Journal of Nanomaterials

Review Article

A Review on Nanomaterial Dispersion, Microstructure, and Mechanical Properties of Carbon Nanotube and Nanofiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites

Table 1

Summary of different techniques used for carbon nanomaterial dispersion in cementitious matrix and resulting improvement in microstructure and mechanical properties.


Type and concentration of nanomaterial	Dispersion technique^a	Improvement in micro-structure and mechanical properties	Researchers and reference

MWCNT, 1.0 wt.%	Ultrasonication	Total porosity and surface area decreased by 16% and 23%	Nochaiya and Chaipanich [107]

CNT, 1.0 wt.%, and fly ash cement	Ultrasonication	Compressive strength improved by 10%	Chaipanich et al. [120]

MWCNT, 0.5 wt.%	Functionalization with HNO₃/H₂SO₄mixture and direct mixing with cement	Compressive and flexural strength improved by 19% and 25%, total porosity reduced by 64%, and pores with diameter >50 nm reduced by 82%	Li et al. [101]

MWCNT, 0.5 wt.%	Solvent (acetone) and ultrasonication	Compressive strength improved by 11% and 17% for pristine and annealed CNTs	Musso et al. [112]

Short MWCNT, 0.2 wt.%	Ultrasonication and superplasticizer	Flexural strength and ductility improved by 269% and 81%	Al-Rub et al. [109]

MWCNT, 0.08 wt.%	Ultrasonication and surfactant	Young′s modulus and flexural strength improved by 45% and 25%	Konsta-Gdoutos et al. [81]

CNF, 0.048 wt.%	Ultrasonication at optimum conditions and surfactant	Flexural strength and Young′s modulus improved by 50% and 75%	Metaxa et al. [110]

MWCNT, 0.2 wt.%	Magnetic stirring, ultrasonication, and surfactant (NaDC)	Flexural and compressive strength improved by 35.4% and 29.5%	Luo et al. [83]

MWCNT, 0.5 wt.%	Magnetic stirring, ultrasonication, and polycarboxylate admixture	Compressive strength improved by 25%	Collins et al. [90]

MWCNT, 0.045 wt.%	Carboxylic functionalization, ultrasonication, and polyacrylic acid polymer	Compressive strength improved by 50%	Cwirzen et al. [86]

Hybrid CNT-cement particle	CNT growth onto cement particles	Compressive strength improved more than 2 times	Nasibulin et al. [104]

CNT (0.02 wt.%) and NMK (6 wt.%)	Dry mixing with cement	Compressive strength improved by 11% than mortar containing NMK	Morsy et al. [121]

CNF (0.048 wt.%) and PVA micro-fibres (0.54 wt.%)	Ultrasonication and surfactant	Flexural strength, Young′s modulus, and toughness improved by 50%, 84%, and 33 times	Metaxa et al. [82]

CNF (0.5 wt.%) and short carbon fibres	Acetone, ultrasonication, and surfactant	Load carrying capacity and failure strain improved by 54% and 44%	Hunashyal et al. [126]

The techniques for preparing aqueous dispersion of carbon nanomaterials are only provided here; subsequent mixing with cement mortar is performed using a standard mixer.