Detachment of vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotube films from substrates and their re-attachment to arbitrary surfaces

Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan Received 31 December 2005; in final form 20 February 2006 Abstract A method for detachment of vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotube (VA-SWNT) films from substrates simply using hot water has been developed. The VA-SWNT films were peeled off spontaneously by submersing the substrate into heated (larger than 60 °C) distilled water, and the detached films floated on the water surface. The detached films could readily be re-attached onto arbitrary solid surfaces, and conservation of the vertically aligned morphology after the re-attachment was confirmed based on measurements by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, resonant Raman scattering, and optical absorption spectroscopy. A possible mechanism for the process of film detachment is discussed.