Ultrahigh Performance Carbon Nanotube based Carbon Fibers

Abstract

Development of carbon fibers (CFs) with high performance for structural applications has been a challenge. A onedimensional carbon nanotube (CNT) with a high aspect ratio have been considered as the ultimate building block for high-performance assemblies due to their high mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. Many attempts to develop high-performance polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and Pitch-based CFs with small amount of CNT have been conducted since 2000. However, it has been a challenge to CFs with large amount of CNTs due to low dispersibility of CNT in organic solvents. Chlorosulfonic acid (CSA) can be an effective solvent in manufacturing both CNT and polymer-CNT fibers with high CNT concentration. The bulk properties of CNT and polymer-CNT fibers make it difficult to realize the ultimate properties of individual CNT owing to the imperfect alignment, presence of pores, and limited connectivity of elements in the assemblies. Here, we present the systematic studies of the wet-spinning process for manufacturing the ultrahigh performance CNT fibers and CNT-reinforced CFs by controlling fiber shape, alignment, aspect ratio of CNT, and thermal treatment process.