Elastic Recovery Properties of Ultralight Carbon Nanotube/Carboxymethyl Cellulose Composites

Ultralight materials exhibit superelastic behavior depending on the selection, blending, and carbonization of the materials. Recently, ultimate low-density materials of 5 mg/cm(3) or less have attracted attention for applications such as sensors, electrodes, and absorbing materials. In this study, we fabricated an ultralight material composed of single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and we investigated the effect of density, composition, and weight average molecular weight of CMC on elastic recovery properties of ultralight CNT/CMC composites. Our results showed that the elastic recovery properties can be improved by reducing the density of the composite, lowering the mass ratio of CNTs, and using CMC with small molecular weight.