Abstract

This work presents a comparison in the production of electrical conductivity polyester resins by doping it with two types of carbonous fillers; carbon nanotubes (CNT) and carbon black (CB). These polyester resins are used to obtain electrical conductivity powder gel coat. This type of coating reduces cycle times in the manufacture of composites due to the fact that significantly decrease curing time of the gel coat and eliminate secondary operations for the application of the final coating in the composite. Electrical conductivity with different fillers content and percolation thresholds obtained in the simulation phase are detailed. The results obtained in the simulation are validated at the pilot plant level taking into account the influence of the loading percentage on the resin processing. Finally, a comparison between the results obtained with the different percentage of CNT and CB is made. The results of the simulation show that the value of the percolation threshold is much lower in the case of CNT (about 3% in the case of CNT versus 35% in the case of CB). The experimental results indicate the strong dependence of the electrical properties on the production process obtaining variations of up to two orders of magnitude in the experimental results using the same percentage of CNT but different type of polyester resin.

Abstract

Traditionally, electrodes are produced by coating slurries of porous carbon powders on thin metallic plates. With the development of additive manufacturing technologies, new production methods have been studied in the literature that are intended to the fabrication of 3D electrodes with geometries that offer advantages in terms of easing the different transport phenomena involved in electrochemical processes. However, the low mechanical strength of the 3D electrodes hampers their applicability. This study introduces a novel method for producing graphite/graphene oxide electrodes that possess adequate flexural strength. The proposed method involves using whey, a sustainable by-product of the dairy industry, as a binder. The electrodes are made by direct ink writing (a room temperature extrusion 3D printing technique) which allows the manufacture of 3D structures by overlapping layers of material filaments. By using this technique, electrodes with geometries tailored to satisfy the specific requirements of the application can be prepared. Specifically, we have developed electrodes for water splitting with complex geometries in which the active surface area is enhanced and that guarantee a quick release of the bubbles formed in the reaction, thus avoiding the problems related to mass transport associated to conventional, flat electrodes.