Nanocarbon-Coated Porous Anodic Alumina for Bionic Devices

Overview of Engineering Carbon Nanomaterials Such As Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs), Carbon Nanofibers (CNFs), Graphene and Nanodiamonds and Other Carbon Allotropes inside Porous Anodic Alumina (PAA) Templates

The fabrication and design of carbon-based hierarchical structures with tailored nano-architectures have attracted the enormous attention of the materials science community due to their exceptional chemical and physical properties. The collective control of nano-objects, in terms of their dimensionality, orientation and size, is of paramount importance to expand the implementation of carbon nanomaterials across a large variety of applications. In this context, porous anodic alumina (PAA) has become an attractive template where the pore morphologies can be straightforwardly modulated. The synthesis of diverse carbon nanomaterials can be performed using PAA templates, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon nanofibers (CNFs), and nanodiamonds, or can act as support for other carbon allotropes such as graphene and other carbon nanoforms. However, the successful growth of carbon nanomaterials within ordered PAA templates typically requires a series of stages involving the template fabrication, nanostructure growth and finally an etching or electrode metallization steps, which all encounter different challenges towards a nanodevice fabrication. The present review article describes the advantages and challenges associated with the fabrication of carbon materials in PAA based materials and aims to give a renewed momentum to this topic within the materials science community by providing an exhaustive overview of the current synthesis approaches and the most relevant applications based on PAA/Carbon nanostructures materials. Finally, the perspective and opportunities in the field are presented.

Simulation, analysis, fabrication and characterization of tunable AAO membrane for microfluidic filtration

Microfluidic filtration is an essential process in many biomedical applications. Micro or nanoporous membranes are used for colloidal retention. During the membrane filtration process visualization of various phenomena is challenging. Theoretical models have been proposed to visualize the transport mechanism. In this work, ANSYS Fluent is used for 3D designing of the microfluidic system and Fuzzy simulations are used to study flow rate and velocity, to get the maximum benefit from Anodized Aluminium oxide membrane in practical applications. The proposed method exploits relations between driving force, membrane area, and fluid flow. After optimization of parameters for the filtration, the AAO membrane with desired pore diameter was fabricated using the two-step anodization method. Scanning electron microscope is used for characterization of fabricated AAO membrane. The simulated and theoretical results using computer-based programs are then compared for manipulation of flow rate during the filtration process. Along with the manipulation of flow rate from nanoporous membrane other challenges faced during the filtration process are also highlighted with possible solutions.

Engineering of the structural and morphological characteristics of MWCNTs employing a nano-dimensional binary oxide coating with enhanced thermal oxidation resistance properties for the tailoring of their reinforcement potential

The present investigation mainly addresses the rational design of a MgAl-binary-oxide-coated MWCNT nano-hybrid architecture and the study of its reinforcement potential.

Synthesis of a highly fluorescence nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots bioimaging probe and its in vivo clearance and printing applications

Highly fluorescent, broad range pH and ionic-stable N-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) were successfully synthesized and their chemical structure and fluorescence mechanism were characterized.