Sustainable nitrogen-doped carbon latexes with high electrical and thermal conductivity

Nitrogen-doped carbon particles were produced using the hydrothermal carbonization of a nitrogen-containing carbohydrate, namely glucosamine, under mild temperature conditions (180 degrees C) followed by further calcination under a stream of inert gas at 750 degrees C. The resulting materials contain significant amounts of nitrogen doping within their structure, mainly as quaternary N involved in an aromatized/graphitized carbon structure according to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This nitrogen-doped material was dispersed with nanolatexes having a high affinity for carbon. The resulting hybrid dispersions could be conveniently cast into dense and stable films for thermal and electrical conductivity measurements. The conductivities were commensurate with technical carbon nanotube latex-based films. A morphological analysis of the dispersing mechanism suggests that the potential for high performance materials realized in this contribution is very competitive, but still far from being fully exploited. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.