Cellulose-Nanofiber-Enabled 3D Printing of a Carbon-Nanotube Microfiber Network

YY Li and HL Zhu and YB Wang and U Ray and SZ Zhu and JQ Dai and CJ Chen and K Fu and SH Jang and D Henderson and T Li and LB Hu, SMALL METHODS, 1, 1700222 (2017).

DOI: 10.1002/smtd.201700222

Highly conductive and mechanically strong microfibers are attractive in energy storage, thermal management, and wearable electronics. Here, a highly conductive and strong carbon nanotube/nanofibrillated cellulose (CNT-NFC) composite microfiber is developed via a fast and scalable 3D-printing method. CNTs are successfully dispersed in an aqueous solution using 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxyl (TEMPO) oxidated NFCs, resulting in a mixture solution with an obvious shear-thinning property. Both NFC and CNT fibers inside the all-fiber-based microfibers are well aligned, which helps to improve the interaction and percolation between these two building blocks, leading to a combination of high mechanical strength (247 +/- 5 MPa) and electrical conductivity (216.7 +/- 10 S cm(-1)). Molecular modeling is applied to offer further insights into the role of CNT-NFC fiber alignment for the excellent mechanical strength. The combination of high electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, and the fast yet scalable 3D-printing technology positions the CNT-NFC composite microfiber as a promising candidate for wearable electronic devices.

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