Abstract
Abstract To achieve an efficient conductive network while preserving the properties of carbon nanofillers is a challenging and essential issue for the fabrication of highly conductive polymeric nanocomposites. The present paper reports a facile approach to manipulate the network formation in the polymer matrix via introducing the tetrapod ZnO whisker (T-ZnO) in the carbon nanotube (CNT)-reinforced epoxy composite. The influence of T-ZnO on the CNT dispersion was evaluated by UV-Vis spectroscopy, rheological measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electrical and mechanical properties of the bulk composite. The results showed that the CNTs tend to disperse more uniformly with an increase in T-ZnO loading. An optimized ratio of 1:2 between CNTs and T-ZnO was found to significantly enhance the electrical conductivity by 8 orders of magnitude. A low percolation threshold of 0.25 wt% CNTs was achieved in this hybrid CNTs/T-ZnO composite, which is only 40% of the threshold value in the pure CNTs/epoxy. The flexural strength and modulus of the hybrid composite were also improved noticeably in comparison to the CNTs/epoxy. The mechanism for increasing the performance of the nanocomposite was analyzed. These results indicated that the T-ZnO can assist to efficiently improve the dispersion and the formation of the conductive network, which is beneficial to the enhancement of the mechanical and electrical performance of the nanocomposite.
Highlights
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered to be one of the most promising carbon nanofillers for the fabrication of high-performance multifunctional polymeric nanocomposites due to its ultrahigh aspect ratio and superb mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties [1,2,3,4]
To examine the predispersed results of the CNT, several techniques have been applied to analyze the dispersion of CNTs/tetrapod ZnO whisker (T-ZnO) in both the solvent and epoxy matrix
A T-ZnO whisker was used as a complement filler to hybridize CNTs, which improves the dispersion of CNTs and constructs high-efficient conductive networks within an epoxy resin
Summary
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered to be one of the most promising carbon nanofillers for the fabrication of high-performance multifunctional polymeric nanocomposites due to its ultrahigh aspect ratio and superb mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties [1,2,3,4]. Covalent modification is to graft functional groups on the sidewalls of CNTs via chemical or physical treatments such as acids [6,7,8], plasma [9,10,11,12], UV/ozone [13], and ultrasonication [14] This method can effectively improve the mechanical property of the nanocomposite by disintegrating CNT bundles and strengthening its interfacial bonding with the surrounding polymer matrix. The dispersion of CNTs in the polymer matrix can be manipulated via control the amount of T-ZnO adding in the solution and eventually facilitate the formation of interconnected conductive networks in the composite. A proposed mechanism for property enhancement with the addition of T-ZnO has been discussed
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