Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered the most promising candidates to replace Cu and Al in a large number of electrical, mechanical and thermal applications. Although most CNT industrial applications require macro and micro size CNT fiber assemblies, several techniques to make conducting CNT fibers, threads, yarns and ropes have been reported to this day, and improvement of their electrical a...

Different grades of chemically functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been processed by spraying layer-by-layer (sLbL) to obtain an array of chemoresistive transducers for volatile organic compound (VOC) detection. The sLbL process led to random networks of CNT less conductive, but more sensitive to vapors than filtration under vacuum (bucky papers). Shorter CNT were also found to be more s...

Vertical carbon nanotube (CNT) forests bonded at room temperature with sprayed on nanoscale polymer coatings are found by measurement to produce thermal resistances that are on a par with those of conventional metallic solders. These results are achieved by reducing the high contact resistance at CNT tips, which has hindered the development of high performance thermal interface materials based ...

In order to successfully utilize stem cells for therapeutic applications in regenerative medicine, efficient differentiation into a specific cell lineage and guidance of axons in a desired direction is crucial. Here, we used aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) sheets to differentiate human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) into neural cells. Human MSCs present a preferential adhesion to a...

Among a variety of solution-based approaches to fabricate anisotropic films of aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs), we focus on the dielectrophoretic assembly method using AC electric fields in DNA-stabilized CNT suspensions. We demonstrate that a one-stop manufacturing system using electrode needles can draw anisotropic DNA-CNT hybrid films of 10 to 100 µm in size (i.e., free-standing DNA-CNT micr...

Water transportation inside carbon nanotubes is of great importance for designing novel nanodevices. In this article, by using molecular dynamics simulations, we systematically investigate the pumping of water by rotating carbon nanotube (CNT). It is found that the chirality and rotation of the CNT are two preconditions for stable water flux inside it. Besides, we find that the water flux shows...

We report the synthesis of carbon nanotube/TiC hybrid fibers using a polymer-assisted chemical solution approach. Ti metal ions are bound to aqueous polyethyleneimine (PEI) to form precursor solution. Amphiphilic PEI with Ti easily permeates the CNT fibers. Upon annealing in a controlled atmosphere, a homogeneous TiC network is formed in the CNT fibers. The obtained CNT/TiC hybrid fibers show p...

In this communication we discuss the in vivo parameters such tissue distribution, body clearance and toxicity following administration of carbon nanotubes (CNT). For this propose, therapeutically-relevant doses of serum protein-coated purified CNT (pCNT) and functionalized CNT (f-CNT) were administered intravenously in rodent species. Striking differences were found between the liver and lung t...

We theoretically studied the electronic and electrical properties of metallic and semiconducting peapods with encapsulated C60 (C60@CNT) as a function of the carbon nanotube (CNT) diameter. For exothermic peapods (CNT diameter > 11.8 Å), only minor changes, ascribed to a small structural deformation of the nanotube walls, were observed. These include a small electron charge transfer (less than ...

Although many methods have been documented for carbon nanotube (CNT) synthesis, still, we notice many arguments, criticisms, and appeals for its optimization and process control. Industrial grade CNT production is urgent such that invention of novel methods and engineering principles for large-scale synthesis are needed. Here, we comprehensively review arc discharge (AD) and laser ablation (LA)...