Co fine particles coated with Ag have been synthesized through the microemulsion method in an inert atmosphere. The size of the particles is controlled by the water droplets of the microemulsions. Fine particles prepared by this method, consist of a magnetic core of Co covered by a layer of Ag. Samples containing from 3.3 to 40.5 vol % Co have been prepared. The average size of the particles obtained is in the nanometer range. The magnetic properties were studied by dc magnetization at 77 K and room temperature. The data show a strong dependence of the magnetic properties on the annealing temperature.

A series of carbon nanotubes doped with Fe and/or Cu, Fe_100−xCu_x/CNT (x = 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100) has been prepared by an easy method of wetness impregnation of commercial multiwalled carbon nanotubes previously oxidized with nitric acid. The wide characterization of the solids by different techniques demonstrates that the incorporation of Fe and Cu to the CNTs has been successfully produced. Fe_100−xCu_x/CNT samples were tested as catalysts in the removal of paracetamol from aqueous solution by a combined process of adsorption and Fenton-like oxidation. Under mild conditions, 25 °C and natural pH of solution, i.e., nearly neutral, values of oxidation of paracetamol between 90.2% and 98.3% were achieved after 5 h of reaction in most of cases. Furthermore, with the samples containing higher amounts of copper, i.e., Cu₁₀₀/CNT and Fe₂₅Cu₇₅/CNT, only 2 h were necessary to produce depletion values of 73.2% and 87.8%, respectively. The influence of pH and dosage of H₂O₂ on the performance has also been studied. A synergic effect between both Cu⁺/Cu²⁺ and Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ in Fenton-like reaction was observed. These results demonstrate that Fe_100−xCu_x/CNT are powerful Fenton-like catalyst for degradation of paracetamol from aqueous solution and they could be extended to the removal of other organic pollutants.

In recent years, the addition of carbon nanotubes to construction materials has attracted considerable interest, due to the improvement of mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of cement. The incorporation of carbon nanotubes into a cement matrix causes an increase of several mechanical properties of up to 170% even with low carbon nanotubes concentrations. The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of the type of functionalization and number of walls of carbon nanotubes on the interaction between these nanostructures and a cement surface and thus, on the improvement of their mechanical properties. Thus, single-walled and double-walled carbon nanotubes were used to investigate the influence of the number of walls. The effect of carbon nanotube functionalization was studied using carbon nanotubes functionalized with carboxyl and carboxylate groups. The experimental results demonstrate that the incorporation of carbon nanotubes into the cement matrix improves the mechanical properties of the resulting material. Functionalized carbon nanotubes perform better than pristine carbon nanotubes. Electrostatic attractions play a central role in establishing strong interactions between the carbon nanotubes and the cement surface. The presence of neutral polar groups on the carbon nanotube surface also improves this interaction. The number of walls seems to be less important. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

The main objective of this study is to create a rigorous computer model of carbon nanotube composites to predict their mechanical properties before they are manufactured and to reduce the number of physical tests. A detailed comparison between experimental and computational results of a cement-based composite is made to match data and find the most significant parameters. It is also shown how the properties of the nanotubes (Young’s modulus, aspect ratio, quantity, directionality, clustering) and the cement (Young’s modulus) affect the composite properties. This paper tries to focus on the problem of modeling carbon nanotube composites computationally, and further study proposals are given.