Group Theory of Polymers and Soft Matter, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, PO Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Nat Nanotechnol. 2011 Apr 10;6(6):364-9. doi: 10.1038/nnano.2011.40.
Carbon nanotube reinforced polymeric composites can have favourable electrical properties, which make them useful for applications such as flat-panel displays and photovoltaic devices. However, using aqueous dispersions to fabricate composites with specific physical properties requires that the processing of the nanotube dispersion be understood and controlled while in the liquid phase. Here, using a combination of experiment and theory, we study the electrical percolation of carbon nanotubes introduced into a polymer matrix, and show that the percolation threshold can be substantially lowered by adding small quantities of a conductive polymer latex. Mixing colloidal particles of different sizes and shapes (in this case, spherical latex particles and rod-like nanotubes) introduces competing length scales that can strongly influence the formation of the system-spanning networks that are needed to produce electrically conductive composites. Interplay between the different species in the dispersions leads to synergetic or antagonistic percolation, depending on the ease of charge transport between the various conductive components.
碳纳米管增强型聚合物复合材料具有良好的电学性能，使其在平板显示器和光伏器件等应用中具有重要价值。然而，使用水基分散体来制备具有特定物理性能的复合材料，需要理解和控制纳米管分散体在液相中的加工过程。在这里，我们结合实验和理论研究了引入聚合物基体中的碳纳米管的电渗滤现象，并表明通过添加少量导电聚合物乳胶可以显著降低渗滤阈值。混合不同大小和形状的胶体颗粒（在这种情况下是球形乳胶颗粒和棒状纳米管）会引入竞争的长度尺度，这会强烈影响形成需要产生导电复合材料的系统跨越网络。分散体中不同物质之间的相互作用会导致协同或拮抗渗滤，具体取决于各种导电成分之间的电荷传输难易程度。
