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Updated: Sep 28, 2026

Preparation and Evaluation of Hybrid Composites of Chemical Fuel and Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes in the Study of Thermopower Waves
Published on: April 10, 2015
Multifunctional composites: optimizing microstructures for simultaneous transport of heat and electricity
1Princeton Materials Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
Abstract:
Composite materials are ideally suited to achieve multifunctionality since the best features of different materials can be combined to form a new material that has a broad spectrum of desired properties. Nature's ultimate multifunctional composites are biological materials. There are presently no simple examples that rigorously demonstrate the effect of competing property demands on composite microstructures. To illustrate the fascinating types of microstructures that can arise in multifunctional optimization, we maximize the simultaneous transport of heat and electricity in three-dimensional, two-phase composites using rigorous optimization techniques. Interestingly, we discover that the optimal three-dimensional structures are bicontinuous triply periodic minimal surfaces.
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