ADHESION TEST OF CARBON NANOTUBE FILM COATED ONTO TRANSPARENT CONDUCTING SUBSTRATES

Abstract

We examined the adhesion of carbon nanotube films coated on transparent substrates. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) dispersed with sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (NaDDBS) in water were sprayed onto polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrates to form thin films. Scotch™ tape was then used to detach some loosely bound SWCNTs. Conventional peel-off method to measure adhesion fails in carbon nanotube (CNT) film mainly due to ill-defined detached area of entangled CNTs. We propose here a new adhesion factor which is defined by using transmittance before and after detachment. The adhesion factor was strongly correlated to film thickness. We also found that the SWCNT adhesion to the substrate was strongly dependent on the surface roughness of the substrate due to mechanical interlocking effects.