@article{ac36a47d864f4c91b5832acf3642a489,
title = "On the use of carbon cables from plastic solvent combinations of polystyrene and toluene in carbon nanotube synthesis",
abstract = "For every three people on the planet, there are approximately two Tonnes (Te) of plastic waste. We show that carbon recovery from polystyrene (PS) plastic is enhanced by the coaddition of solvents to grow carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by liquid injection chemical vapour deposition. Polystyrene was loaded up to 4 wt% in toluene and heated to 780 °C in the presence of a ferrocene catalyst and a hydrogen/argon carrier gas at a 1:19 ratio. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Raman spectroscopy were used to identify multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The PS addition in the range from 0 to 4 wt% showed improved quality and CNT homogeneity; Raman “Graphitic/Defective” (G/D) values increased from 1.9 to 2.3; mean CNT diameters increased from 43.0 to 49.2 nm; and maximum CNT yield increased from 11.37% to 14.31%. Since both the CNT diameters and the percentage yield increased following the addition of polystyrene, we conclude that carbon from PS contributes to the carbon within the MWCNTs. The electrical contact resistance of acid-washed Bucky papers produced from each loading ranged from 2.2 to 4.4 Ohm, with no direct correlation to PS loading. Due to this narrow range, materials with different loadings were mixed to create the six wires of an Ethernet cable and tested using iPerf3; the cable achieved up-and down-link speeds of ~99.5 Mbps, i.e., comparable to Cu wire with the same dimensions (~99.5 Mbps). The lifecycle assessment (LCA) of CNT wire production was compared to copper wire production for a use case in a Boeing 747-400 over the lifespan of the aircraft. Due to their lightweight nature, the CNT wires decreased the CO2 footprint by 21 kTonnes (kTe) over the aircraft{\textquoteright}s lifespan.",
keywords = "Carbon footprint, Carbon nanotube, Chemical recycling, Circular economy, Data transmission, Ethernet, Life cycle assessment, Plastic",
author = "White, {Alvin Orbaek} and Ali Hedayati and Tim Yick and Gangoli, {Varun Shenoy} and Yubiao Niu and Sean Lethbridge and Ioannis Tsampanakis and Gemma Swan and L{\'e}o Pointeaux and Abigail Crane and Rhys Charles and Jainaba Sallah-Conteh and Anderson, {Andrew O.} and Davies, {Matthew Lloyd} and Corr, {Stuart J.} and Palmer, {Richard E.}",
note = "Funding Information: A.O.W. is funded through S{\^e}r Cymru II Fellowship by the Welsh Government and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). A.O.W. and T.Y. acknowledges funding from Welsh Government Circular Economy Capital Fund FY 2020-21. A.H. was funded by the Copper Nanotube Ultraconductive (UCC) wire project funded by S{\^e}r Cymru National Research Network for Advanced Engineering and Materials (NRN) with contributions from E-Corp. G.S. received funding from Swansea Employability Academy (SEA) via the summer placements scheme. Thanks to funding by Welsh Government for Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships (KESS2), part funded by the Welsh Government{\textquoteright}s European Social Fund (ESF) convergence programme for West Wales and the Valleys. L.P. and I.T. funded through KESS2 and TRIMTABS Ltd. J.S.-C. funded through KESS2 and Salts Healthcare Ltd. M.L.D and R.C. are grateful for the financial support of the EPSRC (EP/S001336/1) and for funding LCA software and database licenses. We would like to acknowledge the Life Cycle Analysis for Circular Economy (LCA4CE) Lab. J.S.-C. & V.S.G. funded thanks to Salts Healthcare Ltd. A.A. funded in part by the Swansea University Texas Strategic Partnership. The authors acknowledge access to the TEM provided by the Swansea University AIM Facility, funded in part by the EPSRC (EP/M028267/1), the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government (80708) and the Welsh Government{\textquoteright}s S{\^e}r Cymru program. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. Acknowledgments: We would like to thank Keysight Technologies for the use of a test model of the B2900A SMU. We would like to acknowledge the assistance provided by Swansea University Col-lege of Engineering AIM Facility. We would like to thank TRIMTABS Ltd. for purchasing equipment required for making ethernet cables. Thanks to Swansea Employability Academy (SEA) for the summer placements scheme. Thanks to the Swansea University Texas Strategic Partnership. R.E.P. acknowledges his work was associated with the IMPACT operation. We acknowledge pixabay for use of imagery in the graphical abstract (https://pixabay.com/vectors/airplane-boeing-747-transport-4811157/ (accessed on 1 December 2021)). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.",
year = "2022",
month = jan,
day = "1",
doi = "10.3390/nano12010009",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "12",
journal = "Nanomaterials",
issn = "2079-4991",
publisher = "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)",
number = "1",
}