Carbon nanotube buckypaper reinforced polymer composites: a review

Abstract

RbstractThis review provides valuable information about the general characteristics, processing conditions and physical properties of carbon nanotube buckypaper (BP) and its polymer composites. Vacuum filtration is the most common technique used for manufacturing BP, since the carbon nanotubes are dispersed in aqueous solution with the aid of surfactant. Previous works have reported that mechanical properties of BP prepared by vacuum filtration technique are relatively weak. On the other hand, the incorporation of polymer materials in those nanostructures revealed a significant improvement in their mechanical behavior, since the impregnation between matrix and BP is optimized. Electrical conductivity of BP/polymer composites can reach values as high as 2000 S/m, which are several orders of magnitude greater than traditional CNT/polymer composites. Also, BP can improve remarkably the thermal stability of polymer matrices, opening new perspectives to use this material in fire retardant applications.

Mechanical, Electrical, and Thermal Properties of Carbon Nanotube Buckypapers/Epoxy Nanocomposites Produced by Oxidized and Epoxidized Nanotubes

“…Progress in buckypaper/polymer composites has been extensively recorded in the literature [ 27 , 28 ]. These hybrid materials offer a great variety of properties, able to strengthen existing multifunctional applications or conjure new ones.…”

Carbon nanotube dielectrophoresis: Theory and applications

“…Structure of CNTs. (A) Schematic representation of SWNT and MWNT with typical size scales (adapted and reprinted with permission from Ribeiro et al., copyright (2017), SciELO Analytics [57]); (B) Diagram showing how a sheet of graphene is rolled up to form a carbon nanotube. Here, C h and θ denote the chiral vector and chiral angle, respectively; (C) Illustration of the atomic structure of an armchair and (D) a zig‐zag nanotube.…”

Multifunctional Characteristics of Glass Fiber‐Reinforced Epoxy Polymer Composites with Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Buckypaper Interlayer

“…The fabrication of macroscopic CNT films commonly referred to, as buckypapers (BPs), have been the focal point of many investigations. These nanostructured sheets are a macroscopic paper‐like material composed of continuous entangled CNT networks with a highly porous structure . Although the performance of BP is lower than that of individual CNT due to the low interaction energy and densely packed structure, the entangled network of the CNT offers multifunctional capabilities owing to their mechanical stability and high electrical and thermal properties .…”