@misc{10481/62080,
year = {2019},
month = {3},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10481/62080},
abstract = {In this article, we report on an efficient post-treatment protocol for the manufacturing of
pristine single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films. To produce an ink for the deposition, the
SWCNTs are dispersed in an aqueous solution with the aid of a carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)
derivative as the dispersing agent. On the basis of this SWCNT-ink, ultra-thin and uniform films are
then fabricated by spray-deposition using a commercial and fully automated robot. By means of X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning
electron microscopy (SEM), we show that the CMC matrix covering the CNTs can be fully removed
by an immersion treatment in HNO3 followed by thermal annealing at a moderate temperature
of 100 ºC, in the ambient air. We propose that the presented protocols for the ink preparation
and the post-deposition treatments can in future serve as a facile and efficient platform for the
fabrication of high-quality and residual-free SWCNT films. The purity of SWCNT films is of particular
importance for sensing applications, where residual-induced doping and dedoping processes distort
the contributions from the sensing specimen. To study the usability of the presented films for practical
applications, gas sensors are fabricated and characterized with the CNT-films as the sensing material,
screen printed silver-based films for the interdigitated electrode (IDE) structure, and polyimide as a
flexible and robust substrate. The sensors show a high and stable response of 11% to an ammonia
(NH3) test gas, at a concentration of 10 ppm.},
organization = {The authors thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council (NSERC) for financial support of the Alberta/Technische Universität München
Graduate School for Functional Hybrid Materials ATUMS (IRTG2022, NSERC CREATE), as well as the TUM
Graduate School, the Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), and the TUM International Graduate School of
Science and Engineering (IGSSE).},
publisher = {MDPI},
keywords = {Carbon nanotubes},
keywords = {Carboxymethyl cellulose},
keywords = {Spraying},
keywords = {Dispersions},
keywords = {Sensing},
title = {A Facile and Efficient Protocol for Preparing Residual-Free Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Films for Stable Sensing Applications},
author = {Loghin, Florin and Rivadeneyra Torres, Almudena and Becherer, Markus and Lugli, Paolo and Bobinger, Marco},
}