Electrical conductivity and transparency of polymer hybrid nanocomposites based on poly(trimethylene terephthalate) containing single walled carbon nanotubes and expanded graphite

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT)/expanded graphite (EG)/poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) hybrid nanocomposites were prepared via in situ polymerization. Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed to determine both, purity and morphology of the nanofillers and the dispersion of nanotubes and nanosheets. The electrical and optical properties of thin polymer films based on both "single" nanocomposites and hybrid nanocomposites were studied. For PTT/ SWCNT nanocomposites, results confirmed that films optical transmittance decreases as the concentration of SWCNT increases, attaining almost no optical transmittance for 0.3 wt % of nanofiller. Conversely, the electrical conductivity of nanocomposites was found to increase by increasing the nanofiller amount and the r dc values indicate that percolation occurs at a very low SWCNT content (around 0.05 wt %). In the case of PTT/SWCNT 1 EG nanocomposites, when the content of SWCNT is 0.05%, the hybrid system presents lower conductivity than that corresponding to the "single" nanocomposite. The incorporation of additional EG to the PTT/SWCNT nanocomposite has a small effect on the electrical conductivity but inhibits the transparency of the system.

New functional nanocomposites based on poly(trimethylene 2,5-furanoate) and few layer graphene prepared by in situ polymerization

“…nanocomposites Neat poly(trimethylene 2,5-furanoate) (PTF) and PTF-based nanocomposites were prepared via in situ polymerization, following the same procedure as described elsewhere for PTT based nanocomposites [41,46,50,51]. In brief, 0.1 and 0.3 wt% of FLG was dispersed in 200 mL of bio-PDO using ultrahigh speed stirrer (Ultra-Turax T25, Wilmington, NC, USA) for 15 min, and subsequently an ultrasonicator (Homogenizer HD 2200, Sonoplus (Berlin, Germany) with frequency of 20 kHz and power 200 W) for 15 min.…”

Influence of hybrid system of nanofillers on the functional properties of postconsumer PET‐G–based nanocomposites

“…Electrical conductivity measurements were performed at room temperature in the frequency range from 10 −2 Hz to 10 6 Hz using a Novocontrol broadband dielectric spectrometer following the procedure previously described in previous works …”

“…Moreover, Yu et al have found that the thermal conductivity of polycarbonate was synergistically improved by the simultaneous addition of GNP and MWCNTs nanoadditives into the matrix. More recently, Paszkiewicz et al showed that by the addition of carbon‐based hybrid nanofillers to poly (trimethylene terephthalate) and its block copolymer poly (trimethylene terephthalate‐ block ‐poly (tetramethyleneoxide) (PTT‐ block ‐PTMO), one can improve the mechanical and thermal properties along with electrical and thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites. Thus, one can propose the study on the synergistic influence of hybrid nanofillers on the physical performance of PET‐G as polymer matrix.…”

The Ultraviolet-Induced Functionalization of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes with Polymer Radicals Generated from Polyvinyl Benzoate Derivatives

“…They show characteristic electric conductivity based on the conjugated pi-electron system. Accordingly, they are used in organic electronic devices [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

“…To date, various polymers have been used to prepare polymer/ nanomaterial composites: for example, poly(L-lactide) [10,13], poly(trimethylene terephthalate) [11], polycarbonate/ethylene-propylene copolymer [12], polydimethylsiloxane [14], polyvinylpyrrolidone [15], etc. Many hybrid materials have been fabricated by means of physical dispersion of nanoparticles into polymers.…”