Understanding the Joule-Heating Behaviours of Electrically-Heatable Carbon-Nanotube Aerogels

Cylindrical monolithic, electrically-heatable reduced carbon nanotube (rCNT) aerogels were synthesized to exploit their Joule-heating behaviours using two different arrangements (i.e. the top-bottom arrangement and the side-side arrangement) under different compressive strains. The top-bottom arrangement results in faster heating kinetics (up to 286 K/min), higher heating efficiency (up to 80 oC/W), more uniform temperature distribution profile and higher electro-thermal conversion efficiency than that of the side-side arrangement. This study provides fundamental perspectives for exploiting Joule-heating behaviours of geometrically complex nanocarbon aerogels, thus will have important implications in strain-sensitive materials.