The superb mechanical and physical properties of individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have provided the impetus for researchers in developing high-performance continuous fibers based upon CNTs. The reported high specific strength, specific stiffness and electrical conductivity of CNT fibers demonstrate the potential of their wide application in many fields. In this review paper, we assess the state of the art advances in CNT-based continuous fibers in terms of their fabrication methods, characterization and modeling of mechanical and physical properties, and applications. The opportunities and challenges in CNT fiber research are also discussed.

Many species in nature have evolved remarkable strategies to visually adapt to the surroundings for the purpose of protection and predation. Similarly, acquiring the capabilities of adaptively camouflaging in the infrared (IR) spectrum has emerged as an intriguing but highly challenging technology in recent years. Here, we report adaptive thermal camouflage devices by bridging the optical and radiative properties of nanoscopic platinum (Pt) films and silver (Ag) electrodeposited Pt films. Specifically, these metal-based devices have large, uniform, and consistent IR tunabilities in mid-wave IR (MWIR) and long-wave IR (LWIR) atmospheric transmission windows (ATWs). Furthermore, these devices can be easily multiplexed, enlarged, applied to rough and flexible substrates, or colored, demonstrating their multiple adaptive camouflaging capabilities. We believe that this technology will be advantageous not only in various adaptive camouflage platforms but also in many thermal radiation management–related technologies.

Engineering the radiation characteristics for the design of selective thermal emitters has been a hot topic for decades and is of great value in the fields of thermophotovoltaic systems, radiative cooling, and infrared stealth. In this paper, a Ag/Ge multilayer film based selective emitter for infrared stealth is demonstrated using an ultrathin metal film and impedance matching to tune the radiation characteristics. Herein, a novel approach for infrared stealth that relies on the combination of emissivity (ε) reduction in the atmospheric windows (3–5 and 8–14 µm) and radiative cooling in a nonatmospheric window (5–8 µm) is proposed. The fabricated selective emitter has low emissivity (ε3‐5 µm = 0.18; ε8‐14 µm = 0.31) in the atmospheric windows for infrared “invisibility” and high emissivity (ε5‐8 µm = 0.82) outside the atmospheric window for radiative cooling and functions from ambient temperature to 200 °C. Compared with low‐emissivity materials, the selective emitter exhibits higher radiative cooling efficiency in vacuum and practical environments and presents lower apparent temperatures on infrared cameras. Moreover, the proposed selective emitter, with a planar and simple structure, is scalable, allowing flexible large‐area fabrication. The work demonstrates that selective emissive materials have promising applications in infrared stealth technology.

A stretchable fiber supercapacitor (SC) based on buckled MnO /oxidized carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber electrode is fabricated by a simple prestraining-then-buckling method. The prepared stretchable fiber SC has a specific volumetric capacitance up to 409.4 F cm , which is 33 times that of the pristine CNT fiber based SC, and shows the outstanding stability and repeatability in performance as a stretchable SC.