Orbaek White Alvin, Hedayati Ali, Yick Tim, Gangoli Varun Shenoy, Niu Yubiao, Lethbridge Sean, Tsampanakis Ioannis, Swan Gemma, Pointeaux Léo, Crane Abigail, Charles Rhys, Sallah-Conteh Jainaba, Anderson Andrew O, Davies Matthew Lloyd, Corr Stuart J, Palmer Richard E
Energy Safety Research Institute, Swansea University, Bay Campus, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK.
Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, Bay Campus, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 Dec 21;12(1):9. doi: 10.3390/nano12010009.
For every three people on the planet, there are approximately two Tonnes (Te) of plastic waste. We show that carbon recovery from polystyrene (PS) plastic is enhanced by the coaddition of solvents to grow carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by liquid injection chemical vapour deposition. Polystyrene was loaded up to 4 wt% in toluene and heated to 780 °C in the presence of a ferrocene catalyst and a hydrogen/argon carrier gas at a 1:19 ratio. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Raman spectroscopy were used to identify multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The PS addition in the range from 0 to 4 wt% showed improved quality and CNT homogeneity; Raman "Graphitic/Defective" (G/D) values increased from 1.9 to 2.3; mean CNT diameters increased from 43.0 to 49.2 nm; and maximum CNT yield increased from 11.37% to 14.31%. Since both the CNT diameters and the percentage yield increased following the addition of polystyrene, we conclude that carbon from PS contributes to the carbon within the MWCNTs. The electrical contact resistance of acid-washed Bucky papers produced from each loading ranged from 2.2 to 4.4 Ohm, with no direct correlation to PS loading. Due to this narrow range, materials with different loadings were mixed to create the six wires of an Ethernet cable and tested using iPerf3; the cable achieved up- and down- link speeds of 99.5 Mbps, i.e., comparable to Cu wire with the same dimensions (99.5 Mbps). The lifecycle assessment (LCA) of CNT wire production was compared to copper wire production for a use case in a Boeing 747-400 over the lifespan of the aircraft. Due to their lightweight nature, the CNT wires decreased the CO footprint by 21 kTonnes (kTe) over the aircraft's lifespan.
地球上每三个人就对应约两公吨的塑料垃圾。我们发现，通过在液体注射化学气相沉积法生长碳纳米管（CNT）时共添加溶剂，可提高从聚苯乙烯（PS）塑料中回收碳的效率。将聚苯乙烯以高达4 wt%的比例负载于甲苯中，在二茂铁催化剂以及氢气/氩气比例为1:19的载气存在下加热至780°C。使用高分辨率透射电子显微镜（HRTEM）、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、热重分析（TGA）和拉曼光谱来鉴定多壁碳纳米管（MWCNT）。聚苯乙烯添加量在0至4 wt%范围内时，碳纳米管的质量和均匀性得到改善；拉曼“石墨化/缺陷”（G/D）值从1.9增至2.3；碳纳米管的平均直径从43.0 nm增至49.2 nm；碳纳米管的最大产率从11.37%增至14.31%。由于添加聚苯乙烯后碳纳米管的直径和产率百分比均有所增加，我们得出结论，聚苯乙烯中的碳有助于形成多壁碳纳米管中的碳。由每种负载量制备的酸洗巴基纸的电接触电阻在2.2至4.4欧姆之间，与聚苯乙烯负载量无直接关联。由于该范围较窄，将不同负载量的材料混合制成一根以太网电缆的六根导线，并使用iPerf3进行测试；该电缆实现了约99.5 Mbps的上行和下行链路速度，即与相同尺寸的铜线（约99.5 Mbps）相当。针对波音747 - 400飞机使用寿命期间的一个用例，对碳纳米管导线生产的生命周期评估（LCA）与铜线生产进行了比较。由于其轻质特性，碳纳米管导线在飞机使用寿命期间将碳足迹减少了21千公吨（kTe）。
