Covalently interlinked carbon nanotube (CNT) networks are of interest since they are expected to have useful thermal and electrical transport, robust mechanical properties and highly accessible surface area. Even though covalently bonded CNT junctions have been formed in the past by focused high temperature irradiation on individual overlapping nanotubes with ion or electron beams, these welding techniques address single CNT intersections one-at-a-time which is impractical if the formation of large covalent CNT networks is desired. Here, we report the production of large-area (cm<sup>2</sup>-scale) networks of individually inter-welded CNTs by exposing previously synthesized nanotubes to a secondary chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in presence of Fe nanoparticles. In this process, several dry-state drawn sheets of preferentially aligned CNTs were overlapped onto each other and wrapped around perforated-pyrolytic graphitic substrates that were later exposed to the CVD of ethanol at 950 C in an Ar/H<sub>2</sub> (15%) atmosphere. Such process resulted in the formation of a continuous carbon over-coating on the original CNT framework with clearly identifiable X-, Y- and T- junction-like morphologies among individual nanotubes comprising the obtained covalently bonded network. While we are still studying the mechanical and structural properties of this material, we envisage it might have an important impact for future practical applications, such as heat transport applications or composite reinforcement.

Large area carbon nanotubes networks via nanoscale welding

252nd National Meeting (2016)

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