Computational study on entanglement length and pore size of carbon nanotube buckypaper

In this letter, both entanglement length and pore size of carbon nanotube (CNT) buckypaper are studied numerically and found to scale with a characteristic length root EI/gamma, where EI and gamma denote the bending stiffness and binding energy of a CNT, respectively. For root EI/gamma < 40 nm, the CNTs in buckypaper are interwound with a short entanglement length and a small pore size. However, when root EI/gamma > 40 nm, CNT ring/racket structures dominate the buckypaper, exhibiting longer entanglement length and larger pore size. The acquired understanding of microscopic structures allows us to propose that CNT buckypaper with different mechanical properties and pore size can be designed through the choice of root EI/gamma values. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3675912]