
Proceedings Paper
Carbon nanotube yarns: sensors, actuators, and current carriersFormat | Member Price | Non-Member Price |
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Paper Abstract
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted extensive attention in the past few years because of their appealing mechanical
and electronic properties. Yarns made through spinning multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) have been reported.
Here we report the application of these yarns as electrochemical actuators, force sensors and microwires. When extra
charge is stored in the yarns, change in length. This actuation is thought to be because of electrostatic as well as quantum
chemical effects in the nanotube backbones. We report strains up to 0.7 %. At the same time, the charged yarns can
respond to a change in the applied tension by generating a current or a potential difference that is related to the applied
tension force. As current carriers, the yarns offer a conductivity of ~300 S/cm, which increases linearly with
temperature. We report a current capacity of more than 108 A/m2, which is comparable to those of macroscopic metal
wires. However, these nanotube yarns have a density (0.8 g/cm3) that is an order of magnitude lower than metallic wires.
The MWNT yarns are mechanically strong with tensile strengths reaching 700 MPa. These properties together make
them a candidate material for use in many applications including sensors, actuators and light-weight current carriers.
Paper Details
Date Published: 10 April 2008
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 6927, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2008, 692708 (10 April 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.775476
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6927:
Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2008
Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Editor(s)
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 6927, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2008, 692708 (10 April 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.775476
Show Author Affiliations
Tissaphern Mirfakhrai, Univ. of British Columbia (Canada)
Mikhail Kozlov, Univ. of Texas at Dallas (United States)
Shaoli Fang, Univ. of Texas at Dallas (United States)
Mikhail Kozlov, Univ. of Texas at Dallas (United States)
Shaoli Fang, Univ. of Texas at Dallas (United States)
Mei Zhang, Univ. of Texas at Dallas (United States)
Ray H. Baughman, Univ. of Texas at Dallas (United States)
John D. Madden, Univ. of British Columbia (Canada)
Ray H. Baughman, Univ. of Texas at Dallas (United States)
John D. Madden, Univ. of British Columbia (Canada)
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6927:
Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2008
Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Editor(s)
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