Significantly Increased Solubility of Carbon Nanotubes in Superacid by Oxidation and Their Assembly into High-Performance Fibers

Jaegeun Lee, Dong Myeong Lee, Young Kwan Kim, Hyeon Su Jeong, Seung Min Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

47 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study demonstrates that small amount of oxygen incorporated into carbon nanotubes (CNTs) during the purification process greatly increases their solubility in chlorosulfonic acid (CSA). Using as-purchased and unpurified CNT powders, the optimal purification process is established to significantly increase the solubility of CNTs in CSA, and spin CNT fibers with high mechanical strength (0.84 N tex−1) and electrical conductivity (1.4 MS m−1) from the CNT liquid crystal dope with high concentration of CNTs in CSA. The knowledge obtained here may guide development of a way to dissolve extremely long CNTs at high concentration and thereby to enable production of CNT fibers with ultimate properties.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1701131
JournalSmall
Volume13
Issue number38
DOIs
StatePublished - 11 Oct 2017

Keywords

  • carbon nanotube fiber
  • liquid crystal
  • oxidation
  • protonation
  • wet spinning

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