Development of Metal Carbon Nanotube Composite Yarn with High Electric Conductivity and Current Capacity

Abstract

Carbon nanotube (CNT) is attracted a lot of attention for new conductors because of its high current capacity, comparing with copper. In past study, carbon nanotube-copper (CNT-Cu) composite sheet was developed, which exhibiting similar conductivity as copper, but with a 100-times higher current capacity. However, since the length of CNT-Cu conductors was limited to several hundred μm long, the problem that using CNT with high electrical properties macroscopically remains to be solved. Therefore, in this study, untwisted CNT yarn was prepared by drawing multiwall carbon nanotube through die and was electroplated to realize metal CNT composite yarn with high electric conductivity and current capacity. For the influence of copper oxide layer, the electrical property of copper CNT composite yarn (CNT-Cu) showed a poor improvement from the untreated CNT yarn. On the other hand, both conductivity and current capacity of gold CNT composite yarn (CNT-Au) showed a higher value by the heat treating at 800°C, comparing with that of untreated CNT-Au.