Percolation and Film Formation Behaviors of MWNT/PS Nanocomposites

Abstract

This study involves the investigation of film formation and electrical conductivity properties of polystrene (PS) latex/multi-walled Carbon nanotube (MWNT) composites. Films prepared from PS/MWNT mixtures with different MWNT content were separately annealed above glass transition temperature of PS. Film formation stages of PS/MWNT composites were followed by monitoring the change in transmitted light intensity I-tr. The surface conductivity of films was found to increase dramatically above 4 wt% MWNT following the percolation theory. The conductivity scales with the mass fraction of MWNT as a power law with exponent 2.27 extremely close to the value of 2.0 predicted by percolation theory. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of ICM11