1 research outputs found
Strong Fiber from Uniaxial Fullerene Supramolecules Aligned with Carbon Nanotubes
Carbon nanotube (CNT) wires approach copper's specific conductivity and
surpass carbon fiber's strength, with further improvement anticipated with
greater aspect ratios and incorporation of dopants with long-range structural
order. Fullerenes assemble into multitudes of process-dependent supramolecular
crystals and, while initially insulating, they become marginally conductive (up
to 0.05 MSm) and superconductive (K with K and 28K
with Rb) after doping. These were small (100's m long), soft (hardness
comparable to indium), and typically unaligned, which hindered development of
fullerene based wires. Individual fullerenes were previously incorporated into
CNT fibers, although randomly without self-assembly into supramolecules. Here,
a simple variation in established CNT acid extrusion creates a fiber composed
of uniaxial chains of aligned fullerene supramolecules, self-assembled between
aligned few-walled CNT bundles. This will provide a testbed for novel fullerene
wire transport and prospects in CNT wire advancement