Georgia Tech Research Corporation

William Marsh Rice University

Sreekumar Thaliyil Veedu

Satish Kumar

Rajesh Kumar Saini

Richard E Smalley

Ramesh Sivarajan

Robert H Hauge

Matteo Pasquali

Virginia Angelica Davis

Lars Martin Ericson

The present invention involves alewives of highly aligned single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT), process for making the same and compositions thereof. The present invention provides a method for effectively making carbon alewives, which are discrete, acicular-shaped aggregates of aligned single-wall carbon nanotubes and resemble the Atlantic fish of the same name. Single-wall carbon nanotube alewives can be conveniently dispersed in materials such as polymers, ceramics, metals, metal oxides and liquids. The process for preparing the alewives comprises mixing single-wall carbon nanotubes with 100% sulfuric acid or a superacid, heating and stirring, and slowly introducing water into the single-wall carbon nanotube/acid mixture to form the alewives. The alewives can be recovered, washed and dried. The properties of the single-wall carbon nanotubes are retained in the alewives.

Single-wall carbon nanotube alewives, process for making, and compositions thereof

The invention relates to a film comprising greater than 80 wt % single-wall carbon nanotubes wherein the tensile modulus is at least about 6 GPa at 0.2% strain and the conductivity of the film is at least about 70,000 S/m. The tensile modulus is typically about 8 GPa at 0.2% strain. The method for making the film comprises preparing a solution of single-wall carbon nanotubes in a superacid, such as oleum containing approximately 20 to 30% sulfur trioxide, under a dry, oxygen-free atmosphere. The solution is placed on a surface in a moisture-containing atmosphere, wherein the solution absorbs moisture and acid leaches out. The film is washed to further remove acid, dried, and, optionally, subjected to a heat treatment. Besides free-standing films, coatings of single-wall carbon nanotubes can be made on a variety of surfaces including polymers, glass, metals, and ceramics. The surfaces can be flat planes, fibers or contour shapes.

Single-wall carbon nanotube film having high modulus and conductivity and process for making the same

The present invention relates to a high modulus macroscopic fiber comprising single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and an acrylonitrile-containing polymer. In one embodiment, the macroscopic fiber is a drawn fiber having a cross-sectional dimension of at least 1 micron. In another embodiment, the acrylonitrile polymer-SWNT composite fiber is made by dispersing SWNT in a solvent, such as dimethyl formamide or dimethyl acetamide, admixing an acrylonitrile-based polymer to form a generally optically homogeneous polyacrylonitrile polymer-SWNT dope, spinning the dope into a fiber, drawing and drying the fiber. Polyacrylonitrile/SWNT composite macroscopic fibers have substantially higher modulus and reduced shrinkage versus a polymer fiber without SWNT. A polyacrylonitrile/SWNT fiber containing 10 wt % SWNT showed over 100% increase in tensile modulus and significantly reduced thermal shrinkage compared to a control fiber without SWNT. With 10 wt % SWNT, the glass transition temperature of the polymer increased by more than 40&#xb0; C.

Macroscopic fiber comprising single-wall carbon nanotubes and acrylonitrile-based polymer and process for making the same

Growing community of inventors

Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Sreekumar Thaliyil Veedu