Premium
Solvent‐Tunable Microstructures of Aligned Carbon Nanotube Films
Author(s) -
Yu Xueping,
Zhang Xiaohua,
Zou Jingyun,
Lan Zhuyao,
Jiang Chunyang,
Zhao Jingna,
Zhang Dengsong,
Miao Menghe,
Li Qingwen
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
advanced materials interfaces
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.671
H-Index - 65
ISSN - 2196-7350
DOI - 10.1002/admi.201600352
Subject(s) - materials science , solvent , acetone , carbon nanotube , wetting , microstructure , nanotube , ultimate tensile strength , nanotechnology , composite material , volatility (finance) , chemical engineering , micrometer , organic chemistry , chemistry , physics , optics , financial economics , engineering , economics
Solvent wetting is an efficient way to densify carbon nanotube (CNT) assembly structures. Besides the polarity that determines the densification level, the solvent's volatility is found to affect the assembly structure at the micrometer scale. A high volatile solvent like acetone can cause CNTs to simultaneously establish close contact at many intersecting points, and thus creates a strong network structure. This networking ability results in high plasticity for the resulting CNT assembly films. On the other hand, a low volatile solvent like N , N ‐dimethylformamide reduces the density of connection points due to nonlocalized CNT densification. The networking effect has a strong influence on the film's tensile property by the virtue of the improved plasticity. The acetone‐densified CNT film (up to 2.32–3.19 GPa) is about 20% stronger than that densified by ethanol.