NEWS Building for the future COMPOSITES A team of scientists from the United States, South Korea and Australia have become the first to investigate the nanostructure and behavior of Portland cement and hydrated minerals under high pressure. They assessed ways of making cement stronger and with less carbon emissions by examining its structure on the nanoscale at the California High-Pressure Science Observatory (Calipso). Around 17 billion tons of the cement are used every year. It is versatile and relatively cheap to produce; on the downside, it releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, accounting for over 5 % of the total CO2 emissions worldwide. The cement is made by baking limestone (calcium carbonate) and clay (silicates) at over 1400 °C, producing clinker, which is then ground into a powder. Mixing the powder with water forms calcium-silicate-hydrate (C–S–H), a crucial binder for the cement paste. For their study, which was published in Cement and Concrete Research [Oh et al., Cement Concr Res (2011) doi: 10.1016/j.cemconres.2011.11.004], the team used the mineral tobermorite (a calcium silicate hydrate), since one of its structures, 14 Å tobermorite, is an ideal substitute for C–S–H in nanoscale studies. At Calipso, the researchers squeezed tiny amounts of finely ground tobermorite dust at huge hydrostatic pressures between the faces of two diamonds in a diamond anvil cell. The flattened points of the diamonds were gradually tightened, increasing the pressure on the contents of the sample chamber, with x-ray diffraction patterns showing any changes in the arrangement of atoms in the crystal structure. The resultant patterns helped to determine the bulk modulus/stiffness of the tobermorite due to changes in pressure. With the data on the bulk modulus being integral to mechanical modeling, they were able to confirm that the compression behavior of the a and b lattice parameters of 14 Å tobermorite and C–S–H(I) are similar, implying that they both could have very similar Ca–O layers. As researcher Paulo Monteiro, from the University of California at Berkeley, points out “It’s the interlayers that compress, and only along the c-axis. Differences in interlayer spacing, degrees of disorder in the silicon chains, additional calcium ions, and water molecules all make the bulk modulus of the two materials virtually the same in the ab-plane, but different along the c-axis. The discovery suggests a number of possibilities for improving the performance of cement: for example, one might introduce special polymers into the C–S–H interlayers to shape its behavior.” The team now hopes to develop total scattering methods to analyze poorly crystallized complex hydrated materials under high pressure, including calcium silicate hydrates, as well as to validate molecular dynamics models with experimental results for other hydrated phases. In addition, they may also explore how polymers can be used to modify the mechanical properties of calcium silicate hydrates. Laurie Donaldson Imaging with graphene CARBON A team of scientists in the UK have developed a method of resolving structures of self- scanning electron and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Graphene oxide has assembled block copolymers using graphene oxide; a breakthrough that offers an effective way of improving the real-space analysis of nanoscale solution assemblies using multiple complementary techniques. The approach transforms the information on carbon-based the advantage of being available in large quantities, is robust, water dispersible and nearly electron transparent, and much cheaper than graphene itself. However, the low contrast of the predominantly carbon nanostructures makes nanostructures using phase contrast TEM it difficult to discern intrinsic structural imaging. features from the background, so heavy The study, published in Soft Matter [Patterson metal staining is generally used to reveal the TEM of polymersomes and multilamellar structures on graphene oxide. et al., Soft Matter (2012) doi: 10.1039/ details, although this does need subjective Courtesy of Rachel K. O’Reilly. c2sm07040e], reveals how graphene-based interpretation, leads to artifacts, offers stained to ensure an image contrast, adding supports can allow for the stain-free imaging reduced resolution, and precludes analysis complexity to the sample preparation and image of diblock copolymer nanostructures, and offer higher that uses complementary techniques, such as AFM. interpretation, but also preventing complementary resolution, greater contrast, less ambiguous results, and The technique could become central to the detailed imaging and analysis techniques being applied. The the ability to analyze the same specimen with a range of analysis and correlation of individual nanoscale team therefore used graphene oxide as a support, as different techniques, thereby reducing the limitations of assemblies, as well as enhance our knowledge of detailed it doesn’t need staining and the specimens remain each. It is hoped that the ability to enhance block copolymer structures, properties and processing relationships in stable under the electron beam for a long time. This structure determination with graphene oxide could help solution assemblies. It is hoped this new technique will latter aspect means sample analysis by a range of progress new drug and gene delivery systems, as well as also help in other developments, such as in the study electron microscopy techniques is achievable. In nanoreactors in separation science and in nanoelectronics. of biological specimens including viruses, proteins, and addition, graphene oxide supports are used for Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) usually DNA constructs. characterization of the same assemblies through requires that polymers are chemically fixed and Laurie Donaldson JAN-FEB 2012 | VOLUME 15 | NUMBER 1-2 9