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113. Thermal Annealing Induced Enhancements of Electrical Conductivities and Mechanism for Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Filled Poly(Ethylene-co-Hexene) Composites
writer:Wenlin Li, Yaqiong Zhang, Jingjing Yang, Jun Zhang, Yanhua Niu, and Zhigang Wang
keywords:polyethylene, carbon nanotube, aspect ratio, network, diffusion, electrical conductivity
source:期刊
specific source:ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2012, 4 (12), 6468–6478
Issue time:2012年
通过电导率测量研究了多壁碳纳米管填充的乙烯-己烯共聚物(MWCNT/PEH)复合材料在高于乙烯-己烯共聚物熔点的温度下热退火引起的导电性能增强行为。作为对比研究,将两种具有不同长径比(4和31)的多壁碳纳米管混入PEH基体之中。利用SEM观察了退火导致的多壁碳纳米管/ PEH复合材料的形态变化。利用流变学测量清晰证实了多壁碳纳米管在复合材料中形成的网络结构。令人惊奇的是,具有较高多壁碳纳米管浓度的多壁碳纳米管/PEH复合材料的电导率在退火时间40分钟后具有明显增加,退火时间120分钟后,电导率的增量最大接近3个数量级。分析得出多壁碳纳米管/PEH复合材料导电率的增加取决于MWCNT含量、MWCNT的长径比和退火时间。SEM结果表明,在退火后,微米级多壁碳纳米管聚集体被破坏而形成更加松散多壁碳纳米管网络。不同类型的网络结构决定了复合材料的流变学行为(MWCNT网络和PEH链MWCNT联合网络)和导电性能(MWCNT管-管接触网络)的演变。而在退火过程中MWCNT网络的重建,是由于在高温下多壁碳纳米管在PEH基体中发生了旋转扩散,并且多壁碳纳米管的长度对此行为具有显着的影响。电导率的明显增强可以归因于热退火过程中非布朗运动所诱导形成的松散网络结构。
 

Thermal annealing-induced enhancements of electrical conductivities at the temperature higher than the melting point of poly(ethylene-co-hexene) matrix for multiwalled carbon nanotubes filled poly(ethylene-co-hexene) (MWCNTs/PEH) composites were investigated by electrical conductivity measurements. Two types of MWCNTs with low and high aspect ratios (4 and 31) were added as fillers into PEH matrix, respectively for comparison study purpose. The morphological changes due to annealing for MWCNTs/PEH composites were observed by SEM. The formation of MWCNT networks in the composites were clearly demonstrated by rheological measurements. It is surprisingly found that the electrical conductivity for MWCNTs/PEH composites with high MWCNT concentrations increases obviously with annealing time of 40 min and the maximum increment approaches about 3 orders of magnitude with annealing time of 120 min. The increase of electrical conductivity of MWCNTs/PEH composites depends on MWCNT content, MWCNT aspect ratio and annealing time. SEM results clearly reveal that micrometer-sized MWCNT aggregates are broken down and more loosely packed MWCNT networks form due to annealing. Different types of networks in the composites are responsible for the evolutions of rheological (MWCNT network and PEH chain-MWCNT combined network) and electrical conductivity properties (tube–tube contacting MWCNT network). The reconstruction of MWCNT network during annealing is attributed to rotational diffusion of MWCNTs in PEH matrix at high temperature and the length of MWCNTs shows significant effect on this. The obvious enhancements of electrical conductivities can be ascribed to the thermal annealing-induced formation of loosely packed more homogeneous networks through non-Brownian motions.