Rice University makes new progress in manufacturing the best carbon nanotube fibers for industry

Article source: Carbon Fiber Experience Hall? The reporter learned that the carbon nanotube fibers produced by Rice University are now stronger than Kevlar fibers, and the conductivity of copper is also becoming less and less
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The lab of Rice chemical and biomolecular engineer Matteo Pasquali reported on the Carbon website that it has developed the strongest and most conductive fiber, which is made from long carbon nanotubes through a wet spinning process
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? In this new study led by graduate students Lauren Taylor and Oliver Dewey at Rice University, the researchers pointed out that wet-spun carbon nanotube fibers may lead to breakthroughs in many medical and material applications.
Its strength and electrical conductivity change every three years.
Once again, this trend has spanned nearly two decades
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Although this may never be able to imitate Moore's Law, which has set the benchmark for the development of computer chips for decades, Pasquali and his team are doing their part to advance their pioneering method of making carbon nanotube fibers
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? There are tens of millions of linear fibers in the laboratory.
They are currently under study.
They are used as a bridge to repair the damaged heart, as an electrical interface with the brain, for cochlear implants, as flexible antennas, and for Automotive and aerospace applications
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? They are also part of Carbon Hub, which is a multi-university research project initiated by Rice in 2019, creating a zero-emission future with the support of Shell, Prysmian and Mitsubishi
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? Pasquali said: "Carbon nanotube fibers have long been touted for their potential superior performance
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" "Twenty years of research in Rice and other places have made this potential possible
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Now, we need a global scale.
To improve production efficiency so that these materials can be manufactured with zero carbon dioxide emissions, and it is possible to produce clean hydrogen at the same time
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" Taylor said: "The purpose of this article is to present the record performance of the fibers produced in our laboratory
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" "These improvements mean that our strength now exceeds that of Kevlar fiber, which is a huge achievement for us.

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Double that and we will surpass the strongest fiber on the market
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? The tensile strength of the flexible Leis fiber is 4.
2 gigapascals (GPa), while the Kevlar fiber is 3.
6 GPa
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The fiber needs long nanotubes with high crystallinity
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In other words, the regular arrangement of carbon atoms is almost No defects
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Dewey said that the acidic solution used in the Rice process also helps to reduce impurities that may interfere with the strength of the fiber, and to enhance the metallic properties of the nanotubes through residual doping
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? He said: "The length or width of the nanotubes Ratio is the decisive feature that determines the performance of our fibers
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"He pointed out that the surface area of ​​the 12-micron nanotubes used in the Rice fiber contributes to better van der Waals bonds
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"This also helps to control the growth of nanotubes by controlling the amount of metal impurities in the catalyst as well as the nanotube collaborators.
So-called amorphous carbon impurities to optimize solution processing
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The researchers said that the electrical conductivity of this fiber has been increased to 10.
9 megasiemens (million Siemens) per meter
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Dewey said: "This is the first time that carbon nanotube fibers have exceeded the 10 megasiemens threshold, so we have changed the nanotube fiber The order of magnitude increased to a new order of magnitude
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"He said that after normalization by weight, the Lays fiber can reach about 80% of the copper conductivity
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? Taylor said: "But we have surpassed platinum wire, which is a huge achievement for us.
And the thermal conductivity of fiber pitch is better than any metal and any synthetic fiber, except pitch graphite fiber
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Dewey said that the goal of the laboratory is to make the production of high-efficiency fibers both efficient and cheap enough to be adopted by the industry on a large scale
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In the production of other types of fibers, including Kevlar, solution processing is very important.
Common, so the factory can use the familiar process without a lot of re-equipment
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? He said: "The advantage of our method is that it is actually plug-and-play
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""It has inherent scalability and matches the way synthetic fibers are made
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? Taylor said: "There is a perception that carbon nanotubes will never acquire all the properties that people have been hyping up for decades
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"But we are achieving fruitful results every year
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It is not easy, but we still firmly believe that this technology will change the world
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The co-authors of the paper are Rice alumni Robert Headrick
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Graduate students Natsumi Komatsu and Nicolas Marquez Peraca; Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Geoff Wehmeyer; and Karl F.
Hasselmann Professor of Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics and Astronomy, Materials Science and Nano Engineering Junichiro Kono.

Pasquali is AJ Hartsook Professor, Chemistry and Biomolecular Engineering, Chemistry, Materials Science and Nano Engineering
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? US Air Force Research Office, The Robert A.
Welch Foundation, the Office of Advanced Manufacturing of the Department of Energy and the Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency provided support for this research
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