American Chemical Society
Browse
nn901621c_si_002.avi (3.95 MB)

Microwave Makes Carbon Nanotubes Less Defective

Download (3.95 MB)
media
posted on 2010-03-23, 00:00 authored by Wei Lin, Kyoung-Sik Moon, Shanju Zhang, Yong Ding, Jintang Shang, Mingxiang Chen, Ching-ping Wong
An ultrafast microwave annealing process has been developed to reduce the defect density in vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Raman and thermogravimetric analyses have shown a distinct defect reduction in the CNTs annealed in microwave for 3 min. Fibers spun from the as-annealed CNTs, in comparison with those from the pristine CNTs, show increases of ∼35% and ∼65%, respectively, in tensile strength (∼0.8 GPa) and modulus (∼90 GPa) during tensile testing; an ∼20% improvement in electrical conductivity (∼80000 S m−1) was also reported. The mechanism of the microwave response of CNTs was discussed.

History