1. Enhanced electrical conductivity in polystyrene nanocomposites at ultra-low graphene content.
- Author
-
Qi XY, Yan D, Jiang Z, Cao YK, Yu ZZ, Yavari F, and Koratkar N
- Subjects
- Electric Conductivity, Lactic Acid chemistry, Nanocomposites ultrastructure, Nanotubes, Carbon chemistry, Polyesters, Polymers chemistry, Graphite chemistry, Nanocomposites chemistry, Polystyrenes chemistry
- Abstract
We compared the electrical conductivity of multiwalled-carbon-nanotube/polystyrene and graphene/polystyrene composites. The conductivity of polystyrene increases from ∼6.7 × 10(-14) to ∼3.49 S/m, with an increase in graphene content from ∼0.11 to ∼1.1 vol %. This is ∼2-4 orders of magnitude higher than for multiwalled-carbon-nanotube/polystyrene composites. Furthermore, we show that the conductivity of the graphene/polystyrene system can be significantly enhanced by incorporation of polylactic acid. The volume-exclusion principle forces graphene into the polystyrene-rich regions (selective localization) and generates ∼4.5-fold decrease in its percolation threshold from ∼0.33 to ∼0.075 vol %.
- Published
- 2011
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