Carbon Nanotube Biofiber Formation in a Polymer‐Free Coagulation Bath

Abstract

A novel solution spinning method to produce highly conducting carbon nanotube (CNT) biofibers is reported. In this process, carbon nanotubes are dispersed using biomolecules such as hyaluronic acid, chitosan, and DNA, and these dispersions are used as spinning solutions. Unlike previous reports in which a polymer binder is used in the coagulation bath, these dispersions can be converted into fibers simply by altering the nature of the coagulation bath via pH control, use of a crosslinking agent, or use of a biomolecule‐precipitating solvent system. With strength comparable to most reported CNT fibers to date, these CNT biofibers demonstrate superior electrical conductivities. Cell culture experiments are performed to investigate the cytotoxicity of these fibers. This novel fiber spinning approach could simplify methodologies for creating electrically conducting and biocompatible platforms for a variety of biomedical applications, particularly in those systems where the application of an electrical field is advantageous?for example, in directed nerve and/or muscle repair.

Post-Treatments for Multifunctional Property Enhancement of Carbon Nanotube Fibers from the Floating Catalyst Method

“…The figure revealed that the two-step post-treatment effectively improved the tensile performance of the directly spun CNT fibers, leading to their tensile strength and Young’s modulus increasing by 177% and 325%, respectively. It is worth mentioning that the highest tensile strength (1.132 GPa) and stiffness (62 GPa) achieved in this work were generally higher than those of most as-made CNT fibers (either by array-drawing , or direct spinning , ), and even nearly 1 order greater than those of most wet-spun fibers. ,− The epoxy-infiltrated CNT fibers also had a much smaller elongation than our as-spun fibers, which was consistent with the observations in Figure , and again indicated the decreased sliding distances and improved load transfer between CNT bundles.…”

Nanogrooved carbon microtubes for wet three‐dimensional printing of conductive composite structures

“…This could be due to rapid solidification of the ink which generated skins around the extrudate immediately after injection of the ink and made it difficult for the solvent trapped inside to leave the structure. Similar results were also observed in fibre spinning where more flexible spun fibres were obtained using an ionic crosslinker in the coagulation bath …”

Revealing Density Thresholds of Carbon Nanotube Cross-Links for Load Transfer: A Graph Theory Strategy

“…The cross-links, which are regarded as hinges between adjacent CNTs, can effectively restrain the relative intertube sliding but enable free rotation of connected CNTs. This process is consistent with that of experiments. − See the Supporting Information for more details.…”