One of the most important commercial applications of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) involves their incorporation into polymer matrices to improve thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties. Indeed, most engineered nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) will enter the environment within nanoproducts, such as polymer nanocomposites. In this presentation I will discuss several environmentally relevant properties of polymer-CNT composites, including:(1)   Impact of CNT inclusion on biodegradation properties: Polymer nanocomposites will often be exposed to microorganisms when they enter the environment post-consumer. The effect of embedded CNTs on microbial interactions and polymer biodegradation rates will be discussed.(2)   Quantifying CNT release rates: From a life cycle perspective, determining CNT release rates is important in terms of risk assessment, because release is the precursor to exposure. However, a major challenge is the need to accurately detect and quantify released CNTs under environmentally relevant conditions where CNT concentrations are expected to be at part-per-trillion levels. Due to the ambiguities inherent in detecting CNTs by carbon analysis, particularly in complex environmental matrices, we been exploring the possibility of using single particle � inductively coupled plasma � mass spectrometry to detect trace catalytic metal nanoparticles intercalated in the CNT structure as proxies for the nanotubes.(3)   Effect of CNTs on polymer photodegradation properties: One of the principle routes of polymer degradation in the environment is through photodegradation. We have focused on the photodegradation behavior of CNT-nanocomposites with a focus on understanding how the presence of CNTs influence the mechanism and kinetics of photodegradation as well as the extent to which CNTs are released into the environment during the photodegradation processes.Collectively, this information has important consequences in assessing the environmental risks posed by polymer-CNT nanocomposites, in developing better risk assessment models and the design of nano-enabled products that retain their intended function without posing any unwanted long-term environmental liability.

Environmentally relevant properties of polymer-carbon nanotube composites

248th National Meeting (2014)

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