Exploiting high quality PEDOT:PSS–SWNT composite formulations for wet-spinning multifunctional fibers

Abstract

In order to exploit the inherent properties of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in any polymer composite, systematic control of carbon nanotube loading and protocols that mitigate against CNT bundling are required. If such composites are to be rendered in fiber form via wet-spinning, then CNT bundling during the coagulation process must also be avoided. Here we have achieved this by utilizing highly exfoliated single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonicacid) (PEDOT:PSS) to obtain wet-spinnable composite formulations at various nanotube volume fractions (V f ). The addition of only 0.02 V f of aggregate-free and individually dispersed SWNT resulted in a significant enhancement of modulus, tensile strength, electrical conductivity and two cell electrode specific capacitance of PEDOT:PSS-SWNT composite fibers to 5.2 GPa, 200 MPa, 450 S cm −1 and 59 F g −1 by the rate of dY/dV f = 89 GPa, dσ/dV f = 3.2 GPa, dS/dV f = 13300 S cm −1 and 6 folds, respectively. In order to exploit the inherent properties of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in any polymer composite, systematic control of carbon nanotube loading and protocols that mitigate against CNT bundling are required. If such composites are to be rendered in fiber form via wet-spinning, then CNT bundling during the coagulation process must also be avoided. Here we have achieved this by utilizing highly exfoliated single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonicacid) (PEDOT:PSS) to obtain wet-spinnable composite formulations at various nanotube volume fractions (V f ). The addition of only 0.02 V f of aggregate-free and individually dispersed SWNT resulted in a significant enhancement of modulus, tensile strength, electrical conductivity and two cell electrode specific capacitance of PEDOT:PSS-SWNT composite fibers to 5.2 GPa, 200 MPa, 450 S cm À1 and 59 F g À1 by the rate of dY/dV f ¼ 89 GPa, ds/dV f ¼ 3.2 GPa, dS/dV f ¼ 13 300 S cm À1 and 6 folds, respectively.

Scalable One‐Step Wet‐Spinning of Graphene Fibers and Yarns from Liquid Crystalline Dispersions of Graphene Oxide: Towards Multifunctional Textiles

“…[25,[27][28][29] GO dispersions that displayed the LC behavior (i.e. those above 0.75 mg ml -1 ) exhibited excellent spinnability in any of the following coagulation methods: non-solvent precipitation, dispersion destabilization using acid, base or salt solutions, ionic cross-linking using divalent cations, and coagulation by amphiphilic or oppositely charged polymers.…”

Graphene oxide dispersions: tuning rheology to enable fabrication

“…10,20 This rheological behaviour suggests that the processing of GO dispersions is possible with established fabrication techniques usually reserved for processing weak gel-like materials (such as the wet-spinning approach). 1,[21][22][23][24] However, in contrast to cross-linked biopolymers 10 and biological gels 13 no strain stiffening is observed (Fig. 3b), and unlike gels of other disk-like colloids a fully frequency-dependent elastic modulus is not observed either (Fig.…”

High‐Performance Multifunctional Graphene‐PLGA Fibers: Toward Biomimetic and Conducting 3D Scaffolds

“…Fabrication methods: Wet-spinning was carried out at room temperature using isopropanol as a coagulation bath in a vertical set-up as we have described previously ( Figure S6) [70,84,85] .…”