Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are cylindrical tube-like structures made of carbon atoms that display highly desirable physical properties like high strength, low weight, and excellent thermal and electrical conductivities. This makes them ideal materials for various applications, including reinforcement materials, energy storage and conversion devices, and electronics.
Despite such immense potential, however, there have been challenges in commercializing CNTs, such as their incorporation on plastic substrates for fabricating flexible CNT-based devices. Traditional fabrication methods require carefully controlled environments such as high temperatures and a clean room. Further, they require repeat transfers to produce CNTs with different resistance values.
More direct methods such as laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) and thermal fusion (TF) have been developed as alternatives. In the LIFT method, a laser is used to directly transfer CNTs onto substrates, while in TF, CNTs are mixed with polymers that are then selectively removed by a laser to form CNT wires with varying resistance values.
However, both these methods are expensive and have their unique problems. LIFT requires expensive pulsed lasers and preparation of CNTs with specific resistance values, while TF uses large amounts of CNTs that are not utilized and go to waste.
Aiming to develop a more simple and inexpensive approach, Associate Professor Dr. Takashi Ikuno along with his collaborators, Mr. Hiroaki Komatsu, Mr. Yosuke Sugita and Mr. Takahiro Matsunami at Tokyo University of Science, Japan, recently proposed a novel method that enables fabrication of multi-walled CNT (MWNT) wiring on a plastic film under ambient conditions (room temperature and atmospheric pressure) using a low-cost laser.
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