Assembly of CNTs

The primary objective of this report is a mix and match approach towards innovative classes of multifunctional nanostructured composites and hybrid materials. Such materials are expected to stimulate evolutionary advances and revolutionary breakthroughs in emerging key technology areas. 

Demonstrate proof of concept , that is, to achieve interfacing electronically active nanofillers with polymers. More generally for the manufacturing sector, polymer is synonymous of flexible, thus the development of deposition techniques fully compatible with plastic substrates, low temperature processes and solution processable materials, and suitable for flexible substrates for roll-to-roll manufacturing technologies is mandatory. 

Demonstrate the fabrication of nanostructured surfaces and the mutual adhesion of components through either covalent chemical or non-covalent supramolecular means. The challenge in this field is to reduce the manufacturing steps for the assembly of nanocomposites trying to preserve, where possible, the efficiency with respect to the conventional architectures and to improve their stability. 

Demonstrate that the surfaces of these hybrid nano-objects are responsive to external stimuli, such as light or their chemical environment, by grafting polymeric structures on to surfaces. 

Andrews and M. C. Weisenberger, Curr. Opin. Solid State Mater. Sci, 

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FIGURE 15.8 Schematic description of layer-by-layer assembly of CNTs with PDDA on the GC surface. 

The issue of modeling the second order NLO of CNTs is strictly related to the advances in CNTs assembling technology. In fact, as far- as fully oriented non-centrosymmetric assembling of CNTs are being developed [20], samples... 

FIGURE 8.4 Electromechanically driving actuators based on a novel electromagnetic mechanism. Schematic illustration to the helical assembly of CNTs into helically primary and secondary fibers withcxit any guest materials. 

Buckypaper is a thin porous assembly of CNTs usually formed by filtration from their dispersion in a solvent. Over last few years, the electrical and... 

Superior mechanical properties of CNTs can be used to fabricate noble devices having special properties. The formation of macroscopic assemblies of CNTs while retaining their excellent intrinsic properties is challenging. 

Zhang, M., Su, L., and Mao, L. (2006) Surfactant functionalization of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for layer-by-layer assembling of CNT multi-layer films and fabrication of gold nanoparti-cle/CNT nanohybrid. Carbon, 44 (2), 276-283,... 

The other approach to supramolecular assembly of CNTs entails endohedral functionalization, where molecules interact noncovalently with the inside wall of the CNT (Figure 1). CNTs have been endohedrally functionalized by various materials including Ceo fullerenes, liquid lead, metal oxides, manganese, " and water. ... 

The methodology mentioned above can be used to asymmetrically end-functionalize CNTs with ssDNA and cDNA chains onto their opposite tube ends, which can be very useful for site-selective self-assembling of CNTs into many novel functional structures for various potential applications, including nanotube sensors and sensor chips. In a similar but independent study, asymmetric end... 

Buckypaper is a thin porous assembly of CNTs, usually formed by filtration from their dispersion in a solvent. Over the last few years, the electrical and mechanical properties of buckypaper have been studied extensively. In order to prepare buckypaper, CNTs must be dispersed in an appropriate solvent. One of the solvents used to prepare buckypaper is NMP, which enables to fabricate good quality buckypaper without the need for centrifugation [95, 105-106]. 

Monte Carlo simulations. Wescott et also applied DPD approaches to investigate the self-assembly of CNT percolating networks in thin films of block copolymer melts. Similarly, Tozzi et al. used particle-level simulations to investigate the stmctural evolution and electrical conductivity of CNT suspensions in shear flow. These approaches can be extended in future work to study the effects of complex interparticle and matrix-induced interactions, as well as the effects of external fields on the network stmcture and electrical properties of composite materials. The synthesis of chemically heterogeneous or Janus particles further motivate these developing techniques. 

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