Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes in the early 1990s, a new era in nanotechnology opened up, impacting both scientific and technological fronts. One of the key challenges in processing of carbon nanotube-based materials and structures is proper dispersion of the nanoconstituents. Fundamental roadblocks to maximumize utilization of the exceptional properties of carbon nanotubes are their tendency to aggregate due to intermolecular forces and the resulting difficulties in dispersing them into individual tubes. In this study, a novel carbon nanotube dispersion technology that uses electrospraying was developed, analyzed, and evaluated. We established image analysis based measurement that can be used to quantify the degree and uniformity of carbon nanotube dispersion, and performed a series of designed experiments. Rigorous statistical analyses were conducted to investigate the parametric effect of electrospraying, and the design of experiments based models were derived. As validated through experiments, the design of experiments models can serve as effective guidelines for selecting the electrospraying parameters that allow controlled nanoparticle dispersion. Carbon nanotube electrospraying is expected to be applicable to a broad range of technical fields, owing to its low cost, ease of implementation, environmental friendliness, and scalability for industry use. Potential applications include, transparent, conductive carbon nanotube coating for flexible displays, multiscale carbon nanotube patterning, and continuous nanocomposite processing, the proofs-of-concept of which have been demonstrated in this study. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science. / Fall Semester, 2007. / September 25, 2007. / Dispersion, Electrospraying, CNT / Includes bibliographical references. / Chuck Zhang, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Young-Bin Park, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Zhiyong Liang, Committee Member; Joseph J. Pignatiello, Jr., Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_182086 |
| Contributors | Chen, Meei-Jiun (authoraut), Zhang, Chuck (professor co-directing thesis), Park, Young-Bin (professor co-directing thesis), Liang, Zhiyong (committee member), Pignatiello, Joseph J. (committee member), Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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