Additive-free carbon nanotube dispersions, pastes, gels, and doughs in cresols.

ABSTRACT: Cresols are a group of naturally occurring and massively produced methylphenols with broad use in the chemical industry. Here, we report that m-cresol and its liquid mixtures with other isomers are surprisingly good solvents for processing carbon nanotubes. They can disperse carbon nanotubes of various types at unprecedentedly high concentrations of tens of weight percent, without the need for any dispersing agent or additive. Cresols interact with carbon nanotubes by charge transfer through the phenolic hydroxyl proton and can be removed after processing by evaporation or washing, without altering the surface of carbon nanotubes. Cresol solvents render carbon nanotubes polymer-like rheological and viscoelastic properties and processability. As the concentration of nanotubes increases, a c

SUBMITTER: Chiou K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5984515 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature