Evaluation of CNT/GNP’s synergic effects on the Mechanical, Microstructural, and durability properties of a cementitious composite by the novel dispersion method

Abstract In this paper, the synergic effects of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) on the mechanics, microstructure, and durability of cementitious composites were investigated. Furthermore, due to the high potential of CNTs and GNPs to agglomerate, a novel technique was proposed by utilizing the combined effect of Pluronic F-127 and Tributyl phosphate (TBP) while optimizing the effective factors such as surfactant concentration, sonication time, and temperature to achieve an affordable and compatible industrial scale-up method for a high-quality dispersion of CNT + GNP (50/50). The UV–Vis spectroscopy, optical microscopy image analysis, zeta potential, and bundle size measurements indicated that a high-quality CNT + GNP dispersion with a low agglomeration area and bundle size (