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Elasto-capillary fabrication of 3D CNTs microstructures
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), as well as graphene, have been pivotal in captivating the interest of scientists, the general public, and industry in nanotechnology. The latter can best be quantified by the production capacity of CNTs which is growing exponentially, and is currently estimated at 5000 ton/yr. However, few methods currently exist to shape these nanomaterials into organized microstructures.
This talk presents a new method for high-throughput fabrication of robust three-dimensional (3D) carbon nanotube microstructures. This method is based on our finding that condensation of liquid onto vertically aligned CNT microstructures, followed by evaporation, causes a deterministic transformation of individual microstructures to intricate 3D shapes. By tailoring this elasto-capillary self-assembly process, delicate and heterogeneous geometries can be fabricated in close proximity and over large areas. We have defined a diverse library of forms having controllable bends, twists, and re-entrant curves, as well as patterns having complex arrangements of in-plane and out-of-plane features. Owing to their mechanical robustness and anisotropic electrical conductivity, we demonstrate applications of these novel CNT structures on the one hand as electrically integrated sensors and actuators, and on the other hand as master moulds for mass-production of 3D structures.
