Wet spinning of continuous polymer-free carbon-nanotube fibers with high electrical conductivity and strength

We report on the fabrication of polymer-free carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers by a novel wet spinning method combined with a very easy and straightforward fabrication process. These fibers exhibited high electrical conductivity (14,284 +/- 169 S.cm(-1)) and tensile strength (887 +/- 37MPa). Such high performance was made possible by the preparation of free-standing CNT fibers from a surfactant solution containing uniformly dispersed CNTs, despite the use of an organic coagulating solvent and subsequent stretching to align the CNTs in the fiber. (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics