Furthermore, the 50% drop in buckypaper resistance by the approximately fourfold increase in SWCNT length (350 to 1,500 μm in forest height) indicate the strong effect of CNT-CNT junctions on the electrical resistance of SWCNT assemblies. High tensile strength in buckypaper fabricated from high SWCNT forests Another advantage of buckypaper made from tall SWCNT forests shown by the present study for the first time is the improved mechanical properties, i.e., high tensile strength and breaking strain. Tensile test samples were cut into a dog bone-shape from the sheet with the dimension of 40 mm Selleck NSC23766 (length) × 2 mm (width). The extension

rate and the gauge length were 1.0 mm/min and 20 mm, respectively.

The tests were performed using a Micro Autograph MST-I (Shimadzu Co., Kyoto, Japan) with 100-N load cell. As reported by previous papers [34], tensile strength increased linearly with the mass density (Figure 3a); therefore, we compared the mechanical properties of buckypapers of similar mass densities approximately 0.63 g/cm3. Importantly, for an increase in forest height from 350 to 1,500 μm, both tensile strength and breaking strain increased by about 100% (27 to 52 MPa and 1.5% to 2.9%, respectively). In other words, the use of taller forests resulted in buckypapers which could withstand www.selleckchem.com/products/pnd-1186-vs-4718.html larger loads and strains. There were no major differences in Young’s modulus (i.e., stress/strain) regardless of forest height indicating similar interfacial contact between CNTs, as shown in Figure 3b. The mechanism by which mechanical strength was Ribonucleotide reductase observed to improve through

using tall forests can be interpreted in an analogous manner to that for improvement in electrical conductivity; in other words, the longer the CNT, the fewer the junctions as weak points for load transfer. Figure 3 Tensile strength (a) and stress–strain curves of buckypapers (b). (a) The tensile strength of buckypapers as a function of the mass density of buckypapers. (b) Red, black, and blue dots indicate the buckypaper fabricated from SWCNT forest with the heights of 1,500, 700, and 350 μm, respectively. Relationship between forest height and SWCNT length Additional insight can be garnered from the improvement in electrical and mechanical properties in tall forests on the actual length of the SWCNTs in a forest. Thus far, no direct evidence has been shown regarding this point. Our results indicate that the length of the SWCNTs within the forest is equal to the forest height. Furthermore, we quantitatively discuss the effect of individual SWCNT length on electrical conductance and load transfer.