Technology Summary

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been proposed and demonstrated as promising candidates for numerous applications in the emerging nanotechnologies due to their high mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, surface area, and chemical functionalizability. Most of these applications require macroscopic structures. However, in most cases, the properties of the macrostructured materials are abysmal compared to that of the individual CNTs. This invention provides a way to processes CNT powder into flexible, robust, and binder-free macro-size membranes using a liquid-phase post-synthesis self-assembly (LP-PSSA) technique. A high-density liquid is used to spontaneously suspend the CNT powder and induce self-assembly, while the removal of the liquid via cryogenic trapping leads to the formation of the membrane.