(70g) Morphology and Properties of Neat SWNT Fibers from Chlorosulfonic Dope

The remarkable intrinsic properties of single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) make them an attractive macromolecular building block for a wide variety of applications. Their electrical and mechanical properties make them ideal for strong, ultra-light, multifunctional materials as well as high performance electromechanical actuators and sensors. A critical obstacle in the processing of SWNTs into macroscopic articles has been their poor dispersion in common solvents. It has been shown that super acids can disperse SWNTs by protonating SWNT side-walls and counteracting the strong attractive van der Waals interactions. In particular, chlorosulfonic acid has shown an extraordinary ability to disperse SWNTs and to form an aligned liquid-crystalline microstructure at high SWNT concentrations. This microstructure directly affects the alignment and properties of the macroscopic articles we can produce. Here we describe a process for coagulation spinning neat SWNT fibers from chlorosulfonic acid-SWNT dopes. We study the effects of SWNT concentration, coagulant, and process conditions on the morphology and properties of the final fibers.