Coating of carbon nanotubes on flexible substrate and its adhesion study

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 255; no. 15; pp. 7084 - 7089
• Main Authors: Rahy, Abdelaziz, Bajaj, Pooja, Musselman, Inga H., Hong, Soon Hyung, Sun, Ya-Ping, Yang, Duck J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.05.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adhesion; Carbon nanotube; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Conductive coating; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Flexible substrate; Physics; Carbon nanotube; Flexible substrate; Conductive coating; Adhesion; Carbon nanotubes
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2009.03.048

The primary goal of this project was to develop a flexible transparent conductor with 100 Ω/sq and 90% transmittance in the wavelength range of 400–700 nm on a flexible substrate. The best result achieved so far was 110 Ω/sq at 88% transmittance using purified single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) coated on a polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate. The secondary goal was to simplify the overall coating procedure; we successfully reduced the process from five (prior art method) to three steps utilizing a sonication method. We also found that the use of metallic SWNTs significantly improved the conductivity and transmittance compared with the use of mixed SWNTs, i.e., unseparated SWNTs. Furthermore, a possible adhesion mechanism between SWNTs and the surface of PEN was studied; we concluded that a π–π stacking effect and a hydrophobic interaction are the major contributing factors for SWNTs to adhere to the surface of the substrate.