Increasing the strength of carbon nanotube fibers and their use as a polishing medium

We report a method for increasing the mechanical strength of carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers while enabling the uniform adhesion of cerium oxide (CeO2) abrasive particles to them using polyethyleneimine (PEI). Results show that 5% of PEI increases the tensile strength of CNT fibers by approximately 175%. CeO2 particles were uniformly deposited on the reinforced CNT fibers by electrophoretic deposition. A flexible polishing tool was fabricated by weaving the CeO2-CNT fibers into a non-woven fabric substrate. When used to polish potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystals, the tool reduced the surface roughness from 200 to 7.6 nm within 10 min. This approach has potential use for the development of new precision processing tools.