Acid treated single-wall carbon nanotubes(SWNTs)were fabricated into multilayers with a hyperbranched polymer of diazonium salt(DAS)using the layer-by-layer electrostatic adsorption technique.The fabrication process

multilayer thickness variation

multilayer surface morphology and the interaction between SWNTs and DAS were detected by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy

ellipsometry

atomic force microscopy

scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy

respectively.Moreover

the nanomechanical properties of the multilayer film was measured by nanoindentation.All results show that SWNTs and DAS can be fabricated into multilayers based on the cooperation of electrostatic attraction and chemical cross-linkage between SWNTs and DAS.Further

this cooperation endows the SWNTs/DAS multilayer films with outstanding nanomechanical properties.Their hardness and modulus may be as high as 2.0 GPa and 10.0 GPa

respectively.Finally

the SWNTs/DAS multilayer film can be peeled off from the substrate as a free-standing membrane.