Tuning of vapor sensing behaviors of eco-friendly conductive polymer composites utilizing ramie fiber.

Conductive polymer composites (CPCs) have found applications as eco-friendly vapor sensor. In this study, ramie fiber (RF) was incorporated into poly (lactic acid) (PLA), an eco-friendly polymer, through a premixing process of conductive fillers (carbon black (CB) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs)) and RF. The introduction of RF increases the crystallinity of composites without sacrificing electrical properties. The influence of RF on the vapor sensing behaviors of the CPC was investigated in detail. Compared with those systems with only conductive fillers, i.e. , CB/PLA and CNT/PLA, the RF embedded CPCs show higher electrical conductivity with lower percolation threshold, better shape stability toward ‘good solvent’ such as dichloromethane, and excellent reversibility upon ‘poor’ solvent. The increased crystallinity and the interaction between conductive fillers and RF are responsible for the phenomenon. To illustrate the conductive network evolution during tests, a schematic was proposed. The results suggest that conductive polymer composites containing RF can be applied as a promising eco-friendly vapor sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]