Abstract

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Low aspect ratio pristine Multi-walled carbon nanotubes prepared by carbon vapour deposition (CVD) were dispersed in Miranol, Cetyl pyridinium chloride and a 50:50 ratio mixture of them. They were each applied on 100% PET fabric using classical polyester dyeing techniques (exhaust dyeing) as well as cold padding by 3, 5-minute dip-dry techniques under controlled conditions. Exhaust dyeing yielded poor, uneven uptake; cold padding gave good, level uptake. The chroma characteristics of the dyed fabrics conformed to the Kubelka-Munk equation for determining additive reflectance functions. The polyester fabric became electrically conductive at a percolation threshold between 1-2.5% shade (owf). The electrical conductivity increased with the concentration of carbon nanotubes, up to 5.0x10-3 S/m at 5 % shade concentration. From the percolation threshold onwards, the conductivity was able to power light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes; sonication; dispersion; cold-padding; exhaustion; electrical conductivity.