Global alignment of solution-based single-wall carbon nanotube films via machine-vision controlled filtration

Abstract

Over the past decade, substantial progress has been made in the chemical processing (chiral enrichment, length sorting, handedness selectivity, and filling substance) of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Recently, it was shown that large, horizontally-aligned films can be created out of post-processed SWCNT solutions. Here, we use machine-vision automation and parallelization to simultaneously produce globally-aligned SWCNT films using pressure-driven filtration. Feedback control enables filtration to occur with a constant flow rate that not only improves the nematic ordering of the SWCNT films, but also provides the ability to align a wide range of SWCNT types and on a variety of nanoporous membranes using the same filtration parameters. Using polarized optical spectroscopic techniques, we show that meniscus combing produces a two-dimensional radial SWCNT alignment on one side of the film. After we flatten the meniscus through silanation, spatially-resolved nematicity maps on both sides of the SWCNT film reveal global alignment across the entire structure. From experiments changing ionic strength and membrane tribocharging, we provide evidence that the SWCNT alignment mechanism stems from an interplay of intertube interactions and ordered membrane charging. This work opens up the possibility of creating globally-aligned SWCNT film structures for a new-generation of nanotube electronics and optical control elements.

arXiv comment10 pages, 4 figures; SI: 13 pages, 9 figures; 4 pages references

References in corpus (11)

• Luttinger Liquid Behavior in Carbon Nanotubes
• High-Field Electrical Transport in Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes
• One-Dimensional Fermi liquids
• Topological phases of fermions in one dimension
• The effects of interactions on the topological classification of free fermion systems
• Carbon Nanotube Terahertz Polarizer
• A Novel Quasi-One-Dimensional Topological Insulator in Bismuth Iodide $\beta$-Bi${}_4$I${}_4$
• Science and applications of wafer-scale crystalline carbon nanotube films prepared through controlled vacuum filtration
• Strong and broadly tunable plasmon resonances in thick films of aligned carbon nanotubes
• Intrinsically ultrastrong plasmon-exciton interactions in crystallized films of carbon nanotubes
• Direct Observation of Cross-Polarized Excitons in Aligned Single-Chirality Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Groove-Assisted Global Spontaneous Alignment of Carbon Nanotubes in Vacuum Filtration
• Electrically Driven Hyperbolic Nanophotonic Resonators as High Speed, Spectrally Selective Thermal Radiators
• Local ultra-densification of single-walled carbon nanotube films: modeling and experiment
• Macroscopically Self-Aligned and Chiralized Carbon Nanotubes: From Filtration to Innovation