Development of Tunable Nanocomposites Made from Carbon Nanotubes for Electrochemical Applications

Abstract

The advent of the nanotechnology field has brought about novel devices and materials at the nanometer scale triggered by the demand of miniaturizing electronic, optical, actuating and sensing systems. In this nanotechnology era, the concept of nanocomposite has been brought to light though it has been present in nature and used from historical times. A nanocomposite can be defined as a material made of more than one solid phase where at least one of the constituent parts has a nanometer scale dimension. Building blocks with dimensions in the nanosize range make possible to design and create new materials with unprecedented versatility and improvement in their physical and chemical properties. The promise of nanocomposites lies in their multifunctionality for different applications and the possibility of unique combinations of properties unachievable with conventional materials. As mentioned before, the concept of enhancing properties and improving characteristics of materials through the creation of multiple phase nanocomposites is not recent. Mother Nature has a lot of examples of nanocomposites such as the structure of seashells and the bones. The idea has also been practiced since civilization started and humanity began producing more efficient materials for functional purposes. The Maya blue pigment, an ancient nanostructured material which was found to be very resistive to acids or (bio)corrosion phenomena, is a composite of organic and inorganic constituents, primarily leave dyes combined with a natural clay (Jose-Yacaman et al., 1996). Nanocomposites comprise a wide scope ranging from metal/ceramic nanocomposites, polymer-based nanocomposites to natural or biomimetic nanobiocomposites. They still share tremendous challenges, especially in the control over the distribution in size and dispersion of the nanosize constituents and in the tailoring and understanding of the role of the interfaces (Ajayan et al., 2003; Harris, 2004; Moniruzzaman et al., 2006; Spitalsky et al., 2010). Among the broad world of nanocomposites, the conducting ones attract special attention because of their special applications in electronics and electrochemistry (Grossiord et al.,