Dispersing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using surfactants into water requires ultrasonication that supplies mechanical energy to debundle and exfoliate CNTs. However, sonication is known to damage CNTs and to cut them into short fragments. Also, the CNT concentration in water dispersion is typically limited to up to 1.0 wt %. Here, we show that by using a sulfuric acid pretreatment, we can enhance the debundling of CNTs and reduce subsequent sonication to achieve homogeneous dispersions without damaging CNTs. Additionally, using a progressive and controlled dialysis, we are able to increase the CNT concentration up to 1.8 wt %. We demonstrate that such highly concentrated dispersions can be used as spin dopes to fabricate continuous fibers. Our fibers have an electrical conductivity up to 580 kS/m, a tensile strength of ∼1 GPa, and a Young’s modulus of 123 GPa, exceeding the mechanical properties of related fibers made from conventional surfactant-stabilized dispersions of sonicated CNTs.

中文翻译：

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碳纳米管在柔性和导电纤维中的高浓度水分散体

使用表面活性剂将碳纳米管（CNT）分散到水中需要超声处理，超声处理需要提供机械能来使CNT剥离和剥落。但是，超声处理会损坏CNT并将其切成短片段。而且，水分散体中的CNT浓度通常限制为至多1.0重量％。在这里，我们表明，通过使用硫酸预处理，我们可以增强CNT的去捆束并减少随后的超声处理，以实现均匀的分散，而不会损坏CNT。另外，通过进行性和受控的透析，我们能够将CNT浓度提高到1.8 wt％。我们证明了这种高度浓缩的分散体可以用作纺丝原液以制造连续纤维。我们的纤维具有高达580 kS / m的电导率，抗拉强度约为1 GPa，