Chapter 12 - Carbon black-reinforced 3D and 4D printable conductive polymer composites

Abstract

This chapter introduces carbon black (CB)-reinforced 3D and 4D printable conductive polymer composites and their applications. It starts by presenting the characteristics of CB, such as its microstructure, piezoresistive effect, conductivity, and soft “equivalent spring” functional composite material coming from the mixture of 3D and 4D printable polymer composites. It then explains the fabrication method, the material analysis, and the principle of the piezoresisitve effect coming from CB-reinforced 3D and 4D printable conductive composites. The strain sensor, good conductivity as the electrode of the device, and the soft “equivalent spring” functional application are also described to demonstrate the conductive performance, soft property with mechanical compatibility, and piezoresistive effect of the 3D and 4D printable composite device. The measurement results verified that the CB-reinforced composite polymer as a strain sensor strongly affects the conduction of the composite polymer during the drawing or releasing onto its device. Moreover, it finds that the conduction of CB in 3D and 4D printable composites can function both as a good conductive electrode and a soft “equivalent spring” buffer in the application of energy harvesting. At the end of the chapter, the challenges and future perspectives of 3D and 4D printable CB composites are discussed to provide more potential applications in the near future.