FURI | Fall 2018

Morphological Engineering and Analysis of Telluride Nanoreinforcements

Nanosheet materials, like graphene and especially exfoliated TMDCs (transition-metal-dichalcogenides) like MoS2 (molybdenum disulfide), are finding practical applications as nanoscale reinforcements in polymers, but there remain hundreds of unexplored reinforcement systems. Following previous inquiry into tellurium (Te) nanocomposites, similar compounds were exfoliated and characterized to analyze their utility in nanocomposite systems. A surface engineering technique was developed to enable exfoliation and etching of some tellurides in pure water, which were reduced in hydrogen gas, increasing their surface area. Based on these findings, an engineered-telluride-nylon nanocomposite could exceed the performance of other TMDC reinforcements to toughen polymer composite systems.