Abstract
Environmentally friendly multifunctional rubber composites are reported. Graphitic nanocarbon (NC) deriving from cracking of biogas (methane/carbon dioxide) and natural rubber extracted directly from the Hevea brasiliensis tree are the two components of these composites produced via latex technology. While maintaining and enhancing the intrinsic thermal and mechanical characteristics of rubber, the presence of NC shows a significant improvement on the electrical response. For a 10 wt % NC content, a 1010-fold increase in conductivity has been achieved with a conductivity value of 7.5 S·m–1, placing these composites among the best obtained using other carbon fillers. In addition, the piezoresistive behavior has also been verified. These promising green composites have a potential use in a variety of applications such as sealing of electronic devices and sensors.
Highlights
Natural rubber (NR) is a biopolymer composed mainly of poly(cis-1,4-isoprene)
The Raman spectrum of the rubber composite shows both of the bands derived from the NC and NR
Further evidence of the presence of both NR and NC in the composites was acquired by performing X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis
Summary
Natural rubber (NR) is a biopolymer composed mainly of poly(cis-1,4-isoprene). Elastomers, such as NR, are harnessed in high-volume products such as tires, pipes, and belting.[1]. Further addition of NCs leads to higher and higher conductivity values, the wt % composites reaching σ = 7.5 S·m−1, that is, orders of magnitude higher than the pristine rubber (Figure 6, bottom). There are several factors that contribute to the high electrical conductivity values of the NR/NC composites: (i) before its dispersion, the NC has been thermally purified to remove the amorphous part and increase its conductivity,[19] (ii) these few layered graphene particles have no point defects at all[20] and constitute a kind of ideal conductive filler, and. The surfactant that has been used to prepare aqueous NC dispersions could act as not a strong stabilizer when the particles are dispersed in the soft matrix, resulting in the NC network formation Another possible reason could be related to processes that occur during the drying of the composite. Possible applications in which strain sensors could be used are in stretchable electronics, robotics, medical diagnostics, and healthcare.[28−31]
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