Wicking-Driven Evaporation Self-Assembly of Carbon Nanotubes on Fabrics: Generating Controlled Orientational...

Nanostructures with orientational order exhibit excellent electrical and optical properties; however, their construction on complex fabrics is challenging. Here, we demonstrate the potential of wicking-driven evaporation self-assembly in the oriented arrangement of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on fabrics. The solution-evaporation self-assembly in combination with the fabric wicking effect leads to convective flows along the fibers, which makes it possible to prepare orientational nanostructures over large fabric surface areas. The orientation of CNTs is controlled by the fluid drag force from the convective flow during drying, thus the interaction between the CNT and the solution is crucial. We show that the nanostructures of CNTs on fibers depend, for example, on the evaporation temperature, component concentration, and solution pH. Weakening the viscous connection of the fluid with CNTs can lead to an interesting eddy nanostructure of CNTs. The electrical conductivity of the assembled fabrics increases strongly with the degree of orientation and the assembly cycles of CNTs. In this work, the large-scale orientational order of nanomaterial achieved by wicking-driven evaporation self-assembly offers a new strategy for constructing three-dimensional oriented conductive networks in electronic textiles.