Highly conductive polymethly(methacrylate)/multi-wall carbon nanotube composites by modeling a three-dimensional percolated microstructure

Abstract

Multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were incorporated into a poly-methylmethacrylate (PMMA) matrix by using MWCNT coated PMMA particles. The MWCNTs were well incorporated to PMMA particles by a simple solution mixing and drying method with dimethylformamide (DMF) and Me0H as mixing mediums; no additional processing was necessary to achieve this level of dispersibility. The PMMA/ MWCNTs prepared from MWCNT-incorporated PMMA particles showed a high electrical conductivity of 1.23 S/cm at an MWCNT loading of 3 wt%. The critical exponent fitting by scaling law demonstrated that the electrical conduction is generated through 3-dimensionally in polymer matrices. The percolation threshold of the PMMA/MWCNT composite, which has a segregated structure in DMF, was noticeably lower than that of the PMMA/MWCNT resin, which had a randomly distributed structure. The lowest values of the percolation threshold were achieved at 0.0095 wt% of MWCNT loading. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.