Shear‐Induced Network Organization and Enhanced Directional Electrical Transport in Blade‐Coated Single‍‐‍Walled Carbon Nanotubes Films

Single‐walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films are promising transparent conductors for flexible and optoelectronic devices, although achieving a suitable balance between optical transparency and electrical conductivity using scalable deposition methods remains challenging. Here, SWCNT films were fabricated by blade coating using blade‐substrate gaps of 150 and 250 µm and coating speeds of 8–40 mms ⁻¹ . The influence of these parameters on film morphology, optical properties, and electrical transport was systematically investigated. Atomic force microscopy revealed interconnected SWCNT networks whose morphology varied with coating conditions, suggesting preferential network organization along the coating direction. Surface roughness increased from approximately 23–26 nm at 8 mms ⁻¹ to 39–41 nm at 30 mms ⁻¹ . At a 150 µm gap, increasing the coating speed substantially reduced sheet resistance while decreasing optical transmittance by only approximately 8%. Differences between sheet resistance measured parallel and perpendicular to the coating direction further revealed direction‐dependent electrical transport. The films retained electrical functionality under mechanical deformation, and a proof‐of‐concept wearable resistive sensor exhibited reversible resistance changes between approximately 3.4 and 6.2 kΩ during finger motion. These findings establish blade coating as a scalable approach for tuning the morphology and electrical transport of SWCNT films for flexible electronics and wearable sensing.