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Isolated graphene sheets were achieved by graphite intercalation and charge-induced exfoliation. The resultant graphene oxide sheets were incorporated into polymer composites and thermal expansion was investigated by a thermo-mechanical analyzer. The test results indicated that inclusion of graphene into composites resulted in low coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs), and increasing graphene fraction reduced CTEs more significantly. The 5 wt % graphene oxide-based composite shows 31.7% reduction below the glass transition temperature. Preliminary measurement of thermal conductivity also indicated that graphene composites significantly improved the thermal conductivity of polymer matrix. Thermal conductivity of 5% graphene composites showed about 4-fold increment in comparison to the polymer matrix. This finding will provide a solid foundation for graphene-enabled thermal management in microelectronics.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) demonstrate extraordinary properties and show great promise in enhancing out-of-plane properties of traditional polymer composites and enabling functionality, but current manufacturing challenges hinder the realization of their potential. This paper presents a method to fabricate multifunctional multiscale composites through an effective infiltration-based vacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding (VARTM) process. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were infused through and between glass-fibre tows along the through-thickness direction. Both pristine and functionalized MWNTs were used in fabricating multiscale glass-fibre-reinforced epoxy composites. It was demonstrated that the mechanical properties of multiscale composites were remarkably enhanced, especially in the functionalized MWNT multiscale composites. With only 1 wt% loading of functionalized MWNTs, tensile strength was increased by 14% and Young’s modulus by 20%, in comparison with conventional fibre-reinforced composites. Moreover, the shear strength and short-beam modulus were increased by 5% and 8%, respectively, indicating the improved inter-laminar properties. The strain–stress tests also suggested noticeable enhancement in toughness. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterization confirmed an enhanced interfacial bonding when functionalized MWNTs were integrated into epoxy/glass-fibre composites. The coefficient thermal expansion (CTE) of functionalized nanocomposites indicated a reduction of 25.2% compared with epoxy/glass-fibre composites. The desired improvement of electrical conductivities was also achieved. The multiscale composites indicated a way to leverage the benefits of CNTs and opened up new opportunities for high-performance multifunctional multiscale composites.

Flexible and solution-printable fullerene/TiS2 organic/inorganic hybrids with excellent thermoelectric properties are demonstrated.

Flexible organic−inorganic hybrids are promising thermoelectric materials to recycle waste heat in versatile formats. However, current organic/inorganic hybrids suffer from inferior thermoelectric properties due to aggregate nanostructures. Here we demonstrate flexible organic−inorganic hybrids where size-tunable Bi2Te3 nanoparticles are discontinuously monodispersed in the continuous conductive polymer phase, completely distinct from traditional bi-continuous hybrids. Periodic nanofillers significantly scatter phonons while continuous conducting polymer phase provides favored electronic transport, resulting in ultrahigh power factor of ~1350 μW m−1 K−2 and ultralow in-plane thermal conductivity of ~0.7 W m−1 K−1. Consequently, figure-of-merit (ZT) of 0.58 is obtained at room temperature, outperforming all reported organic materials and organic−inorganic hybrids. Thermoelectric properties of as-fabricated hybrids show negligible change for bending 100 cycles, indicating superior mechanical flexibility. These findings provide significant scientific foundation for shaping flexible thermoelectric functionality via synergistic integration of organic and inorganic components.