Method for transferring carbon nanotube array and method for forming carbon nanotube structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9469530-B2
Application number	US-201414310295-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 20, 2014
Priority date	Mar 31, 2014
Publication date	Oct 18, 2016
Grant date	Oct 18, 2016

Abstract

A method for transferring a carbon nanotube array is provided. A substitute substrate, a growing substrate, and a carbon nanotube array grown on the growing substrate are provided. The carbon nanotube array has a bottom surface adjacent to the growing substrate and a top surface away from the growing substrate. The substitute substrate is placed on the top surface of the carbon nanotube array and liquid medium is sandwiched between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array. The liquid medium is solidified between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array. The substitute substrate is separated from the growing substrate to separate the bottom surface of the carbon nanotube array from the growing substrate. The solid medium is removed between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array. A method for forming a carbon nanotube structure is also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for transferring a carbon nanotube array, the method comprising:
providing a substitute substrate, a growing substrate, and a carbon nanotube array grown on the growing substrate, the carbon nanotube array having a bottom surface adjacent to the growing substrate and a top surface away from the growing substrate, the carbon nanotube array being configured for drawing a carbon nanotube structure therefrom;
placing the substitute substrate on the top surface of the carbon nanotube array and sandwiching liquid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array;
solidifying the liquid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array into solid medium;
separating the substitute substrate from the growing substrate, thereby separating the bottom surface of the carbon nanotube array from the growing substrate; and
removing the solid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array, the carbon nanotube array still being configured for drawing the carbon nanotube structure from the substitute substrate.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carbon nanotube structure is a carbon nanotube film or a carbon nanotube wire.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carbon nanotube structure comprises a plurality of carbon nanotubes joined end to end.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the liquid medium is in a shape of a plurality of droplets, mist, or film.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein a diameter of the droplet and a thickness of the film is in a range from about 10 nanometers to about 300 microns.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sandwiching the liquid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array comprises:
forming the liquid medium on the top surface of the carbon nanotube array; and
contacting a surface of the substitute substrate and the liquid medium on the top surface with each other.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the solidifying the liquid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array comprises contacting the substitute substrate having a temperature below a freezing point with the liquid medium on the top surface of the carbon nanotube array.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sandwiching the liquid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array comprises:
forming the liquid medium on a surface of the substitute substrate; and
contacting the top surface of the carbon nanotube array and the liquid medium on the surface of the substitute substrate with each other.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the solidifying the liquid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array comprises placing a lamination of the growing substrate, the carbon nanotube array, the liquid medium, and the substitute substrate into a freezer, the freezer having an internal temperature below a freezing point of the liquid medium.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carbon nanotube array comprises a plurality of carbon nanotubes, and during the separating the carbon nanotube array from the growing substrate, substantially all carbon nanotubes are simultaneously detached from the growing substrate.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carbon nanotube array comprises a plurality of carbon nanotubes, and the carbon nanotubes of the carbon nanotube array are detached from the growing substrate along a growing direction of the carbon nanotubes.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the growing substrate comprises a growing surface for growing the carbon nanotube array, and a moving direction of at least one of the substitute substrate and the growing substrate is substantially perpendicular to a growing surface of the growing substrate during the moving of the at least one of the substitute substrate and the growing substrate.

13. A method for transferring a carbon nanotube array, the method comprising:
providing a first substrate, a second substrate, and a carbon nanotube array grown on the first substrate, the carbon nanotube array having a bottom surface adjacent to the first substrate and a top surface away from the first substrate, the carbon nanotube array being configured for drawing a carbon nanotube structure therefrom;
placing the second substrate on the top surface of the carbon nanotube array and sandwiching liquid medium between the second substrate and the carbon nanotube array;
solidifying the liquid medium between the second substrate and the carbon nanotube array;
separating the second substrate from the first substrate, thereby separating the bottom surface of the carbon nanotube array from the first substrate; and
removing the solid medium between the second substrate and the carbon nanotube array, the carbon nanotube array still being configured for drawing the carbon nanotube structure from the second substrate.

14. A method for forming a carbon nanotube structure, the method comprising:
providing a substitute substrate, a growing substrate, and a carbon nanotube array grown on the growing substrate, the carbon nanotube array having a bottom surface adjacent to the growing substrate and a top surface away from the growing substrate, the carbon nanotube array being configured for drawing a carbon nanotube structure therefrom;
placing the substitute substrate on the top surface of the carbon nanotube array and sandwiching liquid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array;
solidifying the liquid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array;
separating the substitute substrate from the growing substrate, thereby separating the bottom surface of the carbon nanotube array from the growing substrate;
removing the solid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array, the carbon nanotube array still being configured for drawing the carbon nanotube structure from the substitute substrate; and
drawing the carbon nanotube structure from the carbon nanotube array on the substitute substrate.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the removing the solid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array comprises evaporating the solid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the removing the solid medium between the second substrate and the carbon nanotube array comprises evaporating the solid medium between the second substrate and the carbon nanotube array.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the removing the solid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array comprises evaporating the solid medium between the substitute substrate and the carbon nanotube array.

Assignees

• Univ Tsinghua
• Hon Hai Prec Ind Co Ltd

Inventors

• Wei Yang
• Wei Hao-Ming
• Jiang Kai-Li
• Fan Shou-Shan

Classifications

• B82Y40/00 Primary

  Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures · CPC title

• C01B32/168

  After-treatment · CPC title

• C01B32/16 Primary

  Preparation · CPC title

• C01B31/0226

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• C01B31/0253

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic