Giant Surface Conductivity Enhancement in a Carbon Nanotube Composite by Ultraviolet Light Exposure

Carbon nanotube composites are lightweight, multifunctional materials with readily adjustable mechanical and electrical properties-relevant to the aerospace, automotive, and sporting goods industries as high-performance structural materials. Here, we combine well-established and newly developed characterization techniques to demonstrate that ultraviolet (UV) light exposure provides a controllable means to enhance the electrical conductivity of the surface of a commercial carbon nanotube-epoxy composite by over 5 orders of magnitude. Our observations, combined with theory and simulations, reveal that the increase in conductivity is due to the formation of a concentrated layer of nanotubes on the composite surface. Our model implies that contacts between nanotube-rich microdomains dominate the conductivity of this layer at low UV dose, while tube-tube transport dominates at high UV dose. Further, we use this model to predictably pattern conductive traces with a UV laser, providing a facile approach for direct integration of lightweight conductors on nanocomposite surfaces.