Abstract-Anisotropic terahertz response of stretch-aligned composite films based on carbon nanotube-SiC hybrid structures

Ruili Wu,   Weilong Li,   Yun Wan,   Zhaoyu Ren,   Xin Long Xu and  Yixuan Zhou  

RSC Adv., 2015, Accepted Manuscript

DOI: 10.1039/C4RA14871A
Received 19 Nov 2014, Accepted 09 Mar 2015
First published online 10 Mar 2015
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2015/ra/c4ra14871a#!divAbstract

Well-organized CNT-SiC hybrid structures were prepared by floating catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) process. The aligned CNTs-based composite materials were also fabricated by simply stretching. Gelatin and CNT-SiC hybrid structures were taken as the matrix and fillers, respectively. The alignment of CNT-SiC hybrids and anisotropic properties of the composite materials were discussed by the detection of THz time-domain spectroscopy technology. The results indicated that the anisotropic properties of CNT-SiC hybrids based composite films are better than the case of pure MWCNTs. The unique structure of hybrids not only largely favors the dispersion of CNTs in polymer matrix, but also favors the alignment of CNTs in the composites by stretching. The CNTs-based composite films with further improving the anisotropy are highly desirable for various modern applications in the electrical and optical industry (such as the polarizer).