Strong, Light, Multifunctional Fibers of Carbon Nanotubes with Ultrahigh Conductivity

Abstract

Optimizing Carbon Nanotubes Shorter carbon nanotubes are easier to make, but, when assembled into fibers, the resulting fiber properties are much poorer than might be predicted by theory. Conversely, longer carbon nanotubes have much better properties but are harder to process. Behabtu et al. (p. 182 ) combined the best of both worlds through scalable wet spinning method, in which they dissolved longer carbon nanotubes and then spun them into fibers that showed excellent strength, stiffness, and thermal conductivity.