Sonochemical hybridization of carbon nanotubes with gold nanoparticles for the production of flexible transparent conducing films Original Research Article

We have demonstrated the fabrication of flexible, transparent, conducting multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/gold nanoparticle hybrid films with improved optoelectronic properties by combining the ionic liquid-assisted sonochemical method (ILASM) for hybrid synthesis with the vacuum filtration (VF) method for thin film preparation. Au nanoparticles (NPs) with diameters of 10.3 ± 1.5 nm were uniformly distributed onto the sidewalls of MWCNTs through ILASM, and flexible, transparent, conducting films of Au/MWCNT hybrids (HBs) were reproducibly fabricated by the VF method. In particular, the sheet resistance of Au-MWCNT-HB films was more than 2-fold lower than the sheet resistance of pristine MWCNT films due to the well-interconnected three-dimensional nanotube network structure and the synergistic effect of hybridization of MWCNTs with Au-NPs.