Carbon nanotube fiber spun from wetted ribbon
AssigneeLos Alamos National Security, LLC
InventorsYuntian T. Zhu, Paul Arendt, Xiefei Zhang, Qingwen Li, Lei Fu, Lianxi Zheng
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Abstract
A fiber of carbon nanotubes was prepared by a wet-spinning method involving drawing carbon nanotubes away from a substantially aligned, supported array of carbon nanotubes to form a ribbon, wetting the ribbon with a liquid, and spinning a fiber from the wetted ribbon. The liquid can be a polymer solution and after forming the fiber, the polymer can be cured. The resulting fiber has a higher tensile strength and higher conductivity compared to dry-spun fibers and to wet-spun fibers prepared by other methods.
Claims22
A method for spinning a fiber of carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- drawing carbon nanotubes away from a substantially aligned, supported array of carbon nanotubes to form a ribbon, the array of carbon nanotubes having an average carbon nanotube height of about 0.3 mm or about 0.5 mm,
- the carbon nanotubes having an average diameter of about 7 nm and a majority of the carbon nanotubes being double-walled carbon nanotubes,
- wetting the ribbon of carbon nanotubes with a liquid polymer present at from about 0.1% to about 2% to form a wetted ribbon of carbon nanotubes,
- spinning a fiber from said wetted ribbon of carbon nanotubes, wherein spinning comprises twisting wetted carbon nanotubes of the wetted ribbon around each other as carbon nanotubes are drawn away from said substantially aligned, supported array of carbon nanotubes,
- the fiber having an tensile strength greater by at least about 5% as compared to a fiber prepared by immersing a supported array of carbon nanotubes in the liquid comprising a polymer and spinning the carbon nanotubes into a fiber under comparable conditions, and
- the fiber having a tensile strength of greater than 0.90 GPa.
A fiber of carbon nanotubes prepared by a method comprising:
- drawing carbon nanotubes away from a substantially aligned, supported array of carbon nanotubes to form a ribbon, the array of carbon nanotubes having an average carbon nanotube height of about 0.3 mm or about 0.5 mm,
- the carbon nanotubes having an average diameter of about 7 nm, and a majority of the carbon nanotubes being double-walled carbon nanotubes;
- wetting the ribbon with a liquid comprising a polymer present at from about 0.1% to about 2% to form a wetted ribbon,
- spinning a fiber from wetted ribbon, wherein spinning comprises twisting the carbon nanotubes of the wetted ribbon around each other as the carbon nanotubes are drawn away from the substantially aligned, supported array of carbon nanotubes,
- the fiber having an tensile strength greater by at least about 5% as compared to a fiber prepared by immersing a supported array of carbon nanotubes in the liquid comprising a polymer and spinning the carbon nanotubes into a fiber under comparable conditions, and
- the fiber having a tensile strength of greater than 0.90 GPa.
A method of preparing a fiber of carbon nanotubes, comprising:
- drawing carbon nanotubes away from a substantially aligned, supported array of carbon nanotubes to form a ribbon, the array of carbon nanotubes having an average carbon nanotube height of about 0.3 mm or about 0.5 mm,
- the carbon nanotubes having an average diameter of about 7 nm and the majority of the carbon nanotubes being double-walled carbon nanotubes,
- wetting the ribbon with a liquid comprising a polymer present at from about 0.1% to about 2% to form a wetted ribbon,
- spinning a fiber from wetted ribbon, wherein spinning comprises twisting the carbon nanotubes of the wetted ribbon around each other as the carbon nanotubes are drawn away from the substantially aligned, supported array of carbon nanotubes,
- the fiber having an tensile strength greater by at least about 5% as compared to a fiber prepared by immersing a supported array of carbon nanotubes in the liquid comprising a polymer and spinning the carbon nanotubes into a fiber under comparable conditions, and
- the fiber having a tensile strength of greater than 0.90 GPa.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.