Design and fabrication for high-performance carbon nanotube fibers

Although carbon nanotube fibers (CNTFs) and carbon nanotube yarns (CNTYs), which have attracted attention as electrode materials in the fields of sensing, wearable devices, and electrochemical batteries, are not only lightweight but also possess excellent flexibility, their tensile strength and elastic modulus are inferior to those of conventional carbon fibers owing to the interfacial slip caused by weak interactions between adjacent nanotubes. In actuality, it is difficult to introduce covalent bonds between nanotubes. Here, we attempt to synthesize CNTFs cross-linked between nanotubes by a fluorination-defluorination process and investigate their electronic and mechanical properties.