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Salim MG, Vasudevan V, Schulman N, Zamani S, Kersey KD, Joshi Y, AlAmer M, Choi JI, Jang SS, Joo YL. Thermoresponsive Conductivity of Graphene-Based Fibers. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2023; 19:e2204981. [PMID: 36828800 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202204981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2022] [Revised: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Smart materials are versatile material systems which exhibit a measurable response to external stimuli. Recently, smart material systems have been developed which incorporate graphene in order to share on its various advantageous properties, such as mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity as well as to achieve unique stimuli-dependent responses. Here, a graphene fiber-based smart material that exhibits reversible electrical conductivity switching at a relatively low temperature (60 °C), is reported. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and density functional theory-based non-equilibrium Green's function (DFT-NEGF) approach, it is revealed that this thermo-response behavior is due to the change in configuration of amphiphilic triblock dispersant molecules occurring in the graphene fiber during heating or cooling. These conformational changes alter the total number of graphene-graphene contacts within the composite material system, and thus the electrical conductivity as well. Additionally, this graphene fiber fabrication approach uses a scalable, facile, water-based method, that makes it easy to modify material composition ratios. In all, this work represents an important step forward to enable complete functional tuning of graphene-based smart materials at the nanoscale while increasing commercialization viability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad G Salim
- Robert Fredrick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Vaibhav Vasudevan
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0245, USA
| | - Nicholas Schulman
- Robert Fredrick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Somayeh Zamani
- Robert Fredrick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Kyle D Kersey
- Robert Fredrick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Yash Joshi
- Robert Fredrick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Mohammed AlAmer
- Robert Fredrick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Ji Il Choi
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0245, USA
| | - Seung Soon Jang
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0245, USA
| | - Yong Lak Joo
- Robert Fredrick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
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