Shear-SANS study of single-walled carbon nanotube suspensions

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-29-2005

Department

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Abstract

We report a combined shear small-angle neutron scattering (shear-SANS) and rheo-optical study of dilute aqueous suspensions of SWNT bundles dispersed using ionic surfactants. Both shear-SANS and flow birefringence reveal weak shear-induced alignment of SWNT bundles along the direction of flow. In terms of a nematic order parameter, the degree of alignment is found to increase with the shear rate, reaching ca. 0.08 at 2000 s-1. Addition of a soluble polymer to the SWNT suspensions diminishes shear-induced alignment. The factors limiting shear alignment in dilute SWNT suspensions are discussed.

Publication Title

Chemical Physics Letters

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