Altering interfacial properties through the integration of C60 into ZnO ceramic via cold sintering process

作者：Guo, Jing^*; Si, Mingming; Zhao, Xuetong; Wang, Li; Wang, Ke; Hao, Jianyu; Wang, Hong^*; Randall, Clive A.^*

来源：Carbon, 2022, 190: 255-261.

DOI：10.1016/j.carbon.2022.01.017

• C-60
• Composites
• Cold sintering process
• Low temperature sintering
• Interfacial effects
• ZnO

A lot of nanocomposites containing C-60 have been developed to enable various application opportunities. However, it seems impossible to incorporate C-60 into ceramics without destroying the C-60 molecules, because ceramics are typically sintered at high temperatures that could result in the chemical reaction of C-60. Herein, we report the successful integration of C-60 with ZnO using cold sintering process. (1-x)ZnO-xC(60) composites with x ranging from 0 to 5 wt% are densified into monolithic structures with relative densities over 95%. Clear C-60 molecules are observed in the cold sintered composites, and thin C-60 layers with less than 10 nm are located at the ZnO grain boundaries. With C-60 altering the interfacial structures of ZnO ceramics, the electrical properties are improved significantly, especially, the breakdown electric field at 1 mA cm(-2) is enhanced from similar to 80 V mm(-1) to similar to 2100 V mm(-1). The FEM analysis indicates that the current density at the interfaces of ZnO and C-60 is higher than other regions. This work thus indicates that cold sintering process provides a promising pathway to design new types of functional materials through the integration of C-60 and ceramics.

• 单位
  重庆大学; 西安交通大学