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Carbon Nanotube Bucky Papers with Tailored Porosity for Filtration Applications
A.M.K. Esawi, A.R. Ramadan, R. ElNur
The American University in Cairo, EG
Keywords: buckypaper, filtration
Summary:
In this work, Carbon Nanotube Buckypapers (CNT-BPs) were prepared using vacuum filtration. Morphology and pore size distribution were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nitrogen gas adsorption. The prepared BPs were subsequently exposed to four different boiling solvents (acetone, IPA, THF and DMF) for 40 min and the morphology and pore size were re-evaluated. Results indicated that the type of solvent affects the pore size distribution with DMF giving more pores in the smaller pore size ranges. The change in pore size distribution with different solvents can be attributed to interactions between the solvent and the CNT networks within the BPs. The findings confirm the potential of the solvent evaporation technique in tailoring the porosity of BP membranes for filtration applications.
