Summary: An in‐situ mineralization process in the presence of thermo‐responsive microgels leads to the formation of well‐defined hybrid materials. Experimental data suggest that control of the mineralization process in the presence of the microgels offers the possibility to obtain sub‐micrometer‐sized hybrid particles or macroscopic hybrid hydrogels. The rapid formation of CaCO3 crystals in the microgel structure favors the preparation of the hybrid particles wherein inorganic crystals cover the shell layer of the microgel. The slow formation of CaCO3 crystals leads to the simultaneous self‐assembly of the microgel particles on the bottom of the reaction vessel, and the formation of a physical network. It has been demonstrated that hybrid hydrogel materials with different calcium carbonate contents and temperature‐dependent swelling‐deswelling properties can be prepared.Formation of a hybrid hydrogel by the vapor diffusion method.magnified imageFormation of a hybrid hydrogel by the vapor diffusion method.
We investigated the influence of carbon materials on the properties of adhesives. With the aim of the development of conductive and mechanically improved adhesives, different types of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT), single-layer graphene, graphene nanoplatelets, graphite, and carbon black were dispersed into an epoxy adhesive. For inserting particles within the viscous matrices and to obtain homogenous and stable dispersions, two different methods namely a three-roll mill and a dual asymmetric centrifuge have been compared The results demonstrate that filling epoxies with carbon nanoparticles improves the conductivity differently. Measuring the electrical resistivity of MWNT-filled composites resulted in an electrical percolation starting underneath 0.1 wt.%. Further, with increasing the MWNT content, conductivity sharply increases. In contrast to the MWNT composites, other carbon nanoparticles require a higher filling content to reach similar values. With a filling ratio up to 17.0 wt.% for ACS graphene nanoplatelets 2–10 nm and the filling of 3.0 wt.% with MWNTs from Nanocyl, the lowest volume resistivities have been reached
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