A carbon nanotube aggregate includes a plurality of carbon nanotubes, a metal compound added to inside and/or outside of each of the carbon nanotubes, and an oxide film that is made of an oxide of the metal compound, and covers an outer periphery of the plurality of carbon nanotubes to define an outer surface of the carbon nanotube aggregate. Since the metal compound is shielded from the atmosphere by the oxide film, separation of the metal compound and reaction of the metal compound with oxygen or water in the atmosphere are suppressed, increasing heat resistance of the carbon nanotube aggregate.

The object of the present invention is to provide a separation method and a separation apparatus for carbon nanotubes capable of separating a mixture of carbon nanotubes in a highly efficient, inexpensive and simple manner. The present invention relates to a carbon nanotube separation method comprising: a step of preparing a dispersion liquid including a mixture of two or more types of carbon nanotubes having different zeta potentials; a step of introducing the dispersion liquid into a flow path formed between a first electrode having holes for allowing the dispersion liquid to pass therethrough, and a second electrode arranged so as to face the first electrode; a step of applying a DC voltage to the first electrode and the second electrode while the dispersion liquid is flowing through the flow path; and, a step of continuously collecting a dispersion liquid including carbon nanotubes separated to a first electrode side upon application of the voltage from an opposite side to the flow path with respect to the first electrode, and at the same time, continuously collecting a dispersion liquid including carbon nanotubes separated to a second electrode side from a downstream side of the flow path.

The present invention provides methods for forming apparatus and devices including an anode including at least one metallic lithium layer and at least one backing layer, at least one cathode/counter electrode, at least one separator disposed between the anode and the at least one cathode/counter electrode and an electrolyte, wherein the apparatus is configured to provide a lithium utilization efficiency of at least 80% and wherein the at least one backing layer weighs less than 30% of a copper backing layer of the same dimensions.

Detectors and methods of forming the same include aligning a semiconducting carbon nanotubes on a substrate in parallel to form a nanotube layer. The aligned semiconducting carbon nanotubes in the nanotube layer are cut to a uniform length corresponding to a detection frequency. Metal contacts are formed at opposite ends of the nanotube layer.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a carbon nanotube aggregate whose bulk density is easily controllable. Therefore, the present invention provides a carbon nanotube aggregate suitable for use in various fields.

The present disclosure provides a method for preparing a carbon nanotube conductive ball and a method for preparing a carbon nanotube ball conductive adhesive. The method for preparing the carbon nanotube conductive ball integrates the advantages of stability of polymer microsphere and SiO.sub.2 microsphere, and high conductivity of carbon nanotube, by applying polymer microsphere or SiO.sub.2 microsphere as matrix, and plating carbon nanotube material to obtain the spherical carbon nanotube conductive ball. The method is simple, low equipment requirements, abundant raw materials, low cost, and high efficiency, the particle size of the carbon nanotube conductive ball is controllable, the material stability and conductivity of the carbon nanotube conductive ball are excellent. The method for preparing the carbon nanotube ball conductive adhesive adopts carbon nanotube as an electrically conducting particle, which replaces the commonly used conductive gold ball in TFT-LCD field, the disadvantages in traditional conductive adhesive such as high filling content, expensive price, complicated preparation process, environmental pollution, and so on are solved. Besides, the carbon nanotube ball conductive adhesive also has a great prospect in ultra-fine circuit connections.

Provided is a CNT composite capable of achieving both high detection sensitivity and specific detection when used as a sensor. The carbon nanotube composite includes an aggregation inhibitor (A) and a blocking agent (B) attached to at least a portion of a surface.

A method of producing a shaped product for a thermoelectric conversion element is provided. The method comprises: mixing a coarse mixture that contains metal nanoparticle-supporting carbon nanotubes, a resin component, and a solvent by dispersion treatment that brings about a cavitation effect or a crushing effect, to obtain a composition for a thermoelectric conversion element; and removing the solvent from the composition for a thermoelectric conversion element.

Methods and devices for detecting a target agent of interest, e.g., a pathogen, in a sample are described herein. In some embodiments, a sensor is provided that can include a substrate, a graphene layer disposed on a surface of said substrate, and a protein bound to said graphene layer. The protein can be capable of binding to one or more target agents of interest, e.g., pathogens, etc. The binding of the protein to the one or more target agents of interest can generate a change in an electrical property of the graphene layer.

A method termed “superacid-surfactant exchange” (S2E) for the dispersion of carbon nanomaterials in aqueous solutions. This S2E method enables nondestructive dispersion of carbon nanomaterials (including single-walled carbon nanotubes, double-walled carbon nanotubes, multi-wall carbon nanotubes, and graphene) at rapidly and at large scale in aqueous solution without a requirement for expensive or complicated equipment. Dispersed carbon nanotubes obtained from this method feature long length, low defect density, high electrical conductivity, and in the case of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes, bright photoluminescence in the near-infrared.