Conductivity percolation of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in polystyrene (PS) latex film

Abstract

In this study the effect of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) on film formation behaviour and electrical conductivity properties of polystrene (PS) latex film was investigated by using the photon transmission technique and electrical conductivity measurements. Films were prepared by mixing PS latex with different amounts of MWNTs varying in the range between 0 and 20 wt%. After drying MWNT content films were separately annealed above the glass transition temperature (T-g) of PS ranging from 100 to 270 degrees C for 10 min. To monitor film formation behavior of PS-MWNT composites transmitted light intensity I-tr was measured after each annealing step. The surface conductivity of annealed films at 170 degrees C was measured and found to increase dramatically above a certain fraction of MWNT (4 wt%) following the percolation theory. This fraction was defined as the percolation threshold of conductivity R-c. The conductivity scales with the mass fraction of MWNT as a power law with exponent 2.27 which is extremely close to the value of 2.0 predicted by percolation theory. In addition the increase in I-tr during annealing was explained by void closure and interdiffusion processes. Film formation stages were modeled and the corresponding activation energies were measured.