Continuous, Ultra-lightweight, and Multipurpose Super-aligned Carbon Nanotube Tapes Viable over a Wide Range of Temperatures

Abstract

In extreme environments, such as at ultrahigh or ultralow temperatures, the amount of tape used should be minimal so as to reduce system contamination and unwanted residues. However, tapes made from conventional materials typically lose their adhesiveness or leave residues difficult to remove under such conditions. Thus, the development of more versatile, lightweight, and easily removable tapes for applications in such extreme environments has received considerable attention. Here, we report that horizontally superaligned carbon nanotube (SACNT) tapes can be used to provide perfect van der Waals (vdW) interface contacts over a wide range of temperatures (from −196 to 1000 °C), yielding outstanding adhesiveness with specific adhesion strengths up to ∼1.1 N/μg. With a surface density of only 0.5–5 μg/cm2, hundreds of times lighter than the vertically aligned CNT adhesives, the SACNT tapes can be cost-effectively provided in hundreds of meters. They have multipurpose adhesive abilities for versatile materials and are also easily separated from samples even after exposure to extreme temperature regimes. First-principles calculations confirm the mechanism of vdW adhesion and reveal that ultraflat and nanometer-thick SACNT tapes may yield far greater adhesive abilities. These SACNT tapes show great potential for use in mechanical bonding, electrical bonding, and thermal dissipation in electronic devices.

Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Strong Carbon Matrix Composites

“…Fibers or films can be directly spun from CNT arrays to overcome this limitation. They also possess a great alignment degree and are used as preforms for CNT/C composite fabrications. ,,, As discussed previously, alignment degree can also be carefully controlled by the stretching method to leverage the excellent performance of CNTs along the alignment direction. ,− ,,,,, For instance, Zhou et al. spun a CNT film from a CNT array and prepared the corresponding unidirectional (UD, namely, aligned) CNT/C composite.…”

Wafer-scale freestanding vanadium dioxide film

“…For preparing the THz modulator based on f-VO 2 /CNT film, CNT films were drawn from a super-aligned CNT array ( 39 ) and cross-stacked on a quartz frame. Then, the cross-stacked CNT film was treated with oxygen plasma to enhance its hydrophilicity.…”

A Spider‐Silk‐Inspired Wet Adhesive with Supercold Tolerance

“…Most developed low‐temperature adhesives are designed for dry substrates, like adhesive hydrogels with glycerol [ 40 ] and antifreeze protein [ 41 ] and aligned carbon nanotubes. [ 42 ] In comparison with the reported adhesives and commercial labels, the SA (PU@PVP) exhibits the capability to adhere onto the substrates with 100% interfacial water content and tolerate the supercold conditions (−196 °C) (Figure 5g; Figure S19, Supporting information). Therefore, the SA (PU@PVP) surpasses the reported dry adhesives (on substrate with 0% interfacial water content) with supercold tolerance like carbon nanotubes.…”

“…Therefore, the SA (PU@PVP) surpasses the reported dry adhesives (on substrate with 0% interfacial water content) with supercold tolerance like carbon nanotubes. [42] Meanwhile, the SA (PU@PVP) also pushes the edge of the lowest tolerant temperature of wet adhesives from −45 to −196 °C, transcending the developed room-temperature wet adhesives [3,43] and wet adhesive hydrogels with anti-freezers. [44] In summary, we demonstrated an artificial wet adhesive composed of core-sheath nanostructured fibers that exhibited robust adhesion with supercold tolerance even at −196 °C.…”