Capillarity-driven assembly of two-dimensional cellular carbon nanotube foams.
Capillary forces arising during the evaporation of liquids from dense carbon nanotube arrays are used to reassemble the nanotubes into two-dimensional contiguous cellular foams. The stable nanotube foams can be elastically deformed, transferred to other substrates, or floated out to produce free-standing macroscopic fabrics. The lightweight cellular foams made of condensed nanotubes could have applications as shock-absorbent structural reinforcements and elastic membranes. The ability to control the length scale, orientation, and shape of the cellular structures and the simplicity of the assembly process make this a particularly attractive system for studying pattern formation in ordered media.
Chakrapani
Nirupama
N
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, MRC 142, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA.
Wei
Bingqing
B
Carrillo
Alvaro
A
Ajayan
Pulickel M
PM
Kane
Ravi S
RS
D008420:Manufactured Materials; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure
D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon