Cesano Federico, Uddin Mohammed Jasim, Damin Alessandro, Scarano Domenica
Department of Chemistry, University of Torino, Via P. Giuria, 7, 10125 Torino, Italy.
Photonics and Energy Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 Feb 28;11(3):604. doi: 10.3390/nano11030604.
Functional materials are promising candidates for application in structural health monitoring/self-healing composites, wearable systems (smart textiles), robotics, and next-generation electronics. Any improvement in these topics would be of great relevance to industry, environment, and global needs for energy sustainability. Taking into consideration all these aspects, low-cost fabrication of electrical functionalities on the outer surface of carbon-nanotube/polypropylene composites is presented in this paper. Electrical-responsive regions and conductive tracks, made of an accumulation layer of carbon nanotubes without the use of metals, have been obtained by the laser irradiation process, leading to confined polymer melting/vaporization with consequent local increase of the nanotube concentration over the electrical percolation threshold. Interestingly, by combining different investigation methods, including thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, scanning electron and atomic force microscopies (SEM, AFM), and Raman spectroscopy, the electrical properties of multi-walled carbon nanotube/polypropylene (MWCNT/PP) composites have been elucidated to unfold their potentials under static and dynamic conditions. More interestingly, prototypes made of simple components and electronic circuits (resistor, touch-sensitive devices), where conventional components have been substituted by the carbon nanotube networks, are shown. The results contribute to enabling the direct integration of carbon conductive paths in conventional electronics and next-generation platforms for low-power electronics, sensors, and devices.
功能材料有望应用于结构健康监测/自修复复合材料、可穿戴系统（智能纺织品）、机器人技术以及下一代电子产品。这些领域的任何进展都将与工业、环境以及全球对能源可持续性的需求高度相关。考虑到所有这些方面，本文介绍了在碳纳米管/聚丙烯复合材料外表面低成本制造电功能的方法。通过激光辐照工艺获得了由碳纳米管堆积层构成的电响应区域和导电轨迹，无需使用金属，这导致聚合物局部熔化/汽化，从而使纳米管浓度在电渗流阈值之上局部增加。有趣的是，通过结合多种研究方法，包括热重分析（TGA）、X射线衍射（XRD）测量、扫描电子显微镜和原子力显微镜（SEM、AFM）以及拉曼光谱，阐明了多壁碳纳米管/聚丙烯（MWCNT/PP）复合材料的电学性能，以揭示其在静态和动态条件下的潜力。更有趣的是，展示了由简单组件和电子电路（电阻器、触摸敏感设备）制成的原型，其中传统组件已被碳纳米管网络取代。这些结果有助于在传统电子学以及低功耗电子学、传感器和设备的下一代平台中直接集成碳导电路径。
