Materials that exist as well-defined individual entities at the nanoscale typically have properties that sets them apart from their bulk form. Consequently, there has been much time and effort invested in developing new well-defined nanoscale entities, but few attempts to assemble them into bulk materials. On the other hand, there are many processes that start with the bulk material and introduce nanoscale features through severe processing steps. Although nanoscale features are achieved and the properties of the material enhanced or changed, there is little control over preserving or designing the final microstructure. Herein will be presented an approach, were two well-defined nanoscale entities, silver nanowires and graphene oxide, are chemically synthesized and processed with the goal of maintaining their starting structure, and therefore properties, in a bulk material. For the silver nanowires, this is their nanoscale diameter and five-fold twinning symmetry, which provide the means to strengthen silver. For graphene oxide, this consists of its high surface area, strong carbon-carbon bonds, and a sheet-like morphology which can generate a dense but porous conductive solid for energy storage or be used as a building block towards isotropic carbons.The approach is defined by a nanoarchitectonic framework, where, having chosen our well-defined building blocks, we developed a blueprint for the final structure, and determined the proper processing and assembly steps needed to construct a bulk nanoarchitectonic material that preserves a proportion of the function inherent in the starting materials. These two approaches, one for graphene oxide and the other for silver nanowires, have also been developed to be scalable so that useful engineering materials can be produced. This will be followed by a short excursus on using a well-defined nanoparticle entity, polyaniline nanofibers, to develop a conductive ink for use in a ballpoint pen. This pen can be utilized as a teaching and outreach tool, to raise awareness of nanoscale synthesis procedures and applications in schools, and to encourage the next generation to consider a career as a scientist.

Creator

• Prestowitz, Luke C

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-1qq9-8s86

Subject

• Nanotechnology
• Nanoscience
• Materials Science

Language

• en

Alternate Identifier

• http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:15687
• etdadmin_upload_839947

Keyword

• Processing
• Nanowires
• Scalability
• Graphene
• Conductive Polymer
• Metals

Date created

• 2021-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright