Agradecimentos: Authors acknowledge the funding support from U.S. Department of Defense: U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research for the Project MURI:"Synthesis and Characterization of 3-D Carbon Nanotube Solid Networks"Award No. FA9550-12-1-0035. GB and DSG acknowledge support from Brazilian Agencies CAPES, CNPq and FAPESP and they thank the Center for Computational Engineering and Sciences at Unicamp for financial support through the FAPESP/CEPID Grant # 2013/08293-7 Ver menos

Abstract: Here we report a combined study of experiments and simulations to understand how chemical functional groups can mechanically stabilize aggregates of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Ultralow density aggregates of chemically functionalized CNTs, in the form of macro-scale spheres made by freeze-drying method, show mechanical stabilization and near complete elastic recovery during deformation. Simulations of interacting functionalized carbon nanotube aggregates show better structural retention compared to non-functionalized CNTs under compression, suggesting that the atomic-level interactions between functional groups on adjoining CNTs help maintain structural rigidity and elastic response during loading. Aggregates of non-functionalized CNTs collapses under similar loading conditions. The dynamic mechanical responses of CNT macrostructures and mechano-chemical stabilization are directly observed using in-situ deformation inside a scanning electron microscope Ver menos