Dip coating for the alignment of carbon nanotubes on curved surfaces

Abstract

The preferential orientation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on a substrate using a dip-coating approach is described. The extraction of a steel fiber from a dispersion of CNTs provides the necessary forces required for preferential orientation of the CNTs on the fiber surface. We study the effect of the orientation of the long axis of the fiber relative to the direction of the extraction. We conclude that shorter CNTs are not as susceptible to these shear forces. The preferential orientation of CNTs is expected to provide a simple method for isolating one-dimensional nanostructures for imaging and analysis.