Here, we report our understanding of carbon nanotube (CNT) solution coating and wire drawing processes toward fabricating high conductivity coated conductors from millimeters long CNTs. The approach studied here enables the formation of dense and aligned coatings of CNTs on various substrate wires. To achieve the coating, millimeters long and vertically aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube arrays were first dispersed in diluted sulfuric acid via mild shear mixing, forming mesoscale CNT fibrils. The resulting fibrils were solution coated onto a substrate wire (i.e., nylon or copper here) and the coating was subsequently wire drawn. During each drawing step, the CNT coated wire was passed through a die to decrease the coating thickness and to coax the CNTs to pack. Effects of various key processing parameters on the structure and resulting electrical conductivity of the coated wires were investigated. Especially, it was shown that the coating quality was strongly controlled by the surface characteristics of the wire former, where both a rough and hydrophobic surface were required. Microscopy and Raman spectroscopy were utilized to probe the structure of CNTs in the coatings. The continuous coating process discussed here can be used to manufacture high conductivity coatings for applications such as electrical wiring, electromagnetic and radio frequency shielding, electrostatic dissipation, and radar absorption. This approach holds the promise for the scalable manufacturing of lightweight CNT-based conductors.

中文翻译：

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致力于可扩展制造的碳纳米管涂层导体

在这里，我们报告了我们对碳纳米管（CNT）溶液涂层和拉丝工艺的理解，以从毫米长的CNTs制造高电导率涂层的导体。此处研究的方法可以在各种基材线上形成致密且排列整齐的CNT涂层。为了获得涂层，首先通过温和的剪切混合将毫米长且垂直排列的多壁碳纳米管阵列分散在稀硫酸中，形成中尺度的CNT原纤维。将所得的原纤维溶液涂覆在基底线材（即此处的尼龙或铜）上，随后将涂层线材拉丝。在每个拉伸步骤中，将CNT涂覆的导线穿过模具以减小涂层厚度并哄骗CNT进行包装。研究了各种关键加工参数对包覆线的结构和所得电导率的影响。特别地，表明了涂层质量由线形成器的表面特性强烈地控制，其中既需要粗糙的表面又需要疏水的表面。利用显微镜和拉曼光谱来探测涂层中CNT的结构。本文讨论的连续涂层工艺可用于制造高导电率涂层，例如电线，电磁和射频屏蔽，静电消散和雷达吸收等应用。这种方法有望实现可扩展制造的轻质CNT基导体。结果表明，镀层质量受到成型机表面特性的强烈控制，成型机既需要粗糙的表面又需要疏水的表面。利用显微镜和拉曼光谱来探测涂层中CNT的结构。本文讨论的连续涂层工艺可用于制造高导电率涂层，例如电线，电磁和射频屏蔽，静电消散和雷达吸收等应用。这种方法有望实现可扩展制造的轻质CNT基导体。结果表明，涂​​层质量是由焊丝成型机的表面特性强烈控制的，在成型机上既需要粗糙的表面又需要疏水的表面。利用显微镜和拉曼光谱来探测涂层中CNT的结构。本文讨论的连续涂层工艺可用于制造高导电率涂层，例如电线，电磁和射频屏蔽，静电消散和雷达吸收等应用。这种方法有望实现可扩展制造的轻质CNT基导体。本文讨论的连续涂层工艺可用于制造高导电率涂层，例如电线，电磁和射频屏蔽，静电消散和雷达吸收等应用。这种方法有望实现可扩展制造的轻质CNT基导体。本文讨论的连续涂层工艺可用于制造高导电率涂层，例如电线，电磁和射频屏蔽，静电消散和雷达吸收等应用。这种方法有望实现可扩展制造的轻质CNT基导体。