Low interfacial contact resistance of Al-graphene composites via interface engineering.

Al-based composites incorporating multilayered graphene sheets were developed via a facile approach. The multilayered graphene sheets were fabricated from the expanded graphite via a simple mechanical exfoliation process. The facile extrusion molding process with Al powder and graphene sheets exfoliated from expended graphite afforded Al-based graphene composite rods.

Carbon nanotube core graphitic shell hybrid fibers.

A carbon nanotube yarn core graphitic shell hybrid fiber was fabricated via facile heat treatment of epoxy-based negative photoresist (SU-8) on carbon nanotube yarn. The effective encapsulation of carbon nanotube yarn in carbon fiber and a glassy carbon outer shell determines their physical properties. The higher electrical conductivity (than carbon fiber) of the carbon nanotube yarn overcomes the drawbacks of carbon fiber/glassy carbon, and the better properties (than carbon nanotubes) of the carbon fiber/glassy carbon make up for the lower thermal and mechanical properties of the carbon nanotube yarn via synergistic hybridization without any chemical doping and additional processes.

Sol-gel-derived iron oxide thin films on silicon: surface properties and interfacial chemistry.

Uniform high-quality iron oxide thin films can be formed from the spin coating of iron oxide/hydroxide sol-gels on a silicon substrate. Thermal processing of the films at temperatures of approximately 300 degrees C results in the transformation of films into a ternary layered structure with iron oxide, Fe(2)O(3), at the surface, characterized by Mossbauer spectroscopy, and reduced, metallic iron characterized by depth profiling of the surface by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy as a function of Ar(+) etching. Imaging of the etched surface by scanning electron microscopy reveals two distinct regions at the interface, nanoparticles that are very iron-rich separated by an unstructured region that is somewhat less iron-rich.

Photothermal initiation of hybrid organic/inorganic metastable interstitial composites: synergistic effects on the dynamics of energy release.

The organic high-energy material pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) was incorporated at low concentrations into Al (100 nm)/Fe(2)O(3) metastable intersitital composites (MIC) to form a hybrid organic/inorganic high-energy material. Studies of the dynamics of energy release were carried out by initiating the reaction photothermally with a single 8 ns pulse of the 1064 nm fundamental of a Nd:YAG laser. The reaction dynamics were measured using time-resolved spectroscopy of the light emitted from the deflagrating material.