Iodine doped carbon nanotube cables exceeding specific electrical conductivity of metals

• Published in: Scientific reports 2011-09, Vol.1 (1), p.83-83, Article 83
• Main Authors: Zhao, Yao, Wei, Jinquan, Vajtai, Robert, Ajayan, Pulickel M., Barrera, Enrique V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/301; 639/301/119/995; 639/925; 639/925/357/73; Aluminum; carbon nanotubes and fullerene; Carrying capacity; Conductivity; Copper; Electrical conductivity; Electrical properties; Electrical resistivity; electronic materials and devices; ENGINEERING; Fabrication; Heavy metals; Humanities and Social Sciences; Iodine; MATERIALS SCIENCE; multidisciplinary; NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; Nanotechnology; Nanotubes; Science; Science & Technology - Other Topics; Sodium; Specific conductivity; Temperature effects; Transmission lines
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep00083

Creating highly electrically conducting cables from macroscopic aggregates of carbon nanotubes, to replace metallic wires, is still a dream. Here we report the fabrication of iodine-doped, double-walled nanotube cables having electrical resistivity reaching ∼10 −7  Ω.m. Due to the low density, their specific conductivity (conductivity/weight) is higher than copper and aluminum and is only just below that of the highest specific conductivity metal, sodium. The cables exhibit high current-carrying capacity of 10 4 ∼10 5  A/cm 2 and can be joined together into arbitrary length and diameter, without degradation of their electrical properties. The application of such nanotube cables is demonstrated by partly replacing metal wires in a household light bulb circuit. The conductivity variation as a function of temperature for the cables is five times smaller than that for copper. The high conductivity nanotube cables could find a range of applications, from low dimensional interconnects to transmission lines.