title: Lightweight, Flexible, High-Performance Carbon Nanotube Cables Made by Scalable Flow Coating.
abstract: Coaxial cables for data transmission are ubiquitous in telecommunications, aerospace, automotive, and robotics industries. Yet, the metals used to make commercial cables are unsuitably heavy and stiff. These undesirable traits are particularly problematic in aerospace applications, where weight is at a premium and flexibility is necessary to conform with the distributed layout of electronic components in satellites and aircraft. The cable outer conductor (OC) is usually the heaviest component of modern data cables; therefore, exchanging the conventional metallic OC for lower weight materials with comparable transmission characteristics is highly desirable. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have recently been proposed to replace the metal components in coaxial cables; however, signal attenuation was too high in prototypes produced so far. Here, we fabricate the OC of coaxial data cables by directly coating a solution of CNTs in chlorosulfonic acid (CSA) onto the cable inner dielectric. This coating has an electrical conductivity that is approximately 2 orders of magnitude greater than the best CNT OC reported in the literature to date. This high conductivity makes CNT coaxial cables an attractive alternative to commercial cables with a metal (tin-coated copper) OC, providing comparable cable attenuation and mechanical durability with a 97% lower component mass.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.|Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mirri
authors.affiliation: Communications Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standard and Technology , Boulder, Colorado 80305, United States.|Material Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standard and Technology , Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States.
authors.forename: Nathan D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Orloff
authors.affiliation: Materials and Structural System Division, National Institute of Standard and Technology , Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States.
authors.forename: Aaron M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Forster
authors.affiliation: NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standard and Technology , Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States.|Materials Science and Engineering Department, University of Maryland , College Park, Maryland 20742, United States.|Biology and Soft Matter Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory , Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States.
authors.forename: Rana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ashkar
authors.affiliation: Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.|Department of Chemistry, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Headrick
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.|Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: E Amram
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Bengio
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standard and Technology , Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States.|Maryland Nanocenter, University of Maryland , College Park, Maryland 20742, United States.
authors.forename: Christian J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: April
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: Yimin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) , Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States.
authors.forename: Angela R Hight
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standard and Technology , Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.affiliation: Material Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standard and Technology , Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States.
authors.forename: Kalman B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Migler
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.|Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.|Department of Chemistry, Rice University , Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pasquali
keywords: attenuation; carbon nanotubes; coaxial cables; dip-coating; rheology