Electrostriction study for single-walled carbon nanotubes-based composite

Abstract

This paper proposes a 3D finite element method procedure to study the electrostrictive property of the single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT)-based composite. The numerical model in nanoscale is developed to investigate the electrostrictive behavior of the SWCNT and the polyvinylidene fluoride and trifluoroethylene P(VDF-TrFE) composite. A bond electrical contact model is adopted to reproduce the coupled electromechanical effects of the interface between SWCNT and P(VDP-TrFE). According to the model proposed, the mechanism of the enhanced electrostriction in SWCNT/P(VDP-TrFE) composite is intuitively demonstrated. Numerical results show that aside from the variation of electric field, the electrostriction of the SWCNT/P(VDP-TrFE) composite is greatly depend on the volume fraction of SWCNT and the difference of dielectric constant between SWCNT and P(VDP-TrFE) copolymer. While the dielectric constant of SWCNT is mainly depend on the chirality of SWCNT, which means that the electrostriction of the SWCNT/P(VDP-TrFE) composite is also largely depend on the chirality of SWCNT.