Roll-to-roll continuous carbon nanotube sheets with high electrical conductivity

Songlin Zhang; Branden E Leonhardt; Nam Nguyen; Abiodun Oluwalowo; Claire Jolowsky; Ayou Hao; Richard Liang; Jin Gyu Park

doi:10.1039/c8ra01212a

Roll-to-roll continuous carbon nanotube sheets with high electrical conductivity

RSC Adv. 2018 Apr 3;8(23):12692-12700. doi: 10.1039/c8ra01212a.

Authors

Songlin Zhang^{1

2}, Branden E Leonhardt^{1

3}, Nam Nguyen^{1

2}, Abiodun Oluwalowo^{1

2}, Claire Jolowsky^{1

2}, Ayou Hao^{1

2}, Richard Liang^{1

2}, Jin Gyu Park^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ High-Performance Materials Institute, Florida State University 2005 Levy Ave. Tallahassee FL 32310 USA.
² Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering 2525 Pottsdamer St. Tallahassee FL 32310 USA.
³ Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering 2525 Pottsdamer St. Tallahassee FL 32310 USA jgpark@fsu.edu.

Abstract

Large scale manufacturing of electrically conductive carbon nanotube (CNT) sheets with production capability, low cost, and long-term electrical performance stability is still a challenge. A new method to fabricate highly conductive continuous buckypaper (CBP) with roll-to-roll production capability and relatively low cost is reported. The electrical conductivity of CBP can be improved to 7.6 × 10⁴ S m^-1 by using an oxidant chemical (i.e. HNO₃ and I₂) doping method. To compensate for the conductivity degradation caused by the instability of the oxidant chemical doping, a polymer layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) was coated on the chemically doped CBP. The fabricated highly conductive CBP showed stable electrical performance in air for more than a month. This CBP material with high electrical conductivity, relatively low cost, and roll-to-roll manufacturing capability could enable a wide range of engineering applications including flexible conductors, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials, and electrodes in energy devices.