Developing Multifunctional Cement Mortar Using Nanostructured Pyrolytic Carbon

Abstract

In the realm of material engineering, the recent advancement in nanotechnology is to develop a new smart and multifunctional cement composite. Today, converting waste into conductive carbon nanomaterial by green recycling technologies highlights the sustainable practice. First time in the nanomaterial research, Nanostructure Pyrolytic Carbon (NSPC) particles processed from tyre char obtained through pyrolysis of end-of-life tyres is introduced as a conductive carbon nanomaterial. Firstly, the salient features of NSPC particles are determined using various characterization techniques. Further, a new physicomechanical method is proposed for superior dispersion of NSPC particles in water. The effective dispersion is validated through sedimentation test, zeta potential analysis, and UV-VIS absorption spectra. The development of smart and multifunctional NSPC composite is investigated in terms of mechanical strength, durability properties, microstructure analysis, electrical resistivity, piezoresistivity, electromagnetic wave shielding, and hydrophobicity. superhydrophobicity X The different characterization results exhibit the efficiency of NSPC particles as carbon nanomaterials with various functional properties, such as high amorphous carbon (A90%), wide bandgap energy (5.93 eV), ID ~ IG ratio of 0.83, and 140 to develop a multifunctional cement composite. The zeta potential value of 19 mV and UV-VIS absorption of 2.6 validated the hypothesis created in sedimentation tests and showed excellent physicomechanical dispersion of NSPC particles in aqueous solution. The hybrid effect of solvent, superplasticizer, magnetic stirring (4 hours), and ultrasonication (1 hour) showed the superior dispersion technique for NSPC particles. The highest compressive and flexural strength was achieved with 2 wt.% and 1.5 wt.% of NSPC, which is 40.37% and 10.76%, respectively, greater than that of control specimen. The NSPC particles reduced the tensile strength for all the NSPC composites (Mix 1 to Mix 6) compared to the control spe