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High-Performance Cellulose Nanofibers/Carbon Nanotubes Composite for Constructing Multifunctional Sensors and Wearable Electronics

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Abstract

The green preparation of highly dispersed carbon nanotube (CNT) conductive inks remains a critical challenge in the field of flexible electronics. Herein, a waterborne CNT dispersion approach mediated by carboxylated cellulose nanofibers (C-CNFs) was proposed. CNFs, special biomass materials with excellent nanostructures and abundant active surface groups, are used as green dispersants. During the dispersion process, benefiting from chemical charge and dimensional matching, C-CNF/CNT wicking-driven stable composite structures (CCNTs) were co-assembled via hydrogen bonding, electrostatic stabilization and π–π stacking between the interfaces, generating controlled orientational structures and promoting stable dispersion and conductivity of CNTs, which were demonstrated via molecular dynamics simulations combined with a variety of physicochemical characterization methods. The dispersion concentration of CNTs in a CCNT slurry can reach 80 wt%, and the obtained CCNT slurry has a low zeta potential (less than − 60 mV) and good stability. Due to the film-forming properties of CNFs and in-plane oriented self-assembly of CCNT, the composite self-supporting films were fabricated with high electrical conductivity (67 S cm−1) and mechanical performance (tensile strength of 153 MPa). In addition, the resulting biobased CCNT ink is compatible with a variety of printing processes and adaptable to various substrates. Moreover, this ink can be used to construct multifunctional advanced sensors with electrochemical, electrothermal, and deformation/piezoresistive responses, which demonstrate excellent performance in monitoring human health.

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The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information files.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the International Joint Research Center for Biomass Chemistry and Materials, Shaanxi International Science and Technology Cooperation Base (2018GHJD-19), Shaanxi Key Industry Innovation Chain Projects (2020ZDLGY11-03), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22378247), and the Shaanxi Qin Chuangyuan Project of "Scientist + Engineer" team construction (2022KXJ-135): a team of “scientists + engineers” of fibre-based biofilter plates. The authors would like to thank Prof. Xincun Dou of the Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Trace Chemicals Sensing of Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, CAS, for helpful discussions on topics related to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Bioresources Chemical and Materials Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Papermaking Technology and Specialty Paper Development, Key Laboratory of Paper Based Functional Materials of China National Light Industry, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Light Chemistry Engineering Education, Xi’an, 710021, China

    Yali Liu, Sufeng Zhang, Lei Li & Nan Li

  2. Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Trace Chemicals Sensing, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ürümqi, 830011, China

    Yali Liu

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  1. Yali Liu
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Correspondence to Sufeng Zhang.

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Liu, Y., Zhang, S., Li, L. et al. High-Performance Cellulose Nanofibers/Carbon Nanotubes Composite for Constructing Multifunctional Sensors and Wearable Electronics. Adv. Fiber Mater. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-024-00388-7

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