PREPARATION OF TRANSPARENT CONDUCTIVE THIN PREPARATION OF TRANSPARENT CONDUCTIVE THIN

FILMS THROUGH POLYMERIZATION OF METHYL FILMS THROUGH POLYMERIZATION OF METHYL

METHACRYLATE ONTO ELECTROPHORETICALLY METHACRYLATE ONTO ELECTROPHORETICALLY

DEPOSITED CARBON NANOTUBE SHEETSDEPOSITED CARBON NANOTUBE SHEETS

Silvia Bittolo Bon, Luca Valentini, Francesco Mengoni, Josè Kenny

Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Perugia, NIPLAB – INSTM Research Unit, 05100 Terni – Italy

Poster PD10

DISPERSION ACHIEVEMENTDISPERSION ACHIEVEMENT

C-SWNTs

from CH3CN (good nanotube

dispersant)

SWNTs

from CH3CN (hardly dissolved)

Sonication+Centrifugation

SWNTsSWNTs

Stable dark suspension

Sonication+Centrifugation

Unsoluble in this solvent

The nanotubes were deposited onto Fluorine Doped Tin Oxide (FTO)

(surface resistance 14/sq) that was kept parallel to an opposite gold

electrode. A dc voltage of +6 V was applied to the FTO work electrode

maintaining the gold plate at ground; the deposition of carbon nanotubes

films of varying thickness was observed on the positive electrode.

See article review of A. R. Boccaccini et al. Carbon 44 (2006) 3149–3160

Electrodeposited CNTs as template for the preparation of

transparent conductive thin films by in situ polymerization

of MMA

These structures precisely retain the nanotube original shape and size inside the resulting composite matrix, even after the

polymerization process and the subsequent peeling off from the substrate. The resulting PMMA is found to coat the SWCNTs as

observed from an high-resolution SEM image of composites.

400 600 800 10000

20

40

60

80

100

carboxy-SWCNTscarboxy-SWCNTs/PMMA

PMMA

Tra

nsm

ittan

ce [%

]

Wavelength [nm]

-2 -1 0 1 210-9

10-7

10-5

10-3

10-1

Cu

rre

nt

[A]

Voltage [V]

carboxy-SWCNTs/PMMA carboxy-SWCNTs

C-SWCNTs/PMMAPMMA C-SWCNTs

0

4

8

12

16

carboxy-SWCNTs/PMMA

PMMA carboxy-SWCNTs

fto

a)

Red

uced

Mod

ulus

[GP

a]

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

carboxy-SWCNTs/PMMA

carboxy-SWCNTs

fto PMMA

b)

H

ardn

ess

[GP

a]

There is a relevant difference between the moduli of the PMMA and carboxy-SWCNTs/PMMA while for the nanotube reinforced composite the hardness

increases ≈ 2 times in comparison to the PMMA.

CONCLUDING REMARKSCONCLUDING REMARKS

• We have demonstrated that SWCNTs can be electrodeposited to form a new type of functional nanostructure.

• The excellent conducting behaviour of the nanocomposite are envisaged to make it very useful for the development of electronic micro-devices for practical applications.

• We report an easy route toward the development of transparent conductive nanotube-polymer thin films made by infiltration of monomer and subsequent polymerization into a nanotube film electrophoretically deposited.