• Carbon letters
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.108-114
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• 2008

We have demonstrated the feasibility of using electrospinning method to fabricate long and continuous composite nanofiber sheets of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) incorporated with zinc oxide (ZnO). Such PAN/ZnO composite nanofiber sheets represent an important step toward utilizing carbon nanofibers (CNFs) as materials to achieve remarkably enhanced physico-chemical properties. In an attempt to derive these advantages, we have used a variety of techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) to obtain quantitative data on the materials. The CNFs produced are in the diameter range of 100 to 350 nm after carbonization at $1000^{\circ}C$. Electrical conductivity of the random CNFs was increased by increasing the concentration of ZnO. A dramatic improvement in porosity and specific surface area of the CNFs was a clear evidence of the novelty of the method used. This study indicated that the optimal ZnO concentration of 3 wt% is enough to produce CNFs having enhanced electrical and physico-chemical properties.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.226-231
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• 2020

Polyvinyl pyrrolidone nanofibers including nickel, zinc, and iron precursors were fabricated via the electrospinning method. To convert as-spun nanofibers to Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 oxide nanof ibers which is capable of shielding an electromagnetic wave, heat treatment conditions were optimized. To obtain the heat treatment condition that can exclude amorphous carbon black and secondary crystal phase, samples were taken at each temperature while the calcination process and analyzed. According to the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, the Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 crystal phase started to appear from 300℃, but it was confirmed through energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis that heat treatment of 500℃ or more was required to remove most of the carbon black. When the calcination temperature exceeds 650℃, crystal nuclei starts to grow and the fiber surface condition becomes rough, so it was confirmed that the heat treatment conditions should be selectively determined according to the application field.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.97-104
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• 2020

Due to the superior properties of nanoparticles, using them has been increased in concrete production technology. In this study, the effect of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles on the mechanical and smart properties of concrete was studied. At the first, the ZnO nanoparticles are dispersed in water using shaker, magnetic stirrer and ultrasonic devices. The nanoparticles with 3.5, 0.25, 0.75, and 1.0 volume percent are added to the concrete mixture and replaced by the appropriate amount of cement to compare with the control sample without any additives. In order to study the mechanical and smart properties of the concrete, the cubic samples for determining the compressive strength and cylindrical samples for determining tensile strength with different amounts of ZnO nanoparticles are produced and tested. The most important finding of this paper is about the smartness of the concrete due to the piezoelectric properties of the ZnO nanoparticles. In other words, the concrete in this study can produce the voltage when subjected to mechanical load and vice versa it can induce the mechanical displacement when subjected to external voltage. The experimental results show that the best volume percent for ZnO nanoparticles in 28-day samples is 0.5%. In other words, adding 0.5% ZnO nanoparticles to the concrete instead of cement leads to increases of 18.70% and 3.77% in the compressive and tensile strengths, respectively. In addition, it shows the best direct and reverse piezoelectric properties. It is also worth to mention that adding 3.5% zinc oxide nanoparticles, the setting of cement is stopped in the concrete mixture.