title: Meter-Long Spiral Carbon Nanotube Fibers Show Ultrauniformity and Flexibility.
abstract: Conventional straight fibers spun from carbon nanotubes have rather limited deformability; creating a spiral structure holds the promise to break this shape restriction and enhance structural flexibility. Here, we report up to one meter-length threads containing purely single-walled nanotubes twisted into spiral loops (about 1.3 × 10(5) loops per meter) with tunable fiber diameters and electrical conductivity. Because of significant increase of the loop number and long-range homogeneity, the fibers display many unique properties (e.g., self-shrinking and forming extremely entangled structure, fast stretching with great resilience, large-degree axial and lateral deflection, and excellent fatigue resistance) that are difficult to achieve in straight yarns or short helical segments. They also have potential applications as macroscopic fiber-shaped temperature sensors and deformable gas sensors. Our long spiral fibers may be configured into versatile structures such as nanotextiles for developing wearable electronics and multifunctional fabrics.
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Engineering, Zhengzhou University , Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Engineering, Zhengzhou University , Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China.
authors.forename: Chunfei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People's Repubic of China.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Collage of Science, Henan Institute of Engineering , Zhengzhou, Henan 451191, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Engineering, Zhengzhou University , Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Engineering, Zhengzhou University , Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Engineering, Zhengzhou University , Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China.
authors.forename: Yingjiu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Engineering, Zhengzhou University , Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China.
authors.forename: Xinjian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People's Repubic of China.
authors.forename: Anyuan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cao
keywords: Spiral fiber; carbon nanotube; fiber-shaped device; gas sensor; nanotextile