Incorporating nanotechnology into cement composites significantly improves mechanical properties such as strength, toughness, and durability. Graphene, with high tensile strength and large surface area, shows great promise as a nanofiller, but its hydrophobicity complicates its dispersion in cement matrices. This study used a graphene-cellulose nanofiber (G@ CNF) hybrid filler to ensure a highly uniform dispersion within the cement microstructure. The hybrid filler acts as a bridge and efficiently fills voids within the matrix. The planar structure of graphene also provides nucleation sites for hydrated products, leading to a denser microstructure. The cement composite containing 0.01 wt.% graphene exhibited a compressive strength of 72.7 MPa, representing a 47.5% improvement over the plain cement. Furthermore, the resulting cement demonstrated enhanced water resistance compared to graphene oxide-reinforced-cement. This approach offers a cost-effective and sustainable way of producing high-strength, durable cement composite.

In this study, we report a general method for preparation of a one-dimensional (1D) arrangement of Au nanoparticles on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) using biologically programmed peptides as structure-guiding 1D templates. The peptides were designed by the combination of glutamic acid (E), glycine (G), and phenylalanine (F) amino acids; peptides efficiently debundled and exfoliated the SWNTs for stability of the dispersion and guided the growth of the array of Au nanoparticles in a controllable manner. Moreover, we demonstrated the superior ability of 1D nanohybrids as flexible, transparent, and conducting materials. The highly stable dispersion of 1D nanohybrids in aqueous solution enabled the fabrication of flexible, transparent, and conductive nanohybrid films using vacuum filtration, resulting in good optical and electrical properties.