2013 AIChE Annual Meeting

(4eu) Sustainable Nanocomposites Towards Electrochemical Energy Storage and Environmental Remediation

Author

Jiahua Zhu - Presenter, Lamar University


Energy shortage and environmental pollution are two most concerns right now for the long term sustainable advance of human society. New technology developments are the key solutions to these challenges, which strongly rely on the continuous upgrading of advanced material performance. Sustainable nanocomposites targeting to large energy/power density electrochemical energy storage and highly efficient environmental remediation have been developed. In structure design, materials with different dimensionalities (0D, 1D, 2D and 3D) will be integrated to achieve high specific surface area, multi-functionality and to reveal the structure-property-performance relationship. In composition optimization, materials with unique properties including carbon, metal/metal oxide, conductive polymer and others will be integrated into one unit to achieve the targeting performances. Most importantly, interfacial property is the key factor to realize the carefully designed functionality in a composite, which largely depends on the developed synthetic methods.

Targeting a high energy density composite material, an interfacial polymerization method has been developed to fabricate an integrated 3-dimensional (3D) structure comprising 2D graphite oxide (GO) sheet and 1D polyaniline nanofibers. This facile method can be used as a general method to synthesize similar hybrid structures, which provides large specific surface area, high capacitance and satisfactory energy density. Besides, microwave energy has been utilized to fabricate carbon/metal oxide nanocomposites that show better nanostructure control, interfacial interaction and energy storage performance than the nanocomposites obtained from conventional approaches. Hybrid materials synthesized from these methods exhibit much higher energy density and power density than most of the currently available carbon based composites.

Targeting the environmental remediation, a comprehensive and sustainable waste-free coupled process of polymer nanocomposite recycling is introduced to synthesize magnetic carbon nanocomposites (MCNCs) and to produce useful chemical radicals simultaneously. The embedded NPs serve as catalysts for the waste polymer decomposition. At the same time, the coke produced on the NP surface (poison the catalyst in conventional process) during pyrolysis serves as a carbon source for the in situ formation of a compact carbon shell structure. The MCNCs demonstrate an extremely fast heavy metal removal from the polluted water within 10 min (conventional adsorbents takes hours even days). The large saturation magnetization of these novel magnetic carbon nanocomposites allows fast recycling of both the adsorbents and the adsorbed heavy metals from liquid suspension in a more energetically and economically sustainable way by simply applying a permanent magnet. The significantly reduced treatment time required to remove the heavy metals makes these MCNCs promising for efficient polluted water treatment.


SELECTED PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS (15 out of 51) & BOOK CHAPTERS (2).

visit http://dept.lamar.edu/zhanhu/icl/Jiahua Zhu.htm for complete publication list.

  1. J. Zhu, M. Chen, H. Qu, Z. Luo, S. Wu, H. A. Colorado, S. Wei and Z. Guo, Magnetic Field Induced Capacitance Enhancement in Graphene and Magnetic Graphene Nanocomposites. Energy & Environmental Science, 6, 194-204 (2013).
  2. J. Zhu, M. Chen, S. Pallavkar, N.  Yerra, Z. Luo, T. C. Ho, S. Wei, Z. Guo, Microwave Synthesized Wearable Microtubular Carbon/Co-Co3O4 Nanocomposites toward Electrochemical Energy Storage. Nanoscale, 5, 1825 (2013).
  3. J. Zhu, S. Pallavkar, M. Chen, N. Yerra, Z. Luo, H. A. Colorado, H. Lin, N. Haldolaarachchige, Thomas C. Ho, D. P. Young, S. Wei and Z. Guo, Magnetic Carbon Nanostructures: Microwave Energy – Assisted Pyrolysis vs Conventional Pyrolysis. Chemical Communication, 49, 258-260 (2013)
  4. J. Zhu, M. Chen, H. Qu, X. Zhang, Z. Luo, H. A. Colorado, S. Wei and Z. Guo, Interfacial Polymerized Polyaniline/Graphite Oxide Composites toward Electrochemical Energy Storage. Polymer, 53(25), 5953-5964 (2012)
  5. J. Zhu, S. Wei, H. Gu, R. Sowjanya, Q. Wang, Z. Luo, N. Haldolaarachchige, D. Young, Z. Guo, One-pot Synthesis of Magnetic Graphene Nanocomposites Decorated with Core@Double-shell Nanoparticles for Fast Chromium Removal, Environmental Science & Technology, 46 (2), 977-985 (2012)
  6. Zhu, H. Gu, Z. Luo, N. Haldolaarachchige, D. P. Young, S. Wei and Z. Guo, Carbon Nanostructures Derived Polyaniline Metacomposites: Electrical, Dielectric and Giant Magnetoresistive Properties, Langmuir, 28(27), 10246-10255 (2012)
  7. J. Zhu, Z. Luo, S. Wu, N. Haldolarachchige, J. He, D. P. Young, S. Wei and Z. Guo, Magnetic Graphene Nanocomposites: Electron Conduction, Giant Magnetoresistance and Tunable Negative Permittivity, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 22, 835-844 (2012).
  8. J. Zhu, S. Wei, Y. Li, L. Sun, N. Haldolaarachchige, D. Young, C. Southworth, A. Khasanov, Z. Luo and Z. Guo, Surfactant-free Synthesized Magnetic Polypropylene Nanocomposites: Rheological, Electrical, Magnetic and Thermal Properties, Macromolecules, 44(11), 4382-4391 (2011)
  9. J. Zhu, S. Wei, J. Ryu and Z. Guo, Strain Sensing Elastomer/Carbon Nanofibers “Metacomposites”, Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 115, 13215-13222 (2011) 
  10. J. Zhu, S. Wei, N. Haldolaarachchige, D. P. Young and Z. Guo, Electromagnetic Field Shielding Polyurethane Nanocomposites Reinforced with Core-Shell Fe-Silica Nanoparticles, Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 115, 15304-15310 (2011)
  11. J. Zhu, S. Wei, Y. Li, S. Pallavkar, H. Lin, N. Haldolaarachchige, Z. Luo, D. P. Young and Z. Guo, Comprehensive and Sustainable Recycling of Polymer Nanocomposites, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 21, 16239-16246 (2011)
  12. J. Zhu, S. Wei, L. Zhang, Y. Mao, J. Ryu, A. B. Karki, D. P. Young and Z. Guo, Polyaniline-Tungsten Oxide Metacomposites with Tunable Electronic Properties, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 21, 342-348 (2011). 
  13. J. Zhu, S. Wei, M. J. Alexander, T. D. Dang, T. C. Ho and Z. Guo, Enhanced Electrical Switching and Electrochromic Properties of Poly(p-phenylenebenzobisthiazole) Thin Films Embedded with Nano-WO3, Advanced Functional Materials, 18, 3076-3084 (2010).
  14. J. Zhu, S. Wei, J. Ryu, M. Budhathoki, G. Liang and Z. Guo, In-Situ Stabilized Carbon Nanofibers (CNFs) Reinforced Epoxy Nanocomposites, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 20, 4937-4948 (2010).
  15. J. Zhu; S. Wei; M. J. Alexander; D. Cocke; T. C. Ho; Z. Guo, Electrical Conductivity Manipulation and Switching Phenomena of Poly(p-phenylenebenzobisthiazole) Thin Film by Doping Process, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 20, 568-574 (2010). 
  16. “Nanostructured Ceramic Oxides: Preparation, Property Analysis and Applications” Encyclopedia of Semiconductor Nanotechnology, Edited by Ahmad Umar, in press (2010).
  17. S. Wei, J. Zhu, P. Mavinakuli, Z. Guo, Chapter 4: “Magnetic Polymer Nanocomposites: Fabrication, Processing, Property analysis and Applications” Multifunctional Polymer Nanocomposites, CRC Press, Edited by Jinsong Leng and Alan K. T. Lau, (2010).

AWARDS/HONORS:

  1. Scholarship from Thermoplastic Elastomers Special Interest Group, Society of Plastics Engineers Foundation, 2013.
  2. Chinese Government Award For Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad.  March, 2012. 
  3. NSF travel Grant, 2012 NSF-CMMI Research and Innovation Conference, Boston, MA, July, 2012.
  4. 3rd Research Excellence Award in the 2011 Chinese-American Chemical Society Southwest Chapter Poster Competition, Houston, TX, October, 2011.
  5. 1st place award, Environmental Division, AIChE Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, October, 2011.
  6. 3rd place award, Materials Engineering & Sciences Division, AIChE Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, October, 2011.
  7. 2nd place award, International Polyolefins Conference, Houston, Texas, February, 2011.
  8. NSF travel Grant, 2011 NSF-CMMI Research and Innovation Conference, Atlanta, GA, January, 2011.