Fabrication and application of nanofiber ribbons and sheets and twisted and non-twisted nanofiber yarns

1. A process for producing a nanofiber sheet, ribbon, or yarn, the process comprising:

(a) synthesizing a nanofiber forest on a substrate, wherein the nanofiber forest comprises a substantially parallel array of nanofibers;

(b) patterning the array of nanofibers to produce a patterned assembly of nanofibers by patterned deposition of a catalyst on the substrate, cutting patterns in the nanofiber forest, or combinations thereof, wherein the patterned assembly of nanofibers comprises neighboring strips of nanofiber forests that are parallel and separated by regions defined by at least one of: (i) substantially no nanofibers; (ii) nanofibers of different type; (iii) nanofibers of a different height (iv) nanofibers on a different coating; (v) nanofibers of a different chemical treatment and (vi) combinations thereof; and

(c) drawing said nanofibers from the nanofiber forest to form a primary assembly that is the nanofiber sheet, ribbon, or yarn.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein

(a) the step of drawing occurs without twisting when the primary assembly is the nanofiber ribbon or the nanofiber sheet, wherein the nanofiber ribbon or the nanofiber sheet has a width more than one millimeter, and

(b) the step of drawing includes twisting when the primary assembly is the nanofiber yarn, wherein the nanofiber yarn has a width less than one millimeter.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the nanofibers comprise at least one of: single walled nanotubes, double walled nanotubes, multiwalled nanotubes, scrolled nanotubes, coiled nanofibers, functionalized nanofibers and crimped nanofibers.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the nanofibers are selected from the group consisting of imogolite nanofibers; carbon nanotubes; SiC nanofibers; MgB 2 nanofibers; carbon doped MgB 2 nanofibers; Bi nanofibers; nanofibers of binary group III-V elements; Si nanofibers; ZnO nanofibers; selenium nanofibers; fluorinated nanofibers; nanofibers that are compounds of Mo, S and I; and combinations thereof.

5. A process for producing a nanofiber yarn, the process comprising:

(a) synthesizing a nanofiber forest on a substrate, wherein the nanofiber forest comprises a substantially parallel array of nanofibers;

(b) patterning the array of nanofibers to produce a patterned assembly of nanofibers by patterned deposition of a catalyst on the substrate, cutting patterns in the nanofiber forest, or combinations thereof;

(c) stripping the nanofiber forest from the substrate to form a nanofiber forest layer;

(d) stacking the nanofiber forest layer upon at least one separate nanofiber forest layer to provide a stack of nanofiber forest layers;

(e) drawing said nanofibers the stack of nanofiber forest layers; and

(f) spinning the nanofiber yarn from the array of nanofiber forest layers.

6. A process for producing a nanofiber sheet, ribbon, or yarn, the process comprising

(a) synthesizing a nanofiber forest on a substrate, wherein the nanofiber forest comprises a substantially parallel array of nanofibers;

(b) patterning the array of nanofibers to produce a patterned assembly of nanofibers by patterned deposition of a catalyst on the substrate, cutting patterns in the nanofiber forest, or combinations thereof;

(c) derivatizing an end region of the nanofibers to join nanofibers in neighboring nanofiber forests at least approximately end-to-end; and

(d) drawing said nanofibers from the nanofiber forest to form a primary assembly that is the nanofiber sheet, ribbon, or yarn.

7. A process for producing a nanofiber sheet, ribbon, or yarn, the process comprising:

(a) synthesizing a nanofiber forest on a substrate, wherein the nanofiber forest comprises a substantially parallel array of nanofibers;

(b) patterning the array of nanofibers to produce a patterned assembly of nanofibers by patterned deposition of a catalyst on the substrate, cutting patterns in the nanofiber forest, or combinations thereof;

(c) forming a binding aid at the interface between an array of nanofiber forest layers;

(d) conducting an initial nanofiber draw; and

(e) drawing said nanofibers from the nanofiber forest to form a primary assembly that is the nanofiber sheet, ribbon, or yarn.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the patterned assembly of nanofibers comprises one or more nanotube forests.

9. A process for producing a nanofiber sheet, ribbon, or yarn, the process comprising:

(a) synthesizing a nanofiber forest on a substrate, wherein the nanofiber forest comprises a substantially parallel array of nanofibers;

(b) patterning the array of nanofibers to produce a patterned assembly of nanofibers by patterned deposition of a catalyst on the substrate, cutting patterns in the nanofiber forest, or combinations thereof;

(c) drawing said nanofibers from the nanofiber forest to form a primary assembly that is the nanofiber sheet, ribbon, or yarn;

(d) the patterned assembly of nanofibers is on a moving substrate; and

(e) the patterning provides parallel nanofiber strips that are oriented along a direction of substrate motion.

10. The process of claim 9 , wherein the parallel nanofiber strips are at least partially patterned along the length of the nanofiber strips.

11. The process of claim 9 , wherein the parallel nanofiber strips are used to separately spin different nanofiber singles yarns.

12. The process of claim 11 , wherein

(a) the singles yarn comprises nanofibers having different lengths, different chemical compositions, different coatings, or combinations thereof,

(b) the singles yarn is drawn and twisted from the same assembly, and

(c) said assembly being selected from the group consisting of a primary assembly, a pre-primary assembly and combinations thereof.

13. The process of claim 12 , wherein

(a) the nanofibers are drawn from different regions of the assembly, and

(b) the nanofibers have different characteristics that are selected from the group consisting of: different types, different surface treatments and combinations thereof.

14. A process for producing a nanofiber sheet, ribbon, or yarn, the process comprising:

(a) synthesizing a nanofiber forest on a substrate, wherein the nanofiber forest comprises a substantially parallel array of nanofibers;

(b) patterning the array of nanofibers to produce a patterned assembly of nanofibers by patterned deposition of a catalyst on the substrate, cutting patterns in the nanofiber forest, or combinations thereof; and

(c) drawing said nanofibers from the nanofiber forest to form a primary assembly that is the nanofiber sheet, ribbon, or yarn, wherein the primary assembly is obtained by

(i) fabricating a sheet comprising nanofibers in which the nanofibers are predominately oriented in one direction by applying an orientation field to a nanofiber dispersion in a fluid and subsequently removing the fluid, and

(ii) drawing said nanofibers from the sheet.

15. The process of claim 14 , wherein the orientation field is a magnetic field, an electric field, a shear flow field, or combinations thereof.

16. A process of spinning a material comprising nanofibers, the process comprising:

(a) arranging nanofibers in aligned arrays of patterned assemblies of nanofibers, the aligned arrays having a degree of inter-fiber connectivity within the array to provide a primary assembly;

(b) drawing said nanofibers as ribbon or sheet from the primary assembly without the occurrence of substantial twisting;

(c) wrapping or otherwise depositing said ribbon or sheet on a substrate; and

(d) spinning the ribbon, wherein

(i) the primary assembly is a patterned assembly of nanofibers, and

(ii) a width of the spun ribbon is dependent on a width of the patterned assemblies of nanofibers.

17. The process of claim 16 further comprising laminating the nanofiber ribbon to form a nanofiber sheet.

18. The process of claim 17 , wherein the step of laminating is performed by use of a chemical binding agent, an electron beam, thermal treatment, an ion beam, radio frequency irradiation, or microwave irradiation.

19. The process of claim 18 , wherein the chemical binding agent is an organic polymer.

20. The process of claim 16 , wherein the primary assembly is a nanofiber forest.

21. The process of claim 20 , wherein the nanofiber forest is comprised of carbon nanotubes.

22. The process of claim 21 , wherein the carbon nanotubes comprise multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

23. The process of claim 16 , wherein the patterned assembly of nanofibers is produced by a method selected from a group consisting of patterned deposition of catalyst on a substrate used for nanofiber growth, cutting patterns in an array of nanofibers, and combinations thereof.

24. A nanofiber article comprising a material made by the process of claim 16 .

25. A transparent conductor made by the process of claim 16 , wherein

(a) the transparent conductor comprises electrically conducting nanofibers, and

(b) said transparent conductor comprises an electrode on a substrate.