Direct measurement of the wetting behavior of individual carbon nanotubes by polymer melts: The key to carbon nanotube-polymer composites

Carbon nanotube wetting is the critical parameter for the development of nanocomposites yet, due to the lack of suitable methods of qualifying and, more importantly, quantifying nanoscale wetting and adhesion phenomena, it is often overlooked. Here, we discuss a qualitative approach that provides wetting/nonwetting information and present a microfluidics method to produce "nanodroplets" of polymers on individual carbon nanotubes which enable the direct quantification of contact angles.