As part of a collaborative NIST-wide program involving structural characterization, modeling, and high-throughput microwave measurement, we are developing new methods for characterizing the structure and dynamics of the interface and interphase regions in carbon-based nanocomposite materials and in the overall conductive properties of these polymer nanocomposites containing these networks. Our objective is to develop metrologies to understand how morphology and functionalization affect the alternating current (AC) conductivity of composite materials containing electrically conducting nanoscale objects such as carbon nanotubes and/or graphene. We are also concerned with how light, stress, and other environmental exposures alter these properties and the practical potential of such property measurements to anticipate material failure. Our research particularly focuses on determining their collective universal transport properties of percolated networks of nanoparticles at microwave frequencies using guided and free-space wave propagation techniques.

 

key words

Microwave scattering parameters; Electrical conductivity; Nanocomposites; Percolated networks; Carbon nanotubes; Graphene;

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral applicants