Chan, D.H., Millet, A., Fisher, C.R. et al. (3 more authors) (2021) Synthesis and characterization of polypyrrole-coated anthracene microparticles: a new synthetic mimic for polyaromatic hydrocarbon-based cosmic dust. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 13 (2). pp. 3175-3185. ISSN 1944-8244
Abstract
Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are found throughout the universe. The ubiquity of these organic molecules means that they are of considerable interest in the context of cosmic dust, which typically travels at hypervelocities (>1 km s–1) within our solar system. However, studying such fast-moving micrometer-sized particles in laboratory-based experiments requires suitable synthetic mimics. Herein, we use ball-milling to produce microparticles of anthracene, which is the simplest member of the PAH family. Size control can be achieved by varying the milling time in the presence of a suitable anionic commercial polymeric dispersant (Morwet D-425). These anthracene microparticles are then coated with a thin overlayer of polypyrrole (PPy), which is an air-stable organic conducting polymer. The uncoated and PPy-coated anthracene microparticles are characterized in terms of their particle size, surface morphology, and chemical structure using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, laser diffraction, aqueous electrophoresis, FT-IR spectroscopy, Raman microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Moreover, such microparticles can be accelerated up to hypervelocities using a light gas gun. Finally, studies of impact craters indicate carbon debris, so they are expected to serve as the first synthetic mimic for PAH-based cosmic dust.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 American Chemical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | cosmic dust; anthracene; polyaromatic hydrocarbons; polypyrrole; conducting polymers; hypervelocity impacts; microparticles |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Chemistry (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL EP/R003009/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 03 Mar 2021 13:01 |
Last Modified: | 03 Mar 2021 13:01 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society (ACS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acsami.0c19758 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:170708 |