Highly Conductive Carbon Nanotube/Polymer Nanocomposites Achievable?

Abstract Carbon nanotubes (NT) have attracted growing interest in recent years as a conducting filler in the development of conductive polymer composites. However, most of experimental results show that the conductivity of NT/polymer composites is significantly lower than expected. Can NTs be an effective conductive filler for improving the electrical conductivity of polymers? In order to answer this question, a continuum model was constructed by introducing effective tunneling conduction in a non‐universal network for the prediction of electrical conductivity of NT/polymer composites. Based on this model, the effect of the microstructure of NT/polymer composites on conductivity was assessed particularly for NT/polyethylene, NT/polyimide, and NT/poly(vinyl alcohol) composites. NT contact resistance and tunneling resistance have significant influences on the conductivity. The effects of the potential barrier of polymer and the tortousity of single‐walled NTs on the conductivity were also analyzed. NTs cannot be considered as a valuable conductive filler for the development of highly conductive polymer composites unless the contact and tunneling resistances are reduced significantly. magnified image