Journal article
Anisotropic conductivity of magnetic carbon nanotubes embedded in epoxy matrices
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA1
School of Polymer, Textile, and Fiber Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA2
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA3
Department of Electrical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel4
Department of Electrical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel5
Maghemite (γ-Fe2O3)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) hybrid-materials were synthesized and their anisotropic electrical conductivities as a result of their alignment in a polymer matrix under an external magnetic field were investigated. The tethering of γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles on the surface of MWCNT was achieved by a modified sol-gel reaction, where sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (NaDDBS) was used in order to inhibit the formation of a 3D iron oxide gel.
These hybrid-materials, specifically, magnetized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (m-MWCNTs) were readily aligned parallel to the direction of a magnetic field even when using a relatively weak magnetic field. The conductivity of the epoxy composites formed in this manner increased with increasing m-MWCNT mass fraction in the polymer matrix.
Furthermore, the conductivities parallel to the direction of magnetic field were higher than those in the perpendicular direction, indicating that the alignment of the m-MWCNT contributed to the enhancement of the anisotropic electrical properties of the composites in the direction of alignment.
| Language: | English |
|---|---|
| Year: | 2012 |
| Pages: | 54-61 |
| ISSN: | 18733891 and 00086223 |
| Types: | Journal article |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.carbon.2010.08.041 |
