Fabrication of flexible transparent conductive films from long double-walled carbon nanotubes

Sci Technol Adv Mater. 2014 Apr 11;15(2):025005. doi: 10.1088/1468-6996/15/2/025005. eCollection 2014 Apr.

Abstract

The fabrication of flexible transparent conducting films (TCFs) is important for the development of the next-generation flexible devices. In this study, we used double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) as the starting material and described a fabrication method of flexible TCFs. We have determined in a quantitative way that the key factors are the length and the dispersion states of the DWCNTs as well as the weight-ratios of dispersant polymer/DWCNTs. By controlling such factors, we have readily fabricated a flexible highly transparent (94% transmittance) and conductive (surface resistivity = 320 Ω sq-1) DWCNT film without adding any chemical doping that is often used to reduce the surface resistivity. By applying a wet coating, we have succeeded in the fabrication of large-scale conducting transparent DWCNT films based on the role-to-role method.

Keywords: Carbon nanotube; Flexible device material; Flexible transparent conducting film; Supramolecular material.