Fabrication of stacked-cup carbon nanotube/polymer nanocomposite films with linear controlled percolation routes

Abstract

Linear assemblies of stacked-cup carbon nanotubes (SCCNTs) were fabricated with structural variation triggered-by applied electric field in a polymer matrix while the prepolymer suspension of polysiloxane was cross-linked. Combination of solvent and the vacuum treatment was applied to facilitate the narrower filler-to-filler gaps with decreased void volume of the composite. The assembly of the SCCNTs in the polymer was achieved without surface modification at less than 0.15 vol% filler. The resulting polymer nanocomposites had significantly fewer micropores and decreased electrical resistivity, a decrease of 5 orders of magnitude compared with composite with a random distribution of fillers, demonstrating their potential as an electrode sensor for biomedical brain-wave monitoring without generating artifact images. This work may provide valuable guidelines for designing optimum polymer electrode sensors from 1 dimensional SCCNT assemblies. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.