title: Ultrastrong, foldable, and highly conductive carbon nanotube film.
abstract: Preparation of strong, flexible, and multifunctional carbon-based films has attracted considerable interest not only in fundamental research areas but also for industrial applications. We report a binder-free, ultrastrong, and foldable carbon nanotube (CNT) film using aligned few-walled nanotube sheets drawn from spinnable nanotube arrays. The film exhibits tensile strengths up to ∼2 GPa and a Young's modulus up to ∼90 GPa, which is markedly superior to other types of carbon-based films reported, including commercial graphite foils, buckypapers, and graphene-related papers. The film can bear severe bending (even being folded) and shows good structure integrity and negligible change in electric conductivity. The unique structure of the CNT film (good nanotube alignment, high packing density) provides the film with direct and efficient transport paths for electricity. As a flexible charge collector, it favors a magnesium oxide coating to exhibit high charge/discharge rate stability and an excellent electrochemical capacitance close to its theoretical value.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Nanodevices and Applications, Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, China.
authors.forename: Jiangtao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Di
authors.forename: Dongmei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Hongyuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhenzhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yong
authors.forename: Minghai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhihai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Yuntian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Qingwen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D019245:Compressive Strength; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties; D013718:Tensile Strength
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon