Near perfect thin film flexible broadband optical absorber with high thermal/electrical conductivity

Abstract

Flexible ultra-black absorber with high thermal/electrical conductivity finds huge applications in the field of stray light attenuation, solar collectors, flexible electronics, and electronic thermal management systems. In this work, we report the fabrication of ultrablack absorber consists of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNT) in Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) having an absorption capacity of more than 98% in UV–Vis wavelength and more than 94% in NIR wavelength range. It is observed that the PDMS-VACNT composite shows ultra-high absorption capacity due to enhanced impedance matching and multiple scattering. In addition to this, the PDMS-VACNT composite shows an emissivity of 0.94 along with a 118% increase in thermal conductivity. Moreover, with the infiltration of VACNT in PDMS, the sheet resistance decrease drastically to 0.08 KΩ/sq, which signify the possible use of ultrablack absorber in electronic skin and flexible sensors etc. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 137, 48855.