Surface activation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as forests and yarns, depolytmerization of candidate polymers, and uniform deposition and re-polymerization onto the activated CNTs are simultaneously achieved by exposing CNTs and polymer targets to light with a narrow wavelength distribution from a vacuum ultraviolet lamp. Both polystyrene and poly (methyl methacrylate) are deposited onto the surface of CNTs in the CNT-forest and yarn in a N2 environment for 30 min during which the polymer uniformly coats the carbon nanotubes. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data reveal that covalent bonding occurs at the CNT-polymer interface.

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