Dispersant-free conducting pastes for flexible and printed nanocarbon electrodes

• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3491
• Publication Date: 2013-10-08T14:37:46Z
• Authors: Joong Tark Han; Bo Hwa Jeong; Seon Hee Seo; Kwang Chul Roh; Sumi Kim; Sua Choi; Jong Seok Woo; Ho Young Kim; Jeong In Jang; Du-Chul Shin; Sooyeon Jeong; Hee Jin Jeong; Seung Yol Jeong; Geon-Woong Lee
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 0104 chemical sciences

The dispersant-free fabrication of highly conducting pastes based on organic solvents with nanocarbon materials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoplatelets has been hindered by severe agglomeration. Here we report a straightforward method for fabricating nanocarbon suspensions with >10% weight concentrations in absence of organic dispersants. The method involves introducing supramolecular quadruple hydrogen-bonding motifs into the nanocarbon materials without sacrificing the electrical conductivity. Printed films of these materials show high electrical conductivity of ~500,000 S m(-1) by hybridization with 5 vol% silver nanowires. In addition, the printed nanocarbon electrodes provide high-performance alternatives to the platinum catalytic electrodes commonly used in dye-sensitized solar cells and electrochemical electrodes in supercapacitors. The judicious use of supramolecular interactions allows fabrication of printable, spinnable and chemically compatible conducting pastes with high-quality nanocarbon materials, useful in flexible electronics and textile electronics.