A rhenium review – from discovery to novel applications

Purpose: The article characterises rhenium in terms of its physiochemical properties, most popular methods of manufacturing and key applications. The examples of rhenium at a nanometric scales are also presented, taking into account the latest literature reports in this field. The objective of the article is also to present advanced nanocomposite materials consisting of nanostructured rhenium permanently attached to selected carbon nanomaterials - Single Walled Carbon NanoTubes (SWCNTs), Double Walled Carbon NanoTubes (DWCNTs), Multi Walled Carbon NanoTubes (MWCNTs) and Single Walled Carbon Nanohorns (SWCNHs). Design/methodology/approach: The article delineates various manufacturing methods at a mass and nanometric scale. It also describes a custom fabrication method of carbonrhenium nanocomposites and the results of investigations performed in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) for nanocomposites of the following type: MWCNTs-Re, SWCNTs/DWCNTs-Re, SWCNTs-Re and SWCNHs-Re. Findings: Rhenium has been gaining growing importance in industry for years, and its applications are very diverse, including: heat resistant alloys, anti-corrosive alloys, rhenium and rhenium alloy coatings, elements of electrical equipment, radiotherapy, chemistry and analytical technology and catalysis. Carbon-metallic nanocomposites are currently enjoying strong attention of research institutions. Research limitations/implications: The development and optimisation of fabrication processes of materials containing carbon nanotubes or carbon nanotubes coated with metal nanoparticles, especially rhenium, is a weighty aspect of advanced materials engineering. Practical implications: Newly created nanocomposite materials, developed as a response to the market demand, are interesting, state-of-the-art materials dedicated to various applications, especially as gas or fluid sensors, and as materials possessing catalytic properties. Originality/value: The article describes nanocomposites of the following types: MWCNTsRe, SWCNTs/DWCNTs-Re, SWCNTs-Re, SWCNHs-Re, created as a result of hightemperature reduction of a precursor of rhenium (HReO4 or NH4ReO4) to metallic rhenium. This metal is deposited on carbon nanomaterials as nanoparticles, or inside of them as nanoparticles or nanowires whose size and dispersion are dependent upon the conditions of a technological process.

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Opracowanie ze środków MNiSW w ramach umowy 812/P-DUN/2016 na działalność upowszechniającą naukę (zadania 2017).