Achieving Long-Range Arbitrary Uniform Alignment of Nanostructures in Magnetic Fields

Journal article, 2024

For magnetic field orientation of nonstructures to become a viable method to create high performance multifunctional nanocomposites, it is of paramount importance to develop a method that is easy to implement and that can induce long-range uniform nanostructural alignment. To overcome this challenge, inspired by low field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology, a highly uniform, high field strength, and compact magnetic-field nanostructure orientation methodology is presented for polymeric nanocomposites using a Halbach array, for the first time. Potential new advances are showcased for applications of graphene polymer composites by considering their electro-thermal and antibacterial properties in highly oriented orthogonal morphologies. The high level of anisotropy induced in the graphene nanocomposites studied stands out through: 1) up to four decades higher electrical conductivities recorded in comparison to their randomly oriented counterparts, at concentrations where the latter show minimal improvements compared to the unfilled polymer; 2) over 1200% improvement in thermal conductivity, 3) antibacterial surfaces at field benchmark levels with lower filler content and with the added versatility of arbitrary orientation of the nanofillers. Overall, the new method and variations thereof can open up new horizons for tailoring nanostructure and performance for virtually all major nanocomposite applications based on graphene and other types of fillers.