CNT-Based Electrically Conductive Yarn

CNT conductive yarns are produced by dry-spinning or wet-spinning CNT forests or dispersions into continuous filaments with tensile strength of 1–3 GPa and electrical conductivity of 100–5,000 S/m. Twisting 100–500 CNT sheets into Archimedean scroll structures creates torsional muscles generating 16.35 kJ/kg work capacity, 85× higher than natural muscle. Surface coating of conventional yarns with MWCNT dispersion (0.1–0.5 wt% in SDS surfactant) via dip-dry process achieves conductivity of 10–100 S/m with resistance of 10–1,000 Ω/cm, maintained through 1,000 flex cycles. CNT yarns woven into fabric produce strain sensors with gauge factor of 0.5–5.0 (resistance change per unit strain), enabling body motion capture at 0.1% strain resolution for healthcare wearables.