Fabrication of flexible, transparent and conductive films from single-walled carbon nanotubes with high aspect ratio using poly((furfuryl methacrylate)-co-(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)) as a new polymeric dispersant

• Published in: Nanoscale Vol. 7; no. 15; pp. 6745 - 6753
• Main Authors: Lee, Taeheon, Kim, Byunghee, Kim, Sumin, Han, Jong Hun, Jeon, Heung Bae, Lee, Young Sil, Paik, Hyun-jong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 21.04.2015
• Subjects: Bending; Conductivity; Dispersions; Electrical resistivity; High aspect ratio; Single wall carbon nanotubes; Transmittance; Wavelengths
• ISSN: 2040-3364; 2040-3372
• DOI: 10.1039/c5nr00245a

We synthesized poly((furfuryl methacrylate)- co -(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)) (p(FMA- co -DMAEMA)) for the dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) while maintaining their high aspect ratios. The nanotubes' length and height were 2.0 μm and 2 nm, as determined by transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, respectively. Transparent conductive films (TCFs) were fabricated by individually dispersed long SWCNTs onto a flexible polyethylene terephthalate substrate. The sheet resistance ( R s ) was 210 Ω −1 with 81% transmittance at a wavelength of 550 nm. To reduce their R s , the TCFs were treated with HNO 3 and SOCl 2 . After treatment, the TCFs had an R s of 85.75 Ω −1 at a transmittance of 85%. The TCFs exhibited no appreciable change over 200 repeated bending cycles. Dispersing SWCNTs with this newly synthesized polymer is an effective way to fabricate a transparent, highly conductive and flexible film. We synthesized p(FMA- co -DMAEMA) for the dispersion of SWCNTs while maintaining their high aspect ratios.