Enhanced Electrical and Mechanical Properties of Chemically Cross-Linked Carbon-Nanotube-Based Fibers and Their Application in High-Performance Supercapacitors

Gang Wang, Sung Kon Kim, Michael Cai Wang, Tianshu Zhai, Siddhanth Munukutla, Gregory S. Girolami, Peter J. Sempsrott, Sungwoo Nam, Paul V. Braun, Joseph W. Lyding

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

The electrical conductivity and mechanical strength of fibers constructed from single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are usually limited by the weak interactions between individual CNTs. In this work, we report a significant enhancement of both of these properties through chemical cross-linking of individual CNTs. The CNT fibers are made by wet-spinning a CNT solution that contains 1,3,5-tris(2′-bromophenyl)benzene (2TBB) molecules as the cross-linking agent, and the cross-linking is subsequently driven by Joule heating. Cross-linking with 2TBB increases the conductivity of the CNT fibers by a factor of ∼100 and increases the tensile strength on average by 47%; in contrast, the tensile strength of CNT fibers fabricated without 2TBB decreases after the same Joule heating process. Symmetrical supercapacitors made from the 2TBB-treated CNT fibers exhibit a remarkably high volumetric energy density of ∼4.5 mWh cm-3 and a power density of ∼1.3 W cm-3.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)632-639
Number of pages8
JournalACS Nano
Volume14
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Jan 2020

Keywords

  • Joule heating
  • carbon nanotube fiber
  • electrical conductivity
  • mechanical strength
  • supercapacitor

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