(128d) Layer-by-Layer Assembly of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube Polymeric Nanocomposites: Structural Control and Material Properties

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are widely acclaimed by their superior physicochemical properties. However, fabrication of high quality SWNT-polymer nanocomposites with corresponding properties of SWNTs has known to be very difficult due to lack of ability to control the molecular structure of the composites. In this scientific context, SWNT-polymer composites fabricated with layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly have been revealed to be promising because the technique allows for uniform dispersion and high loading of SWNTs in the polymeric matrix. Here, we introduce a SWNT - poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) - poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanocomposite fabricated by LBL assembly. We also demonstrate the ability to control the nanoarchitecture of this LBL assembly by ?SWNT combing?, a technique developed to control the direction of SWNT alignments. The realized nanoarchitectures of the composites are directly observed by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). These molecularly controlled composites exhibit both excellent electrical conductivity and mechanical property with 50% of SWNT content. These material functionalities are found to be strongly affected by the molecular structure between SWNTs and polymer matrices as well as the properties of SWNTs.