SWCNT buckypapers

Wu et al. [94] incorporated SWCNT and MWCNT membranes (buckypaper) and CNF paper onto the surface of epoxy carbon fiber composites. The authors observed that SWCNT buckypaper and CNF paper did not show notable improvement on fire retardancy. However, MWCNT buckypaper acted as an... 

FIGURE 5.12 Characteristics of NHSK paper, composed of 25 wt% SWCNT. The materials are flexible and workable, advantages over the relatively brittle SWCNT buckypaper. Superhydrophobicity is achieved by a mechanism similar to the petal effect as explained in the text. Annealing of the NHSK films results in a relatively smooth composite where PE has completely wetted the surface. 

To further probe the SWCNTs purity, their intrinsic conductivities were measured by preparing buckypapers from the respective dispersions. Conductivities of buckypapers prepared from HiPCO and Carbolex SWCNTs were approximately 1 x 10 and 1 x 10 S m, respectively. The significant difference in intrinsic conductivities indicates that there is certainly a difference in the electronic properties of the SWCNTs. The lower conductivity of the Carbolex SWCNTs could be attributed to more wall defects, a larger fraction of semi-conducting SWCNTs or a carbonaceous coating on the SWCNT wall. To determine the main cause of these lower conductivities would require further investigation. For the application intended here, this difference is of utmost importance. One further prerequisite is that the aspect ratio of the two SWCNT batches is not vastly different. 

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