Dual-Mode Carbon Aerogel/Iron Rubber Sensor.

Nowadays, the integration of easy production, simple structure, high sensitivity, and multifunctionality is the developing tendency for flexible sensors. Herein we report a facile manufacture of a highly flexible, sensitive, and multifunctional dual-mode sensor with an ultrasimple structure by directly attaching magnetic iron rubber (IR) onto the surface of carbon aerogel (CA) derived from melamine foam. The dual-mode CA/IR sensor exhibits high sensitivities of 5.6 kPa-1 and 1.6·10-3 Oe-1, respectively, toward pressure and magnetic field in a wide frequency ranging from 0.1 to 10 Hz, which are higher than those of the existing flexible pressure/magnetism sensors. The multifunctionality of the dual-mode CA/IR sensor is demonstrated by monitoring blood pulse, human breath, balloon volume, and thoracic volume via pressure and magnetism sensing or their combination. Due to its simple structure and high sensitivities, the dual-mode sensor is employed as the building block to create a direction-recognizable sensor for identifying the directions of pressure and magnetic field for the awareness of surrounding barriers that are of practical importance in sophisticated situations such as autonomous artificial intelligence, autodriving and robotics, and so on.

One-dimensional carbon nanotube@barium titanate@polyaniline multiheterostructures for microwave absorbing application.

Multiple-phase nanocomposites filled with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been developed for their significant potential in microwave attenuation. The introduction of other phases onto the CNTs to achieve CNT-based heterostructures has been proposed to obtain absorbing materials with enhanced microwave absorption properties and broadband frequency due to their different loss mechanisms. The existence of polyaniline (PANI) as a coating with controllable electrical conductivity can lead to well-matched impedance. In this work, a one-dimensional CNT@BaTiO3@PANI heterostructure composite was fabricated. The fabrication processes involved coating of an acid-modified CNT with BaTiO3 (CNT@BaTiO3) through a sol-gel technique followed by combustion and the formation of CNT@BaTiO3@PANI nanohybrids by in situ polymerization of an aniline monomer in the presence of CNT@BaTiO3, using ammonium persulfate as an oxidant and HCl as a dopant. The as-synthesized CNT@BaTiO3@PANI composites with heterostructures were confirmed by various morphological and structural characterization techniques, as well as conductivity and microwave absorption properties. The measured electromagnetic parameters showed that the CNT@BaTiO3@PANI composites exhibited excellent microwave absorption properties. The minimum reflection loss of the CNT@BaTiO3@PANI composites with 20 wt % loadings in paraffin wax reached -28.9 dB (approximately 99.87% absorption) at 10.7 GHz with a thickness of 3 mm, and a frequency bandwidth less than -20 dB was achieved from 10 to 15 GHz. This work demonstrated that the CNT@BaTiO3@PANI heterostructure composite can be potentially useful in electromagnetic stealth materials, sensors, and electronic devices.

Synthesis and microwave absorption properties of electromagnetic functionalized Fe3O4-polyaniline hollow sphere nanocomposites produced by electrostatic self-assembly.

Highly regulated Fe3O4-polyelectrolyte-modified polyaniline (Fe3O4-PE@PANI) hollow sphere nanocomposites were successfully synthesized using an electrostatic self-assembly approach. The morphology and structure of the Fe3O4-PE@PANI nanocomposites were characterized using field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results showed that the as-prepared nanocomposites had well-defined sizes and shapes, and the average size is about 500 nm. The assembly process was investigated. Magnetization measurements showed that the saturation magnetization of the nanocomposites was 38.6 emu g-1. It was also found that the Fe3O4-PE@PANI nanocomposites exhibited excellent reflection loss abilities and wide response bandwidths compared with those of PANI hollow spheres in the range 0.5-15 GHz. The Fe3O4-PE@PANI nanocomposites are, therefore, promising for microwave absorption applications.

Facile synthesis of BaTiO3 nanotubes and their microwave absorption properties.

Uniform BaTiO(3) nanotubes were synthesized via a simple wet chemical route at low temperature (50 °C). The as-synthesized BaTiO(3) nanotubes were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that the BaTiO(3) nanotubes formed a cubic phase with an average diameter of ~10 nm and wall thickness of 3 nm at room temperature. The composition of the mixed solvent (ethanol and deionized water) was a key factor in the formation of these nanotubes; we discuss possible synthetic mechanisms. The microwave absorption properties of the BaTiO(3) nanotubes were studied at microwave frequencies between 0.5 and 15 GHz. The minimum reflection loss of the BaTiO(3) nanotubes/paraffin wax composite (BaTiO(3) nanotubes weight fraction = 70%) reached 21.8 dB (~99.99% absorption) at 15 GHz, and the frequency bandwidth less than -10 dB is from 13.3 to 15 GHz. The excellent absorption property of BaTiO(3) nanotubes at high frequency indicates that these nanotubes could be promising microwave-absorbing materials.

Interplay between the keto defect and the interchain interaction on the green emission of fluorene-based polymer.

To investigate the interplay between on-chain keto defect and interchain interaction and its consequence on the blue emission of polyfluorene (PF), first- to third-generation dendronized PFs as well as single-fluorenone-unit doped PF (PFN), synthesized by Suzuki polycondensation, were used as model compounds for steady-state and picosecond time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopic studies. For PF film, the broad-band green emission did not appear, although severe interchain interaction was observed. For PFN film, the green emission that peaked at approximately 540 nm decayed in a multiphasic manner, suggesting significant heterogeneity in the excitation migration toward the keto center. To further examine the interplay effect, a series of novel dendronized-PF/PFN blend films in a molar ratio of 40:1 fluorene-to-fluorenone unit were studied. With reference to pure PFN film, those of the green emission of the blends showed strong dependence on the order of dendronization, that is, a higher generation resulted in a shorter-lived green emission. These observations are discussed in terms of interchain and/or intersegment interactions between the fluorene segments and the keto defect. It is concluded that the keto unit and the keto-centered, interchain aggregation lead to severe color degradation in a synergistic manner, and that dendronization can effectively minimize the undesirable green emission.