【研究成果】2014年

研究成果75

Direct Laser Writing of 3D Architectures of Aligned Carbon Nanotubes
Shota Ushiba, Satoru Shoji, Kyoko Masui, Junichiro Kono, and Satoshi Kawata
Adv. Mater. 2014, 26, 5653–5657

We have developed a technique based on two-photon polymerization lithography to fabricate arbitrary 3D structures in which aligned SWCNTs are embedded. SWCNTs are aligned along nanowires or laser scanning directions while they are embedded in the structure, as evidenced by polarized Raman microspectroscopy. The alignment is induced by spatial confi nement, volume shrinkage, and optical gradient force. The obtained composites, which exhibit the nematic order parameters up to 0.4, should lead to an enhancement of mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical properties, as anisotropic properties resemble those of individual SWCNTs, thereby opening up possibilities of making devices and systems consisting of macroscopic ensembles of aligned SWCNT. Our method can also attain vertical alignment of SWCNTs if the laser is scanned along vertical direction. Further, the alignment along vertical direction would be also enhanced with tailoring polarization of the laser beam parallel to z -direction that is created by focusing radially polarized laser beam. Our method, thus, enables alignment control in any desired directions in arbitrary 3D nanostructures, which should lead to new applications such as actuators and metamaterials.