Characterization of single-walled carbon nanotube mats and their performance as electromechanical actuators

Suppiger, D.; Busato, Stephan; Ermanni, Paolo

doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2008.03.019

Cited by 46 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…As such, it provides a promising framework for large-scale nanotube applications. Buckypaper is being investigated for multiple applications, including thermal and electrical conductive materials, catalysts, filtration and distillation membranes, and actuators, exploiting the intrinsic and robust properties of the constituent carbon nanotubes [8,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Despite these numerous applications, there currently exists few models that provide an accurate account of the material properties from the bottom up, a key issue in tuning the properties of buckypaper for engineering applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In silicoassembly and nanomechanical characterization of carbon nanotube buckypaper

Cranford

Buehler²

2010

Nanotechnology

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Carbon nanotube sheets or films, also known as "buckypaper", have been proposed for use in actuating, structural and filtration systems, based in part on their unique and robust mechanical properties. Computational modelling of such a fibrous nanostructure is hindered by both the random arrangement of the constituent elements, as well as the time and length scales accessible to atomisticlevel molecular dynamics modelling. Here we present a novel in silico assembly procedure based on a coarse-grain model of carbon nanotubes, used here to attain a representative mesoscopic buckypaper model that circumvents a need for probabilistic approaches. By variation in assembly parameters, including the initial nanotube density and ratio of nanotube type (single-and double-walled), the porosity of the resulting buckypaper can be varied threefold, from approximately 0.3 to 0.9. Further, through simulation of nanoindentation, the Young's modulus is shown to be tunable through manipulation of nanotube type and density over a range of approximately 0.2 to 3.1 GPa, in good agreement with experimental findings of the modulus of assembled carbon nanotube films. In addition to carbon nanotubes, the coarse-grain model and assembly process can be adapted for other fibrous nanostructures such as electrospun polymeric composites, high performance nonwoven ballistic materials, or fibrous protein aggregates, facilitating the development and characterization of novel nanomaterials and composites as well as the analysis of biological materials such as protein fiber films and bulk structures.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In silicoassembly and nanomechanical characterization of carbon nanotube buckypaper

Cranford

Buehler²

2010

Nanotechnology

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“…Then, considering their high surface area and conductivity (as high as 10 4 S/cm), their applications were expanded to the electrochemical fi eld, including electrocatalysis, supercapacitor, electrochemical sensing and electromechanical actuators. As a good candidate for actuator materials, SWCNTs have been used in various actuations, including optically-driven actuation, [ 77,78 ] acoustic actuation, [ 79 ] electromechanical actuation, [ 28,80,81 ] dry and wet electrochemical actuation, [82][83][84] electrochemical pneumatic actuation. [ 85 ] Recently, large scale preparation of electrolyte free muscles made by twist-spun carbon nanotube yarns with fast, high-force, large-stroke torsional and tensile actuation has been realized.…”

Section: Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes Based Electrode Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon Nanotube and Graphene‐based Bioinspired Electrochemical Actuators

2013

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Bio-inspired actuation materials, also called artificial muscles, have attracted great attention in recent decades for their potential application in intelligent robots, biomedical devices, and micro-electro-mechanical systems. Among them, ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuator has been intensively studied for their impressive high-strain under low voltage stimulation and air-working capability. A typical IPMC actuator is composed of one ion-conductive electrolyte membrane laminated by two electron-conductive metal electrode membranes, which can bend back and forth due to the electrode expansion and contraction induced by ion motion under alternating applied voltage. As its actuation performance is mainly dominated by electrochemical and electromechanical process of the electrode layer, the electrode material and structure become to be more crucial to higher performance. The recent discovery of one dimensional carbon nanotube and two dimensional graphene has created a revolution in functional nanomaterials. Their unique structures render them intriguing electrical and mechanical properties, which makes them ideal flexible electrode materials for IPMC actuators in stead of conventional metal electrodes. Currently although the detailed effect caused by those carbon nanomaterial electrodes is not very clear, the presented outstanding actuation performance gives us tremendous motivation to meet the challenge in understanding the mechanism and thus developing more advanced actuator materials. Therefore, in this review IPMC actuators prepared with different kinds of carbon nanomaterials based electrodes or electrolytes are addressed. Key parameters which may generate important influence on actuation process are discussed in order to shed light on possible future research and application of the novel carbon nanomateials based bio-inspired electrochemical actuators.

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“…Flexibility and mechanical strength are the basic requirement for these applications. The main parameters that affect the properties of the bucky papers are the types of CNT [single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT)/multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT)] [15], purity [16,17], chemical modification [18], dimensional properties [19] and level of alignment [20,21]. Though the bucky papers are made up of CNTs which possess ultrahigh mechanical and electrical properties, there is a great scope to improve the mechanical properties of bucky paper by improving the intermolecular bonding and packing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural and mechanical properties of free-standing multiwalled carbon nanotube paper prepared by an aqueous mediated process

et al. 2017

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Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO 3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. I G /I D , I G 0 /I D and I G 0 /I G ) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of I G /I D , I G 0/I D and I G 0 /I G ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young's modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm -3 , respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.

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Characterization of single-walled carbon nanotube mats and their performance as electromechanical actuators

Cited by 46 publications

References 6 publications

In silicoassembly and nanomechanical characterization of carbon nanotube buckypaper

In silicoassembly and nanomechanical characterization of carbon nanotube buckypaper

Carbon Nanotube and Graphene‐based Bioinspired Electrochemical Actuators

Structural and mechanical properties of free-standing multiwalled carbon nanotube paper prepared by an aqueous mediated process

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