Multi-walled Carbon Nanotube Composites Research Articles

Hydrogen uptake of Ti-decorated multiwalled carbon nanotube composites

In this study, the hydrogen storage capacity of purified multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was enhanced from 13- to 15-fold at a temperature of 298 K and pressure of 2.0 MPa, upon incorporation of 1.57–1.88 wt% of ultrafine Ti nanoparticles. The effect of a hydrogen spillover Ti catalyst on MWCNTs prepared using the sputtering method was investigated. A comparison between the hydrogen uptake by MWCNTs sputtered with Ti for 3000 s and that for 6000 s was also performed using the Sievert's volumetric apparatus. The significant enhancement in hydrogen uptake was attributed to the interfacial diffusion of hydrogen from Ti to the MWCNTs. The re-adsorption of hydrogen on the pristine MWCNTs and Ti-decorated MWCNTs dehydrogenated at 200 °C indicated that the samples did not compromise their reversible hydrogen uptake during the hydrogenation–dehydrogenation cycles. It was also found that longer exposure of Ti to the MWCNTs during sputtering improved the hydrogen storage capacity. This improvement could be attributed to the presence of a higher amount of Ti deposited on the MWCNTs, as indicated by thermogravimetric analysis study.

Two-step synthesis of polyurethane/multi-walled carbon nanotubes polymer composite to achieve high percentage particle reinforcement for mechanical applications

The present work has been aimed to synthesize Polyurethane (PU)/Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) composite using a two-step method to enhance mechanical properties. In the first step, films (0.2 mm thickness) have been synthesized using a solution mixing method to disperse MWCNTs in the PU matrix. In the second step, thin films of uniformly dispersed MWCNTs in the PU matrix have been compression molded to synthesize PU/MWCNTs composite required for real mechanical applications. The two-step method has the advantages of solution mixing as well as compression molding method. The results of quasi-static nanoindentation tests indicated that in comparison to pure PU, elastic modulus and hardness have been enhanced by 124% and 53% respectively for 10 wt% PU/MWCNTs composite. Fracture resistance of PU/MWCNTs composites, with 7 wt% of MWCNTs, has been enhanced by 52% as compared to pure PU. To understand bulk behavior, nanoindentation results have been cross-verified with compression testing. Results of compressive testing shown that the modulus of composite material has been significantly improved under the influence of the increasing composition of MWCNTs. A noticeable improvement of 52% has been observed in compressive modulus of 10 wt% composite in equivalence to pure PU. The overall improvement in mechanical behavior has been attributed to the uniform dispersion of MWCNTs in the PU matrix by the two-step synthesis method.

Core–shell MWCNTs@ZnS composite prepared by atomic layer deposition for high-performance lithium-ion batteries anode

In this work, zinc sulfide (ZnS) on hydroxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) composite was prepared for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) anode. It is demonstrated that atomic layer deposition (ALD) enables a conformal, uniform, and ultrathin ZnS (~ 7 nm) layer onto the surface of hydroxylated MWCNTs. The resulting MWCNTs@ZnS core–shell composite displays excellent electrochemical performances as LIBs anode, accounting for high capacity, stable cyclability, high rate capability, and exceptional coulombic efficiency. The MWCNTs@ZnS composite can exhibit a stable discharge capacity, sustaining 520 mAh g−1 versus 108 mAh g−1 for commercial ZnS powders after 200 cycles at 100 mA g−1. The improved electrochemical performances are attributed to the synergistic effect from MWCNTs and ALD ZnS film. MWCNTs have good conductivity and huge surface area while the ALD ZnS film has high Li storage capability. This study verifies that ALD is highly flexible in developing excellent electrodes of LIBs.

Effect of acid treatment substrate for supercapacitor electrode based on multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Effect of acid treatment substrate for supercapacitor based on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) electrode was investigated. The electrode was used as stainless steel type 304 (SS304) and was with hydrochloric acid (HCl) acid-treated before use. Firstly, SS304 substrates were soaked in 37% HCl for designated time. Acid treatment times were varied at 0, 5, 10 and 15 min. Their surface morphology, elemental components and hydrophilicity property of the acid-treated SS304 were analyzed. The 10-min-treated SS304 show the lowest contact angles, indicating the best hydrophilicity property. Electrode material was prepared by composites of MWNTs, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) with an area of 5x5 mm2. Their cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge/discharge (CD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were characterized. The 10-min-treated SS304 exhibits the best performance with a specific capacitance (SC) of 261.04 Fg−1. The improvement of the SC of the acid-treated substrate was contributed to the adhesion improvement between a current collector and an electrode material, and the hydrophilicity improvement, resulting in a large amount of electrolyte ions accessing into the electrode materials and subsequently enhancement of their capacitive characteristics.

MWCNTs/PEDOT: PSS Composite as Guiding Layer on Screen-Printed Carbon Electrode for Linear Range Lactate Detection

The emerging field of nanomaterials could be utilized in biosensors for addressing challenging applications due to its abundant strategic properties. Herein, a composite of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and poly (3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene)-poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) was synthesized, and used as guiding layer on screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE) for lactate detection. Lactate plays a substantial role in health care applications. Fundamental characteristics of the composite modified SPCE were studied using FE-SEM, EDS, and Raman spectroscopy and sensor performance was analyzed by electrochemical methods. AFM was used to thoroughly study the screen-printed carbon electrode and as-deposited MWCNT/PEDOT:PSS composite film topography. Various parameters were optimized to achieve the best performance of lactate sensor. The developed sensor provided a wide linear range response (R2 = 0.97) from 1 mM to 10 mM for buffer samples with 35.224 μA mM−1 sensitivity. The proposed sensor was applied for to detect lactate in cancer (MCF-7) cells media. A calculated LOD 4.0 ± 5 μM (S/N) was achieved and the results showed a linear response up to 7 mM. As a result, the advanced approach could be applied for the detection of a range of metabolites using respective enzymes. This approach could open on-line lactate detection in organ-on-a-chip applications.

Influence of Porosity on Fracture Toughness of Hydroxyapatite/Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Biocomposite Materials

The paper analyzes the influence of porosity of hydroxyapatite (HA)/multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) composites on their fracture toughness. It is found that two competing factors affect the resulting fracture toughness. On the one hand, MWCNTs, which are stronger than the surrounding HA matrix, promote the increase in the fracture toughness owing to the possible crack path deflection from the planar geometry, that leads to a decrease in the crack driving force. On the other hand, the higher MWCNT concentration leads to the reduction in the composite porosity. The computer simulation of the crack formation in HA composite with different porosity shows that the lower porosity provided by the sintering activation due to the MWCNT addition, leads to a reduction in the fracture toughness of ceramics. It is shown that the MWCNT addition in the amount of less than 0.5 wt.% does not lead to a significant growth in the fracture toughness due to these two competing factors.

Lightweight and flexible poly(ether-block-amide)/multiwalled carbon nanotube composites with porous structure and segregated conductive networks for electromagnetic shielding applications

An innovative method was firstly used to prepare lightweight, deformable, and stable conductive composites with segregated structure and microcellular morphology inside. The segregated structure enables the composites to achieve satisfactory conductivity and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness with low multiwalled carbon nanotube content. Additionally, the microcellular poly(ether-block-amide) beads promote the composites to display lightweight and outstanding deformability, while protecting the continuity of conductive network during deformation process. The elongation at break of composites has reached to be 70%, and the hysteresis during cyclic tension and compression is as low as 15%. After undergoing cyclic deformation behavior in tension and compression modes, the conductivity and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of the composites remained almost the same as those original values, indicating well stable conductivity. Thus, this composite with light weight, outstanding deformability and stable conductivity obtained via an environmentally friendly and simple molding process has very advantageous application in flexible electronic field.

Surfactant-free one-step fabrication of gelatin/PAAm/MWCNT composites for biomedical applications

Well-dispersed multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and gelatin-enhanced polyacrylamide (PAAm) composites were synthesized via a free-radical copolymerization method. MWCNTs were added to the composite mixture in various amounts (0.5 mg, 1.0 mg, 1.5 mg, and 2.0 mg) during the nucleation process in order to increase the conductivity. Gelatin/PAAm/MWCNT composites containing different amounts of MWCNTs were then characterized using the ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopic technique to illuminate the dispersibility, and optical properties of the composites. Bandgap energies were evaluated by measuring the absorbance spectra of the composites in a quartz cuvette of the UV–vis spectrophotometer. By calculating the resonance ratio and normalized width values from the absorption response of the composites according to the wavelength, the dispersion rate of the MWCNTs in the composite matrix was determined. The proper ultra-sonication process has been realized so as to maintain the good dispersion of the MWCNTs inside the polymeric matrix lowering the normalized width and increasing the resonance ratio. Polymeric composite materials based on carbon nanotubes are of considerable interest for a variety of biomedical applications. Furthermore, in this work, it is argued that the use of gelatin, another biocompatible material, together with MWCNT makes the properties of the formed composite, suitable for the desired biomedical applications.

Synthesis of the novel binary composite of self-suspended polyaniline (S-PANI) and functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes for high-performance supercapacitors

To push the upper limit of capacitive materials, the integration of multi-modal capacitive materials has emerged as a potential solution. In this regard, we reported the novel binary composite of self-suspended polyaniline (S-PANI) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs). Compared with conventional polyaniline, S-PANI offers higher porosity and fibrillar polymeric network, which was achieved by doping long-chain protonic acid during in situ polymerization. S-PANI was loaded on oxidized carbon nanotubes (OCNTs) and sulfonated carbon nanotubes (SCNTs) to prepare S-PANI/OCNT and S-PANI/SCNT composite electrodes, respectively. The conductive and exclusive fibrillar S-PANI provide unobstructed channels for charge transport and electrolyte infiltration. Preliminary electrochemical studies revealed that the capacitance of the composite electrode reached 316.8 F g−1 and 345.4 F g−1, and established exceptional capacitance retention rates of 92.8% and 93.7% after 5000 cycles for S-PANI/OCNT and S-PANI/SCNT composite, respectively, making it a potential candidate for imminent energy storage devices.

Preparation of a novel flame retardant based on diatomite/polyethyleneimine modified MWCNT for applications in silicone rubber composites

A new flame retardant, DM/PEI/MWCNT, was prepared by self-assembly method based on non-covalent interactions between hydroxyl and amino groups on the surface of hydroxyl multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), polyethyleneimine (PEI) and diatomite (DM). The flame-retardant composites were prepared by adding DM/PEI/MWCNT to room-temperature vulcanisated silicone rubber (RTV-silicone). The structure of the flame retardant and composites was characterised by polarising light microscope, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The flame retardancy of composites was studied by limited oxygen index and cone calorimeter measurement. Results showed that RTV-silicone composites with DM/PEI/MWCNT owned better flame retardancy. In addition, DM/PEI/MWCNT exhibited better compatibility in silicone rubber than that of unmodified DM, and the tensile properties of RTV-silicone/DM/PEI/MWCNT composites were improved compared to pure RTV-silicone.

Understanding the interaction in functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube/polyaniline composite by impedance study at low temperature

The impedance, modulus spectroscopy and dielectric properties of polyaniline (PANI) and composite with multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) of different degrees of functionalization are studied from 300 to 4.2 K in the frequency range 40 Hz–5 MHz. At low temperature (T 100 K), grain and grain boundary relaxation peaks are observed in PANI. In composites, MWCNT forms a network between less and highly conducting grains, increases dc conductivity, and shows no relaxation peak at low temperature. The chemical functionalization of MWCNT increases the polar interaction between MWCNT and PANI, shifts the relaxation peaks towards lower frequency and slows the relaxation process. The relaxation process is manifested as non-Debye type and it tends towards Debye type with increasing temperature in functionalized muti-walled carbon nanotube (fMWCNT) PANI composites, and explained by Bergman’s theory. The relaxation barrier energy at the interface of fMWCNT and PANI increases with increasing degree of functionalization which is the effect of enhanced interfacial (Maxwell Wagner–Sillars) polarization. In MWCNT composite, the real part of dielectric constant shows high negative value below 10 K at lower frequency (950 Hz) and it becomes positive due to functionalization of MWCNT. An additional crossover from positive to negative occurs in both MWCNT and fMWCNT, PANI composite above temperature 60 K and frequency 500 Hz. This crossover shifts towards higher temperature and frequency with increasing degree of functionalization. The negative value and crossover of dielectric constant are explained by Drude–Sommerfeld model.

Polyaniline/multi-walled carbon nanotubes filled biopolymer based flexible substrate electrodes for supercapacitor applications

Implementation of green energy storage system via integrating natural materials has become an indispensable requirement for a sustainable future. In this study, polyaniline (PANI) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) filled flexible porous mixed matrix membrane (MMM) were developed from chitosan (CS) and cellulose acetate (CA) for supercapacitor applications. The results reflect that the unique membrane morphology of the MMM electrode aid for the better areal capacitance of 30.69 mF/cm2 at a scan rate of 25 mV/s when compared with CA/CS (CC) paper based electrode having same compositions of PANI and MWCNT (15.71 mF/cm2 at a scan rate of 25 mV/s). The present strategy paved way to biopolymer based mixed matrix membrane (MMM) having facile fabrication, high porosity and flexibility as sustainable electrode materials for energy storage applications.

Controllable magnetic properties and enhanced microwave absorbing of Ba2Mg2Fe12O22@Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/multi-walled carbon nanotubes composites

Multiferroic Y-type Ba2Mg2Fe12O22 (BMFO) hexaferrite, spinel Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 (NZFO) ferrite, and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) ternary composites have been successfully fabricated via one-step sol-gel method followed solvothermal method. The electron microscopy analysis exhibits that platelet-like BMFO and quasi-spherical NZFO grains are surrounded by dispersed MWCNTs. The magnetic and microwave absorption (MA) performances are hugely associated with the mass ratio of BMFO to NZFO phase. The saturation magnetization of composites increases from 24.2 to 69.0 emu/g, while permittivity declines apparently with increasing NZFO content. It is easy to infer that the addition of NZFO phase may be beneficial to balance the relative permittivity and permeability of BMFO@NZFO/MWCNTs, which can endow the strong reflection loss of the composites. When the mass ratio of BMFO to NZFO is 3:1, the absorber shows the minimum reflection loss of −36.1 dB at 14.3 GHz with a relatively thin thickness of 1.8 mm, and effective absorption bandwidth (less than −10 dB) of 4.1 GHz. When the mass ratio is reduced to 1:3, the minimum reflection loss reaches to −40.8 dB at 10.6 GHz with an absorber thickness of 2.5 mm, and the effective absorption bandwidth is achieved in the frequency range from 8.0 to 11.9 GHz which covers almost the whole X band (8.0–12 GHz). For the two composites mentioned above, the effective absorption bandwidth covers almost the entire frequency range by changing the absorber thickness from 1 mm to 5 mm. Very interestingly, the effective absorption band shifts to the low frequency by adding NZFO, attributing to adequate exchange-coupling interaction between BMFO and NZFO phases. These mentioned results demonstrate that composites consisting of multiferroic Y-type hexaferrite, spinel ferrite and carbon material have a potential application in high-performance MA materials integrating vigorous absorption intensity, broad absorption bandwidth and thin thickness.

Effect of glass fibers and multi walled carbon nano tubes (MWCNT’s) on mechanical properties of epoxy hybrid composites at elevated temperature

Polymer composites with particulate fillers have gained interest in the present investigations. The presence of combination of micro and nano fillers enhance the mechanical properties of Epoxy composites. The reinforcement combination includes Activated Carbon Powder (ACP), Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3), and Barium Sulphate (BaSO4) infused in micro size while, Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) and Nano Silica Powder (NSP) are incorporated as Nano particulates in addition to chopped E-Glass Fibre (EGF) in order to form Epoxy Hybrid Composites. The composition of E-Glass Fibre (EGF) and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) are varied, maintaining a total configuration of 10 vol%, to form different combinations of Epoxy Hybrid Composites with rest of the particulates reinforced with each of 10 vol%. The mechanical properties of Epoxy Hybrid Composites at various temperatures are investigated and it is evident that reinforcement combination of 8.5 vol% chopped E-Glass Fibre and 1.5 vol% Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes has yielded maximum tensile strength, impact strength and hardness value at 25 °C compared to other variations of Epoxy Hybrid Composites.

Investigation on mechanical properties of reinforced glass fibre/epoxy with hybrid nano composites

In this study the experimental investigation of mechanical behaviour of Multi-Walled Carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3) reinforced with EGlass/Epoxy nanocomposites at 0.5%, 1.5% and 2.0% of weight rated with 225 GSM, 300 GSM and 450 GSM glass fibres were studied. Test specimens were prepared at the standardof ASTM D638 for tensile specimen ASTM D256 for impact specimen. Testspecimens were prepared at the ratio of MWCNTs: Al2O3 is 1:4. 1.5 wt. % of MultiWalled CNTs filledE-Glass/Epoxy nanocomposites showed improved mechanical properties than glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites.450 GSM reinforced glass fiber epoxy composites containing 1.5wt. % of MWCNTs improved 36.27 % of higher tensile value and 28.57 % of impact value than the glass fibre reinforced epoxy composites. 225 and 300 GSM reinforced glass fibre epoxy composites with 1.5 wt. % of MWCNTs composites also has improved tensile and impact value than glass fibre reinforced epoxy composites. But, overall 450 GSM reinforced fibre nanocomposites showed enhanced mechanical properties than the other GSM reinforced nanocomposites. This proves MultiWalled Carbon Nanotubes is a successful reinforcement for E-Glass/Epoxy matrix and it improves its properties and performance.

Development of Cobalt coated MWCNTs/Polyurethane composite for microwave absorption

This research work describes the design and method of development of microwave absorber and was conducted for analysis of reflection loss performance with the magnetic modifications of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs). Cobalt coated Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes composites were prepared by three step methods. Composites were developed with varying weight percentage of Cobalt (II) Chloride Hexahydrate and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes. The morphology, elementary analysis and absorbing properties of Cobalt coated Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes composites were studied by FESEM, EDX and Vector Network Analyzer. The obtained Co coated MWCNTs/PU composite demonstrated the maximum reflection loss of -21.06 dB at 12.63 GHz and the maximum absorption bandwidth of 3.7 GHz, in the frequency range of 8-13 GHz with 3 mm thickness. These microwave absorption parameters can be credited to synergistic effect of improved matched impedance and greater microwave attenuation properties of the absorber. The combined usage of dielectric loss and magnetic loss absorber design shows great diversity and can be a promising candidate for designing high performance microwave absorbing materials.

Magnetic solid-phase extraction using polydopamine-coated magnetic multiwalled carbon nanotube composites coupled with high performance liquid chromatography for the determination of chlorophenols.

Polydopamine (PDA)-coated magnetic multiwalled carbon nanotube (M-MWCNT) composites were synthesized in two facile preparation steps, and were used as adsorbents for magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for simultaneous extraction, enrichment and determination of five kinds of typical chlorophenols (CPs) in water samples. The as-prepared magnetic composites showed excellent magnetic properties and high thermal stability. Various main parameters influencing the extraction efficiency of MSPE were systematically investigated. Under the optimized MSPE-HPLC conditions, a high enrichment factor (EF) was obtained in the range of 85-112 for 2-chlorophenol (2-CP), 4-chlorophenol (4-CP), 2,6-dichlorophenol (2,6-DCP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP). Good linearity was obtained in the range of 2.0-200 μg L-1 for 2-CP and 4-CP and 1.0-200 μg L-1 for 2,6-DCP, 2,4-DCP and 2,4,6-TCP, with a correlation coefficient (R2) higher than 0.9964. The limits of detection (LODs) and the limits of quantification (LOQs) were in the range of 0.10-0.31 μg L-1 and 0.35-1.03 μg L-1, respectively. The intraday and interday precisions evaluated using relative standard deviation (RSD) values were in the range of 1.05-2.25% and 1.88-2.83%, respectively. The validated MSPE-HPLC method was also successfully applied to analyze five kinds of CPs in tap water, lake water, river water and seawater samples, and satisfactory recoveries were obtained in the range of 76.87-106.5% with RSDs of 1.64-6.78%.

The Electric-Field-Driven Fusion Jetting 3D Printing for Fabricating High Resolution Polylactic Acid/Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube Composite Micro-Scale Structures.

Existing 3D printing techniques are still facing the challenge of low resolution for fabricating polymer matrix composites, inhibiting the wide engineering applications for the biomedical engineering (biomimetic scaffolds), micro fuel cells, and micro-electronics. In order to achieve high resolution fabrication of polylactic acid (PLA)/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composites, this paper presents an electric-field-driven (EFD) fusion jetting 3D printing method by combining the mixing effect and material feeding of the micro-screw and the necking effect of Taylor cone by the EFD. The effects of main process parameters (the carbon loading, the voltage, the screw speed, and the printing speed) on the line width and the printing quality were studied and optimized. To demonstrate the printing capability of this proposed method, meshes with line width of 30 µm to 100 μm and 1 wt.% to 5 wt.% MWCNT for the application of conductive biomimetic scaffold and the anisotropic flexible meshes were prepared. The electrical properties were investigated to present the frequency dependence of the alternating current conductivity and the dielectric loss (tanδ), and the microstructures of printed structures demonstrated the uniformly dispersed MWCNT in PLA matrix. Therefore, it provides a new solution to fabricate micro-scale structures of composite materials, especially the 3D conductive biomimetic scaffolds.

Microwave-absorption characteristics of polyaniline-coated multi-walled carbon nanotube composites

ABSTRACT In this study, the microwave-absorption characteristics of multi-layered radar-absorbing structures (RASs) were investigated. Electrical-grade glass (e-glass)/epoxy composites containing modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were fabricated. The poly aniline (PANI) coated MWCNTs was obtained by in-situ polymerisation of aniline in the presence of MWCNTs. The PANI-coated MWCNTs (PCNTs) were then used as reinforcements in the polymer matrix, and their morphologies, microstructures, thermal stabilities, and microwave-absorbing properties were investigated. The complex permittivity and permeability of the composites were measured and found to have increased with increasing filler concentration. Microwave absorbing properties were analysed via waveguide measurement. The three-layered RASs reinforced with PCNTs having a thickness of 4 mm exhibited a RL of –5 dB over the entire X-band and a reflection peak of –24.53 dB at 10.0 GHz. Hence, the epoxy/PCNTs composites are suitable for use in microwave-absorption applications.

Enhancing structural stability and physical properties of silver added iron-MWCNT composite prepared by high energy ball milling and spark plasma sintering

This paper reports the beneficial effect of silver addition (~0.1 wt%) on the structural stabilization of multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) reinforced in iron matrix by way of high energy ball milling (HEBM) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). Silver added Fe - x wt% MWCNT (x = 1, 2, 3 and 4) composites were prepared by HEBM followed by SPS. Structural characterization of silver bearing composite powder and its sintered mass was carried out by XRD. The structural damage of MWCNT after HEBM was assessed by Raman Spectroscopy. As a support, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic study was used to look into the bonding characteristics. Detailed microstructural studies by optical, field emission scanning (FESEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were employed to further assess structural stabilization and evolution of micro constituents during processing. Finally, magnetic and electrical properties of the composites were determined.It was revealed that minor addition of silver aids in restoration of the structural integrity of MWCNT in iron matrix composite. Moreover, it was noted that silver added composite could achieve a contamination free matrix–reinforcement interface. It is propounded that silver atoms tether MWCNT surface and behave like coating over MWCNTs. Conductivity of silver doped iron-4 wt% MWCNT composites exhibited a conductivity value higher than that of electrical conductivity grade (EC grade) aluminum. Saturation magnetization of silver doped Fe-MWCNT composite was increased by 25% over pure iron at 3 wt% MWCNT. The observed improvement in properties of composite is ascribed to tethering of silver particles at MWCNT surface; this gave rise to better interfacial bonding and the physical properties.