Nonlinear electrical conducting behavior of carbon nanotube networks in silicone elastomer

Abstract

In this work the authors investigated the electrical conducting properties of multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) networks in the flexible polydimethylsiloxane rubber as a function of applied voltages. The results indicated that the I-V curves showed nonlinear relationships, which can be fitted to quadratic functions. The electrical resistance of the samples varies with the voltages more sharply in lower range. The nonlinear mechanism was related to the materials system including both the MWNTs and the matrix material. Furthermore, the I-V characteristic of the MWNT network/ZnO nanocomposite layer junction has shown a well rectified behavior at low voltages.

Controlled Ohmic and nonlinear electrical transport in inkjet-printed single-wall carbon nanotube films

“…With the decreased surface coverage, the probability of contiguous metallic nanotube network formation becomes lower and other ͑nonlinear͒ conduction processes contribute more significantly to the transport. Although in previous works using multiwalled carbon nanotubes the nonlinear I-V curves of low resistance films were explained by self-heating, 42,43 this would be very unlikely in our samples, since such an effect would be more pronounced for the denser films, where significantly higher power is generated compared to the less dense films. Anyhow, the I-V characteristics of thicker films are linear.…”

Electrical Properties of CNT-Based Polymeric Matrix Nanocomposites

“…The same samples, by increasing the amount of CNTs, resulted in a perfect linear response (Figure 12), as well as H1 samples. In literature, a nonlinear behavior was observed in composites based on MWCNTs networks dispersed in PDMS rubber even though the authors report no transition towards a linear response by increasing the amount of dispersoid (Liu and Fan 2007). A possible explanation is given by the fluctuation-induced tunnelling mechanism acting in correspondence of CNTs' intersections.…”

Transport performance in novel elastomer nanocomposites: Mechanism, design and control

“…The nanocomposite with the semiconducting behavior was employed to fabricate a diode junction that exhibited a well-rectified behavior at lower voltages [169].…”