Fig. 1

Plasma glow discharge treatment prevents the generation of copious wrinkles on the sections collected on CNT tape. a CNT-coated PET tape consists of three layers. The middle layer is a 50 µm-thick core structure made of PET film. CNTs are buried in the over coat layer (2 µm-thick). A hard coat layer (2 µm-thick) is on the opposing side of the PET film. Both coats are composed of a non-disclosed polymer. b Surface resistance of the CNT tape is uniform. c Ultrathin sections on the CNT-coated PET tape show many wrinkles. d PWCA of the CNT tape is 79.5 degrees. e Possible mechanism of the plasma treatment effect on the collection of the ultrathin sections for the untreated tape with the steep PWCA may cause difficulty in section landing. f Ultrathin sections on the CNT-coated PET tape with plasma treatment show no wrinkles. g PWCA of the CNT-coated PET tape after the plasma discharge treatment becomes 7.4 degrees, which shows that the tape is very hydrophilic. h The shallow PWCA promotes a smooth landing of the ultrathin sections on the plasma-treated tape from the water surface. i, j The plasma treatment effect for no wrinkle generation lasts for 7 months (i) and 13 months (j). Scale, 100 µm. k Time course of the plasma treatment effect on the CNT-coated tape indicated by PWCA. Error bars denote SD. Scale in j is for c, f, i