Versatile transfer of aligned carbon nanotubes with polydimethylsiloxane as theintermediate

Abstract

A simple technique to transfer aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) isdemonstrated in this work. With polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as the transfer medium,as-grown or patterned MWCNT arrays are directly transferred onto a wide variety ofPt-coated substrates such as glossy paper, cloth, polymers, glass slides, and metal foils atlow temperatures. The surface of the transferred CNTs is cleaner with better alignment,compared with the as-grown one. Furthermore, the transferred CNTs show strong adhesionand good electric contact with the target substrates. A maximal current density of∼104 A cm−2 has been achieved from the CNT interconnects prepared with this technique.Because of the lower density and open-ended structures, improved field emissionperformance has been obtained from CNTs transferred on polymers, based onwhich flexible emitter devices can be fabricated. In addition, the surface oftransferred CNTs becomes more hydrophilic, with an averaged contact angle of93.4 ± 5.8°, in contrast to the super-hydrophobic as-grown CNT surface (contact angle151.6 ± 5.5°). With versatile properties and flexible applications, the technique provides a simple andcost-effective way towards future nanodevices based on CNTs.