Polymer Single Crystal-Decorated Superhydrophobic Buckypaper with Controlled Wetting and Conductivity

Eric D. Laird, Wenda Wang, Shan Cheng, Bing Li, Volker Presser, Boris Dyatkin, Yury Gogotsi, and Christopher Y. Li*

A. J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States

ACS Nano, Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/nn203861s

Publication Date (Web): January 14, 2012

Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society

Abstract:

Herein we report fabrication of uniform, free-standing nanohybrid buckypaper with high carbon nanotube (CNT) contents (13–70%) using polymer single crystal-decorated CNTs as the precursor. Polyethylene single crystals were periodically grown on CNT surfaces, forming a nanohybrid shish kebab (NHSK) structure. Vacuum filtering a NHSK suspension led to polymer single crystal-decorated buckypaper (named as NHSK paper) with a wide range of CNT contents and uniform CNT dispersion. Porosity, surface roughness, and conductivity of NHSK paper can be controlled by tuning the polymer single crystal size. Because of the hierarchical roughness created by intra- and inter-NHSK nanostructure, NHSK paper with controlled kebab size exhibits both superhydrophobicity and high surface water adhesion, which mimics the rose petal effect. We anticipate that this unique NHSK paper can find applications in sensors, electrochemical devices, and coatings.