Macroscopic fibers and ribbons of oriented carbon nanotubes

A simple method was used to assemble single-walled carbon nanotubes into in definitely long ribbons and fibers. The processing consists of dispersing t he nanotubes in surfactant solutions, recondensing the nanotubes in the flo w of a polymer solution to form a nanotube mesh, and then collating this me sh to a nanotube fiber. Flow-induced alignment may Lead to a preferential o rientation of the nanotubes in the mesh that has the form of a ribbon. Unli ke classical carbon fibers, the nanotube fibers can be strongly bent withou t breaking. Their obtained elastic modulus is 10 times higher than the modu lus of high-quality bucky paper.