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) has a significant influence on the application of CNFs in the composites. Two effective surfactants, methylcellulose (MC) and polycarboxylate superplasticizer, were used to analyze the dispersion of CNFs in aqueous solution. A method utilizing ultrasonic processing was employed to achieve a homogenous CNF suspension, and the dispersion effect was further characterized by the method of measuring ultraviolet absorbency (UV absorbency), zeta potential, surface tension and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs. The results show that the zeta potential and surface tension reach the saturation plateau at MC concentration and polycarboxylate superplasticizer concentration of about 0.4 and 0.8 g/L, respectively, which reflects that the optimum concentration ratio of MC to CNFs is 2: 1, and the optimum dispersing polycarboxylate superplasticizer to CNFs ratio of 4: 1 is required to achieve dispersions with maximum achievable dispersion of CNFs.