24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 CSD – Low Cost, Easy Setup, and Irregular Surface-Coating  Spin-coating  Dip-coating  Printing  Painting

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Polymer-Assisted Deposition (PAD): A Chemical Solution Route for A Wide Range of Materials  A chemical solution technique to deposit films – by mixing metal precursors with water-soluble polymers  Advantages  Polymers effectively bind metal precursors.  Stabilize metal ions from hydrolysis in water  Control solution stability, reactivity, and processibility  Thin films can be deposited in a more homogeneous manner when metals bind with polymers that have regular ligand sites. Nat. Mater. 3, 529 (2004).

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Schematic Illustration of Metals as Simple Salts or Complexes Bound to Polymers Ti bound to PEI as a catecholate complex Ti bound to PEIC directly Sr bound to PEI as an EDTA complex PEI (polyethylenimine) PEIC (carboxylated-polyethylenimine) EDTA (ethylenediaminetetra-aceticacid)

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Elements Coordinated with Polymers to Form Stable Precursor Solutions Chem. Soc. Rev., in press.

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Schematic Illustration of Main Processing Steps Used to Grow Films by PAD Adjust viscosity Thermal treatment Polymer filtration & removal of all non-bound cations & anions Mix with polymer (adjust pH) Apply coating Mix different metal - polymer solutions Select metal precursor De-polymerizing the polymer in controlled environment

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 A Wide Range of Materials Grown by PAD: Metal-Oxides

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 A Wide Range of Materials Grown by PAD: Metals, Metal-Nitrides, and Metal-Carbides 366 nm UV excitation Hg lamp (excitation 300 nm) Adv. Mater. 20, 4704 (2008). J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, (2011). J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132, 2516 (2010). Angew. Chemie. Int. Ed. 121, 1518 (2009). Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 49, 1782 (2010).

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Annealing CVD growth Solution permeation Schematic Processing Steps for the Synthesis of CNT/NbC Composites Nat. Commun. 2, 248 (2011).

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 b a X-Ray Diffraction Patterns of As-Synthesized CNT/NbC Composites

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Morphology and Microstructure of CNT/NbC Composites

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Superconducting Properties of CNT/NbC Composites

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Anisotropic Properties of the Upper Critical Magnetic Field of CNT/NbC Composites

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Schematic Illustration of the Processing Steps to Synthesize NbC/CNT Composites Nanoscale 4, 2268 (2012).

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 X-Ray Diffraction Patterns of NbC/CNT Composites on c-Cut Al 2 O 3 Substrates

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , µma 100 nm 10 nmb 100 µmc SEM Image (top view) of NbC/CNT Composite Films

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Temperature Dependence of the Upper Critical Field of NbC/CNT Composites & Pure NbC Films

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Current ⊥ CNTs Current ∥ CNTs Temperature Dependence of Resistivity of NbC/CNT Films measured along Different Directions

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 SEM Image of NbC/CNT Composite Films after Nanoindentation

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Outline  Introduction  Experimental details and results  CNT/PDMS stretchable conductors  CNT/NbC composites  Summary

24 th Modern Engineering & Technology Seminar (METS 2012), Taipei, Taiwan, Nov , 2012 Summary  Carbon nanomaterials are emerging as the materials of choice for both electronic and energy applications.  Polymer-assisted deposition is a powerful technique to deposit a wide range of materials with desired structural and physical properties.  Nanocomposites composed of carbon nanomaterials and other functional/structural materials provide new opportunities for improved and/or enhanced functionalities.