Intrinsic transportation properties along and across the CNTs in self-supported 3D-CNT frameworks

Although carbon nanotube (CNT) is commonly used as an effective component in composite materials to improve the thermal and electrical transportations, the intrinsic thermal and electrical transportation properties of individual CNTs were seldom explored. By using orderly and randomly aligned multi-walled CNT (MWCNT) frameworks with self-supported constructions, herein we investigate the intrinsic thermal and electrical transportation properties of MWCNTs at high temperature ranges. Distinct temperature dependences in both thermal and electrical transportation properties along individual tubes or across the cross-linked tube joints were demonstrated. It is associated to the anisotropic phonon and carrier transportations at elevated temperatures. The present investigation is expected to improve the fundamental understanding of the transportation of CNTs and provide guidelines in design and fabrication for high-performance CNTs based composites.