Controlled liquid crystal behavior of graphene oxide/single walled carbon nanotube mixtures for continuous multi hole...

Liquid-crystalline (LC)-spinning of graphene oxide (GO) is a promising method for producing conducting fibres. However, achieving continuous wet-spinning via a multi-hole spinneret with organic solvent-based spinning dopes remains challenging, primarily because of the limitations in coagulation without ion crosslinking agents, such as Ca²⁺ and Fe³⁺. In this study, we report the colloidal engineering of an LC GO-based spinning dope with highly oxidised single-walled carbon nanotubes (ox-SWCNTs) for continuous multi-hole wet-spinning. With 10 wt% ox-SWCNTs, GO retains its LC phase using a controlled solvent exchange strategy in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, which is a prerequisite for wet-spinning. The heterogeneous mixing of the ox-SWCNTs in the LC GO phase allows coagulation in ethyl acetate within a few seconds, which is facilitated by the rapid exchange of the dope solvent and coagulant through the ox-SWCNT networks. Moreover, ox-SWCNTs are utilised to modify fibre surfaces for applications in textile supercapacitors. The GO/ox-SWCNT@ox-SWCNT fibres exhibit an enhanced specific capacity of 138 mF/cm². This study presents a promising approach for the continuous wet-spinning of nanocarbon materials through a multi-hole spinneret for textile electronics, addressing the challenges associated with dispersion in colloidal nanocarbon systems.