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We present a theory giving the standard roughness metrics R a and R q of stochastic fibrous materials in terms of their porosity and the thickness of the constituent fibres. Our treatment shows also that R a and R q are linearly dependent on each other with gradient depending on the skewness of the surface depth profile. Comparison of our theory with experiments on laboratory-formed paper samples and with data from the literature for industrially manufactured paper and carbon fibre nonwovens for use in fuel cells is excellent. The theory has applicability to generic families of stochastic fibrous materials and has relevance, for example, to printing of devices on paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on surface science, adsorption of mineral oil, water, gas products (typified by CO2 and CH4), and acids (typified by formic acid) on meta-aramid insulation paper has been investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. When the adsorption process finishes, the free volume fraction in the crystalline region is very small owing to the stable molecular arrangement of fiber. In addition, the number of pores on the surface of the meta-aramid fiber and the pore size are small, and the stable configuration of hydrogen bonds plays an important role, so it is difficult for the mineral oil and aging products to enter the meta-aramid crystalline region. The irregular arrangement of molecules in the amorphous region means that it is easier for the mineral oil and aging products to enter the amorphous region than the crystalline region, and the influence of these substances on the amorphous region is greater than that on the crystalline region. The order of the adsorption strengths of the four types of aging products on meta-aramid fiber is formic acid > water > CO2 > CH4. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the acid and water contents in transformers with meta-aramid insulation paper as the solid insulation material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper is a widely used packaging material and is nowadays regaining importance, e.g., as bio-based and biodegradable material. Moreover, new technologies such as polymer-fiber composites, printed electronics and the deep drawing of paper are developing. The process stability and also the resulting quality of paper converting processes such as coating, metallization, printing, and the printing of electronics are highly affected by the hygroexpansion of paper. In order to reduce production instability and to choose and develop paper substrates with ideal characteristics, critical parameters need to be known. This paper offers an extensive overview of those parameters, starting at a molecular and microscopic level with the effect of the constituents and morphology of single fibers, before moving on to paper contents, chemical modifications and additives and finally concluding with paper production and fiber network modification. It was found that the major influences are single fiber sorption, inter-fiber contacts, microfibril angle, fiber morphology (length, width, curliness) and fiber orientation. This review gives new ideas and insights for technologists working in research, development and production optimization of paper-based products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the development of dual-ion batteries (DIBs) is limited by the capacity of anions intercalation, we put forward an innovative design idea of DIB. Compared with the traditional graphite cathodes, few-layered reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has a large specific surface area and can greatly improve the utilization ratio of carbon layers for fast redox reaction process. In addition, the carbon paper current collector with porous network structure facilitates the uniform distribution of active materials, rapid penetration of electrolyte and fast migration of ions, and also relieves the volume strain caused by PF6− intercalation/de-intercalation. Under the effects of the above two aspects, the lithium-rGO DIB demonstrates significantly enhanced electrochemical performance compared with conventional DIBs. It possesses an ultra-high discharge capacity of 405 mA h g−1 with a coulombic efficiency of > 98% after 1000 cycles at 1 A g−1 in the voltage range of 3.0–5.0 V. The detailed mechanism of electrochemical performance enhancement is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of course, the paper complements the SEM imaging, which is intrinsic to the FIB, with imaging and diffraction in the TEM. The paper does also have a SharedIt link like all articles in JMS (https://rdcu.be/cWW0L) so it can be widely and immediately shared with readers; all papers published in JMS are free-to-read using the SharedIt link from the moment they appear online with their permanent DOI. The cover for the November 2022 issues of the Journal of Materials Science comes from the paper by Tunes et al. which appeared in issue #35 from September 2022 [[1]]. [Extracted from the article]

A facile and cost-effective modified sol–gel synthesis is employed to synthesize flexible silica-cellulose hybrid aerogels (SCHA) using recycled cellulose fibers (RCF). The effect of cellulose fiber concentrations and ambient temperature conditions on the thermal, acoustic, and oil absorption characteristics was quantified comprehensively. The experiments were conducted by considering the range of weight fractions from 1–4 wt.% from waste tissue paper with a cross-linker and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as silica precursors. The SCHA aerogels were modified by a silylating agent with surface hydroxyl groups to achieve superhydrophobic behavior with a water contact angle (WCA) as high as 168°. The synthesized aerogels were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Test (BET) to identify the physical morphology. An excellent oil absorption capacity of 24.8 g.g−1 was also noticed with 4 wt.% of cellulose concentration in hybrid aerogel retained up to 5 cycles with an absorption capacity of 6.4 g.g−1. The average thermal conductivity of hybrid aerogels was estimated in the range of 0.038–0.032 W/m K. Slight enhancement in the thermal conductivity is noted with the increase in wt.% of cellulose to the silica aerogel. However, about 40–50 °C improvement in thermal degradability (as concluded from Thermogravimetric Analysis) with a minimum weight loss was observed in hybrid aerogel over cellulose aerogel. A comparatively high sound absorption coefficient of 0.453–0.628 at low frequency (1500 Hz) and 0.86–0.94 at high frequency (3600 Hz) was achieved with an average thickness of 8 mm compared to cellulose aerogel. The compressive Young's modulus of hybrid aerogels was also enhanced by 94.12%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The June 2024 cover image of the Journal of Materials Science features a paper by Liss et al. titled "Recrystallization of bulk nanostructured magnesium alloy AZ31 after severe plastic deformation: an in situ diffraction study." The image is an artistic representation of nanostructured magnesium alloy AZ31 undergoing heating, showcasing the process of recrystallization in reciprocal space. The paper is part of a Special Issue on "Processing Bulk Nanostructured Materials," which includes a total of 28 articles covering various aspects of severe plastic deformation (SPD) in the processing of bulk nanostructured materials. The Special Issue aims to highlight the enduring significance and resilience of research in this field. Both the paper and the preface of the Special Issue have SharedIt links for easy sharing with readers. [Extracted from the article]

Facile and robust immobilization of metal nanoparticles onto porous supporting matrix is an important issue in heterogeneous catalysis. This study reports a facile procedure for the synthesis and immobilization of small catalytic active silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on cellulose paper (CP), which possesses interconnected fibrous structure and can be employed as cost-effective supports. Amino groups were first introduced to CP, through a silane coupling technique, to provide stable anchoring centers for silver ions. Small-sized AgNPs without aggregation were facilely synthesized and stably immobilized onto the fiber surface of CP followed by NaBH reduction. The as-prepared AgNPs incorporating composites exhibited excellent catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol. The rate constant of the catalytic reaction was calculated to be 1.46 × 10 s. More importantly, these amino-modified paper-based composite catalysts can be easily recovered and reused for at least six cycles due to their enhanced mechanical and catalytic stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper was handled by our Editor Sophie Primig and is concerned with oxidation that occurs when a composite metal is fusion printed. The cover for the October 2022 issues of the Journal of Materials Science comes from the paper by Wang et al. [[1]], which appeared in issue #29 from August 2022. References 1 Wang R, Gu D, Zhang H, Guo M. High temperature oxidation behavior of laser powder bed fusion printed WC/Inconel 718 composites. [Extracted from the article]

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is a promising automotive power source that has been gradually applied due to its many advantages such as pollution-free and low-temperature start-up. The gas diffusion layer (GDL) is a key component for water and gas management in PEMFC. It can directly affect the performance of PEMFC. In this paper, we prepared a new type of GDL with hierarchical pores to improve the performance of PEMFC at high current density. The new GDL mainly includes a commercial carbon paper layer and two microporous layers on the same side of carbon paper. The microporous layer near carbon paper was modified with pore former, and another layer was produced without pore former. The pore size of the middle microporous layer was controlled by the content of pore former and times of sonication. From the results of the polarization curve, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, water contact angle, conductivity, and pore size distribution, it was found that GDL with hierarchical pores shows obvious advancement than commercial GDL. The PEMFC performance was tested to compare the new and commercial GDL. The results show that the peak power of our GDL at 100% humidity reaches 1.24 W/cm2 and the limit current density is 3.500 A/cm2. The modification of the pore size of the microporous layer near the carbon paper side can improve the water management ability of the fuel cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The February 2024 issue of the Journal of Materials Science features a cover paper titled "Enhancing the impact property of high-entropy alloys with graphene layers: a molecular dynamics study" by Qing-Xiang Pei et al. The paper explores the use of molecular dynamics simulations to study the impact of a projectile on a high-entropy alloy (HEA) containing layers of graphene. The authors highlight the broad interest in their research, as it appeals not only to the modeling community but also to other communities interested in the materials being modeled. The paper provides valuable insights into the behavior of composite materials and includes figures illustrating the preparation of the model material and the interaction between a projectile and the HEA. The article is freely accessible through the SharedIt link provided, and the corresponding authors can be contacted for access to the data. The publisher, Springer Nature, maintains a neutral stance on jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. [Extracted from the article]

Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a hydrophobic, biodegradable biopolymer, which can be a potential substitute for currently used synthesized polymers in the packaging industry. However, its utility is often limited by its brittleness and poor mechanical properties, mainly because of its through-thickness fractures. In this study, we laminate and crystallize PHB on glassine paper by hot-pressing and tune the crystallization conditions to minimize cracking. Glassine paper is impermeable to PHB granules and allows the formation of a distinguishable bilayer of PHB. It was found that glassine paper serves as a soft substrate, which increases the number of nucleation sites of the spherulites and prevents growth of the cracks in the neighboring PHB layer. Quenching the films to the crystallization temperature was found to minimize cracking enough to reduce the water vapor transmission rate to $$15$$ - $$25\,{\mathrm{g}}\,{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}\,{\mathrm{day}}^{-1}$$ , irrespective of the crystallization temperature; however, the mechanical properties improved only at the crystallization temperatures below 77 °C, perhaps due to the local stress in the existing cracks at higher crystallization temperatures. The optimum crystallization conditions were found to be quenching the film in an ice bath and crystallization at room temperature, by which we obtained mechanical strength and Young's modulus of $$80\,\text {MPa}$$ and $$2.5\,\text {GPa}$$ , respectively, and a water vapor transmission rate of $$20\,\text {g}\,\text {m}^{-2}\,\text {day}^{-1}$$ . Our results suggest a simple and cost-effective method to produce PHB films with enhanced mechanical and barrier properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In-situ formation and integration of graphene into MoS2 interlayer spacing: expansion of interlayer spacing for superior hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic and alkaline electrolyte. The paper was handled by our Editor Mark Bissett and is entitled "In-situ formation and integration of graphene into MoS SB 2 sb interlayer spacing: expansion of interlayer spacing for superior hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic and alkaline electrolyte"; it is part of our "Energy materials" Topical Collection. The cover for the December 2022 issues of the Journal of Materials Science comes from the paper by Bui et al., which appeared in issue #40 from October 2022 [[1]]. [Extracted from the article]

The effects of humidity on the electrical properties of thermal inkjet-printed copper tetrasulfonated phthalocyanine (CuTsPc) films onto paper substrates are reported. DC electrical measurements revealed that sample resistance decreases from 10 Ω in moderate vacuum to approximately 10 Ω at highly water-saturated atmosphere. This behavior is attributed to the creation of water pathways on the cellulose fibers that allow ionic species such as impurities, protons (H), and dissociated Na ions from the CuTsPc molecules, to flow. The contribution of the CuTsPc molecules and their dissociated Na ions on the sample resistance was elucidated analyzing the electrical response of bare and printed paper substrates. An increase of relative humidity levels (RH) from 10 % to 40-45 % revealed an increase of current of four orders of magnitude for printed samples, whereas less than one order of magnitude was registered for bare paper substrates. Electrical measurements as a function of temperature have shown that moisture can inhibit the semiconducting properties of CuTsPc. Thermal gravimetric studies revealed that approximately 11 % of mass accounting to the presence of water is released above 70 °C, the same temperature in which the sample recovers its dry-state semiconducting behavior. The semiconducting properties of CuTsPc can also be observed upon white light illumination, whereas the charge carrier extraction is governed by the RH level. These results point out the important role of humidity on the electrical properties of paper-based organic, electronic, and optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text is an editorial from the Journal of Materials Science discussing a cover paper titled "High-performance, water-resistant and ion-conducting gel used as underwater ECG electrodes" by Shi et al. The paper addresses the challenges of sensing underwater and describes the synthesis and characterization of a single-layer hydrogel electrode that is resistant to swelling in water. The paper is accessible to non-experts and includes photographs, curves, and electrocardiograms to support the findings. Although the article is not open access, it can be accessed through a SharedIt link provided by the publisher. [Extracted from the article]

The introduction of nanoparticles (NPs) and nanostructured materials (NSMs) in papermaking originally emerged from the perspective of improving processing operations and reducing material consumption. However, a very broad range of nanomaterials (NMs) can be incorporated into the paper structure and allows creating paper products with novel properties. This review is of interdisciplinary nature, addressing the emerging area of nanotechnology in papermaking focusing on resources, chemical synthesis and processing, colloidal properties, and deposition methods. An overview of different NMs used in papermaking together with their intrinsic properties and a link to possible applications is presented from a chemical point of view. After a brief introduction on NMs classification and papermaking, their role as additives or pigments in the paper structure is described. The different compositions and morphologies of NMs and NSMs are included, based on wood components, inorganic, organic, carbon-based, and composite NPs. In a first approach, nanopaper substrates are made from fibrillary NPs, including cellulose-based or carbon-based NMs. In a second approach, the NPs can be added to a regular wood pulp as nanofillers or used in coating compositions as nanopigments. The most important processing steps for NMs in papermaking are illustrated including the internal filling of fiber lumen, LbL deposition or fiber wall modification, with important advances in the field on the in situ deposition of NPs on the paper fibers. Usually, the manufacture of products with advanced functionality is associated with complex processes and hazardous materials. A key to success is in understanding how the NMs, cellulose matrix, functional additives, and processes all interact to provide the intended paper functionality while reducing materials waste and keeping the processes simple and energy efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metallic 1T-MoS2 nanospheres composed of nanosheets were facilely synthesized by a hydrothermal method, and the moderate polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and K+ ions were intentionally introduced in the subsequent exfoliation process. The as-prepared electrode (1T-MoS2/PVAK+), collected on the available carbon paper through vacuum filtration, exhibits a large specific capacitance of 488 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 in an aqueous electrolyte (3M KCl) because of the crosslink effect PVA to integrate the MoS2 nanospheres and interaction of K+ cation into the interlayers of MoS2. An aqueous symmetric supercapacitor was further prepared with 1T-MoS2/PVAK+ as the positive and negative electrodes. 1T-MoS2/PVAK+//1T-MoS2/PVAK+ device can work with an operating voltage of 1.6 V and manifests a high energy density of 49.0 Wh kg−1 at power density of 800 W kg−1. Remarkably, the maximum power density of 1T-MoS2/PVAK+//1T-MoS2/PVAK+ device reaches as high as 8000 W kg−1 with a corresponding energy density of 38.2 Wh kg−1. Furthermore, this type of aqueous symmetric device evidences the outstanding cycling stability with capacitance retention of 96% after 16,000 charge–discharge cycles at 1 A g−1. These excellent electrochemical performances of 1T-MoS2/PVAK+ electrode demonstrate a promising potential for application in supercapacitor with high energy density and high power density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A droplet forming microfluidic chip was used to create droplets of precisely controlled size that contained a photocurable monomer as well as nanoparticles of magnetite and manganese dioxide. Manganese dioxide nanoparticles were shown to be effective for decomposing hydrogen peroxide to form oxygen bubbles that provided propulsion, which increased the rate of methylene blue decomposition by the magnetite nanoparticles through enhanced mixing. Dissolving the alginate fiber released the microparticles that contain base-metal catalysts for both the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, and methylene blue, a common water contaminant [[2]]. [Extracted from the article]

In this work, we explored the elaboration of new smart paper by coating fiber-based materials with CNC for possible use in packaging. Particularly, we investigated application of a 100% CNC layer onto a substrate. Mainly due to the cost and limited availability of CNC on a large scale, few studies have examined these opportunities. Several layers of CNC were deposited onto a paper material using the bar-coating process to improve relevant properties of the paper surface. Surface analyses (atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy) were performed to elucidate the CNC network at the paper surface. Structural and mechanical properties of the final materials were evaluated. Results of general interest were obtained about barrier properties. The air barrier and grease resistance improve only with the paper coated with CNC. To complete this research, a small amount of polyethylene glycol was added to reinforce the brittle CNC coating and clearly enhance barrier properties of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous carbon fiber polymer-matrix composites in unprecedented antiferroelectric coupling, as enabled by stacking composites with positive value (up to 400) and negative value (down to −600) of the electric permittivity, provide exceptionally high through-thickness permittivity up to 78,000 (≤2.0 MHz), corresponding to a capacitance of 370 μF/m. The high capacitance is consistent with the equation for negative and positive capacitors in series. The permittivity tailoring of the composites involves dielectric cellulosic tissue paper interlaminar interlayers. Negative permittivity (not previously reported for carbon fiber composites) requires the paper to be wet with tap water (resistivity 1.5 kΩ cm) during incorporation in the composite, though the water evaporates and leaves ions at very low concentrations during composite fabrication, and also requires optimum through-thickness resistivity (e.g., 1 kΩ cm, as given by paper thickness 35 μm); it is probably due to interactions between the functional groups on the carbon fiber surface and the residual ions (mainly chloride) left after tap water evaporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) require efficient water management. Microporous layers (MPLs) are crucial to solve this problem due to their positive effects on the two-phase mass transfer process. The performance of MPLs is mainly determined by the properties of the materials used for their construction as well as other basic transport properties, including morphology, porous structure, wettability, and electrical resistivity. In this study, graphite and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) were used as the main components to fabricate MPLs for use in PEMFCs because they are highly conductive and thermally efficient. Single-layer MPLs are prepared by compressing MPL powders with different proportions of ingredients. In contrast, two-layer gas diffusion layers were fabricated by applying MPL pastes to a benchmark Toray carbon paper using a screen-printing process. FTIR and XRD analysis of main components and some samples are performed to investigated functional groups and the nature of MPLs' surface, respectively. An analysis of the effects of graphite, rGO, and hydrophobic agents' constituents on the physical properties (electrical resistivity, contact angle, roughness, porosity, and permeability) of the fabricated MPL or MPL-coated carbon papers by screen-printing method has been performed. Also, the effect of different coating methods (screen-printing and spraying) on different properties of graphite-based and rGO-based MPLs has been investigated. The results show that composites based on rGO have higher electrical resistivity than that of graphite-based MPLs, but lower roughness. However, MPLs based on rGO exhibit better contact angle, higher porosity, and improved gas permeability. Moreover, as expected, the contact angle and electrical resistivity increase, while the porosity and permeability decrease when the hydrophobic agents (polytetrafluoroethylene, and polyvinylidene difluoride) which are also used as binders, are increased. On the other hand, screen printed graphite-based MPL has lower electrical resistivity, while screen printed rGO-based MPL has higher porosity percentage, roughness, and permeability than the sprayed one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correction to: J Mater Sci (2012) 47:4463-4472 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-012-6305-6 In Table 2, the values of Young's modulus are close to an order of magnitude lower than they should be. The raw data were overviewed and Young's modulus values compared to previous publications on a similar material [Le Bras, D., Strømme, M., Mihranyan, A. (2015). [Extracted from the article]

In this study, wet-laying process, mostly used in pulp and paper industry, was employed for the fabrication of composite gas diffusion layers (GDLs) for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Cellulose fiber-based composite GDL was manufactured without using polluting, volatile organic compounds so that a green and environmentally friendly process was utilized. Fabricated cellulose-based composite GDLs were characterized ex situ by resistivity, mechanical strength, and porosity measurements and investigation of their morphology by SEM. Carbon-cellulose fiber-based electrically conducting composite GDLs with excellent flexibility, uniformity, and porosity were achieved. Gas diffusion electrodes were prepared using electrospraying technique to provide high surface area and homogenous dispersion. Moreover, PEM fuel cell performance of the fabricated composite GDLs was investigated for the first time in literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials.Free-standing carbon nanotube film (bucky paper) is a very important material for various applications, but its commercial production is still limited due to size, cost and properties. In the present work, different methods are used to prepare five different types of bucky papers, namely normal, pure refluxed, oxidized, oxidized refluxed and functionalized by using as-produced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), refluxed MWCNTs, air-oxidized MWCNTs, oxidized refluxed MWCNTs and HNO3 functionalized MWCNTs, respectively. Morphological, physical and structural changes appeared due to different methods are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the relative characteristic peak ratio (i.e. IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG) as a function of MWCNTs quality are determined. It is observed that oxidized refluxed MWCNTs have an average value of IG/ID, IG′/ID and IG′/IG ratio as 4.12, 7.15 and 1.71, respectively, which is higher as compared to other samples. The mechanical properties of different bucky papers are studied by performing tensile tests. The result showed that tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness of oxidized refluxed MWCNTs bucky paper are 3.9 MPa, 440 MPa and 780 Jm−3, respectively, which are higher as compared to as-produced MWCNTs bucky paper. The air oxidation and back-to-back refluxing generates nanoscale irregularities within the hexagonal C-structure of a nanotube wall. This helps in improving intermolecular bonding and packing which resulted into significant improvement in the mechanical properties. These bucky papers prepared by economical ways of air oxidation and refluxing in an alkali-soluble emulsifier assisted aqueous medium are potential candidates for field emission devices, energy storage devices and structural materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-entropy borides are deemed robust candidates because of their complex combination of entropy-driven, multi-component disordered solid solutions. They are particularly remarkable for their unique single-crystal structures and significant bandgap. This structural adaptability positions them uniquely among materials, setting them apart from conventional transition metal diborides. Researchers have been fascinated by the appeal of high-entropy borides for a long time, driven by the groundbreaking idea of 'High entropy ceramics'. Nevertheless, the lack of thorough review papers in this field has hindered the progress of creating strong and durable high-entropy borides. This paper proposes adopting a collaborative strategy to properly negotiate this unexplored region. This perspective covers the up-to-date research on successfully synthesized high-entropy boride complexes. It examines compositional strategies, historical backgrounds, structural complexity, fabrication methods, mechanical, thermal, and oxidation properties, as well as emergent properties with potential uses, pathways, and future possibilities. This attempt challenges materials science traditions by introducing novel materials with superior performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific literature on Al-Si alloy materials is a rich source of factual information about various classes of entities (e.g., alloys, properties, and compositions) as well as various relationships between these entities. Automatically extracting this information using natural language processing (NLP) techniques to generate a knowledge graph for Al-Si alloy materials is a challenging task. In this paper, we propose ASaRE-Net (Al-Si alloy Relationship Extraction Network) to extract entities and relationships from Chinese scientific literature on Al-Si alloy materials, thus forming a triple (Entity 1, Relation, Entity 2) as the basic unit for constructing a knowledge graph. Due to the complexity of overlapping triples and many triples in a text sentence, this paper designs a triple-aware module based on knowledge representation learning, which is used to mine the correlation between entities and relations, and uses a simple and efficient labeling strategy to decode, so as to alleviate the problem of cascading errors. This paper defines 11 types of entity and 13 types of relationship for Al-Si alloy materials, and constructs ASaIED (Al-Si alloy Information Extraction Dataset). Experimental results show that compared to the strongest baseline, the proposed model improves the F1 score by 2.34% on the ASaIED dataset, and demonstrates better performance in scenarios involving SEO overlapping types and many triples. The proposed model can continuously provide credible data for constructing knowledge graphs in the field of Al-Si alloy materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of several tools and web engines trained for finding journal articles out of billions of research papers on millions of topics in different databases with a high degree of generalizability, it often leads to a loss of specificity. Scientific pursuits need a tool to extract data from selected resources for performing domain-specific tasks. Current algorithms and generalized tools lack specificity and are challenged by errors in analysing data from a bundle of specific documents selected eclectically. Current work addresses the need for such a tool, which focuses on specificity based on users' input keywords and phrases to find relevant information from bundles of articles from the web. Reseractor is based on a customized algorithm, Whitespace, in synergy with output from open-access tools for document image analysis and focused domain data extraction using NLP. The current tool is designed for the material science domain with the features of adopting various generalized and scientific corpora as layers. It is tested on two sets of different bundles of papers and gives an accuracy of 81.12% along with a recall of 78.38% and a precision of 84.06%. Owing to the simple and direct applicability of algorithms, users from other domains can directly use their corpora in algorithms and remodel the tool for their purpose. Current work fulfills the need for domain-specific experimental data extraction stored in organized and structured databases for upcoming computational researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible papers constructed by one-dimensional nanowires have attracted much attention due to their various applications. Herein, a novel nonwoven fabric with paper-like qualities composed of zinc blende SiC (β-SiC) nanowires was fabricated by a scalable rolling process. The SiC nanowires were synthesized by the carbothermal reduction reaction of the carbon fiber and carbonaceous silica xerogel. The crystal phase, morphology and microscopic structure of the as-prepared SiC nanowires were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The nanowire vapor-solid growth mechanism and preparation process for SiC nanowire nonwoven fabric were also discussed. The freestanding SiC nanowire nonwoven fabric exhibited high flexibility, high mechanical strength, excellent refractory performance and thermal stability. With high flexibility, high mechanical strength, superior nonflammability and thermal stability, the flexible paper-like 3C-SiC nanowire nonwoven fabric materials would be expected to have some potential applications, such as ceramic matrix composites, metal matrix composites, energy storage, catalyst supports, radiation-proof fabric, filtration and separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dielectric loss of Cu with high thermal conductivity is large at high frequency, which cannot meet the performance requirements in high-integrated circuits. There is an urgent need for materials to reduce its dielectric loss. In this paper, the thermal conductivity and dielectric properties of the AlN coating-Cu substrate system were controlled by changing the N2 pressure. The results showed that the crystallinity of hcp-AlN in AlN coating increased significantly when the proportion of N2 pressure was increased. With the increase of the N2 pressure, the particle size on the surface and the roughness of the coating improved. The AlN coating prepared at high N2 pressure had high dielectric constant and low dielectric loss at high frequency compared to those of the coatings prepared at low N2 pressure. At the same time, the AlN coating prepared under high N2 pressure on the Cu substrate did not decrease the thermal conductivity of Cu substrate. The AlN-Cu system prepared in this paper had high thermal conductivity and good dielectric properties, providing theoretical guidance for integrated circuit packaging and capacitor applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing interest in the design and fabrication of small-scale soft actuators and robotics, especially the realization of functionalities mimicking biological systems with biomimetic motions in response to external stimuli. However, the mobility and self-weight are still the critical challenges for further improvement and broader application of soft actuators. It is attractive to develop untethered and ultra-light small-scale robotics by integrating the actuators and drivers while achieving the ability to respond to external stimuli. Inspired by the spiders that rely on electrostatic forces in the environment to stay airborne by their ballooning silk, a positively charged fiber-paper structure-based soft actuator is proposed. Utilizing electrospinning of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) solution, this ultra-light soft actuator can realize the movement of bending and high-frequency vibration with the stimuli of electrostatic force in the electric field. Programmable motions, i.e., continuous bending with a series of angles, variable frequency vibration, can be realized by regulating the external electric field. The 3D fluffy structure of the silica micro-nanofibers and the paper-based structure endow the soft actuator with ultra-lightweight and excellent flexibility. The untethered, ultra-light soft actuator suggests a feasible approach to develop ultra-light, soft and autonomous robotics and holds promise in reconnaissance and environmental detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The massive residues of tetracycline (TC) have caused serious harm to the human body and the environment, so it is urgent to explore a portable, on-site, sensitive and selective method to detect TC. In this study, a dual response ratiometric fluorescent probe (S,O-C3N4QDs-CitNa-Eu3+) for detecting TC was constructed by mixing sodium citrate (CitNa), europium ion (Eu3+) and sulfur and oxygen co-doped graphite phase carbon nitride quantum dots (S,O-C3N4QDs) solution in a specific proportion. The S,O-C3N4QDs was initially synthesized by using citric acid and thiourea as the precursors via a hydrothermal route. The blue fluorescence of S,O-C3N4QDs (λem = 445 nm) was decreased while the red fluorescence of Eu3+ was increased (λem = 620 nm) own to the synergistic effect of internal filter effect, static quenching and antenna effect when TC was added to the mixed system containing CitNa and Eu3+. As a result, the ultra-sensitive detection of TC was realized from 0.25 to 120 μM with a detection limit of 1.3 nM. An obvious color change of the solution from blue to purple to red with continuous adding TC was observed such that the semi-quantitative detection of TC can be realized. Moreover, a smartphone APP monitoring platform based on test paper was constructed by using color scanning application, demonstrating that the ratiometric fluorescent probe constructed in this work has great potential in medical and environmental fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review paper investigates novel approaches to the fabrication of fiber-reinforced composites (FRCs) via additive manufacturing (AM), with a focus on improving mechanical properties in polymers, metals, and ceramics while reducing weight of the structures. FRCs have been regarded as the optimal material choice across the automobile, aerospace, and construction industries due to their exceptional characteristics, including high strength-to-weight ratio, elevated stiffness, commendable thermal stability, remarkable fatigue and impact resistance, as well as noteworthy chemical and corrosion resistance. AM plays a significant role in FRCs production by offering design flexibility, product customization, waste reduction, near net shape fabrication, cost-effectiveness, and fast prototyping. This paper initially categorizes AM of FRCs into three categories: AM of polymer-matrix, metal-matrix, and ceramic-matrix composites. These categories are further subdivided based on the types of matrix as well as fibers used. Subsequently, it emphasizes the roles of 4D printing and numerical simulation in AMFRCs. The review concludes by addressing potential applications, existing challenges, and scope of AMFRCs in future research and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the importance and limitations of peer-reviewed journal articles in the scientific community. The author emphasizes that a single paper should not be seen as an indisputable scientific fact, but rather as part of an ongoing process of scientific discovery and refinement. The author suggests several ways to assess the trustworthiness of a paper, including evaluating the authors' track record, the number of citations the paper has received, and the reputation of the journal in which it is published. However, the author also highlights the importance of personal relationships and trust in assessing the quality of a paper. Overall, the article provides valuable insights into the peer-review system and the challenges it faces in the modern scientific landscape. [Extracted from the article]

Twinning is an important deformation mechanism for magnesium alloys, which has a significant impact on the texture evolution and mechanical properties. Pre-twinning deformation has been considered as an effective method for texture regulation. For each twinning mode, there are six crystallographically equivalent variants. Properly identifying the activated twin and understanding its variant selection criteria are essential for the development of high-performance magnesium alloys. As summarized in this paper, the observed twin variant by the commonly employed electron backscatter diffraction technique can be identified by several approaches, including misorientation analysis, trace analysis and matrix method. Schmid factor analysis was commonly performed to explain the selection of twin variants. To broaden the application scope under complex stress state, a generalized Schmid factor was derived by introducing a stress tensor. The efficiency of Schmid criteria to assess twin variant selection was confirmed to be influenced by the type of the applied stress. To consider the local effect on twin activation, in particular twin-twin transfer and slip-induced twinning, displacement gradient tensor calculation and geometrical compatibility factor analysis have been employed. It was demonstrated that local strain accommodation played a critical role in selecting the variants of cross-boundary twins in magnesium alloys. Assisted with crystal plasticity finite element modeling, the resolved shear stress on twinning and a composite Schmid factor combining the global Schmid factor and geometrical compatibility factor were obtained to better explain the activated twin variants in magnesium alloys. All the above-mentioned Schmid law based criteria and some energy based criteria as well are summarized in this paper. Their applications in evaluating twin variant selection in magnesium alloys are critically reviewed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microalloying has been an important method in aluminum alloy development for decades. Large number of papers have shown that the addition of trace element Erbium (Er) can effectively improve the comprehensive properties of aluminum alloys. Similar with the trace element Scandium (Sc), addition of trace element Er in aluminum alloys could form nano-sized L12-ordered Al3Er precipitates, which was coherent with the Al matrix. However, the dispersion precipitation strengthening effect of Al3Er was more significant than that of Al3Sc, at the same atomic content. In the case of the addition of both Er and Zr, core–shell-structured Al3(Er, Zr) precipitates formed instead of Al3Er precipitates. Those thermally-stable nanosized precipitates could significantly refine the grain size, retard the recrystallization, improve the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. This paper reviewed several typical Er-containing microalloyed commercial aluminum alloys, like 2xxx (Al–Cu) alloys, 4xxx (Al–Si) alloys, 5xxx (Al–Mg) alloys, 7xxx (Al–Zn–Mg–Cu) alloys, as well as selective laser melting aluminum alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]