Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Carbon Black Incorporated Heterogeneous Layered Polymer Composites with Enhanced Electrical Features

The present work is centered on the study of electrical properties of three different types of composites i.e. single layer carbon black (CB) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) based PMMA composites, CB/PMMA and MWCNTs/PMMA, and bilayer polymer composites CB/PMMA-MWCNTs/PMMA, prepared by solution mixing method using chloroform as dispersion medium. It is expected that two layers in bilayer polymer composites would show increased interfacial interactions resulting in improved electrical character especially dielectric properties. Prepared composites have been characterized by UV-Vis and FTIR spectroscopy for successful synthesis. Electrical properties, conductivity, dielectric constant and tangent loss of all composites were measured at frequency range of 40Hz to 1MHz by using LCR meter. Percolation threshold value was obtained by using data of electrical conductivity as a function of volume fraction of fillers. The obtained value of percolation threshold was much lower for bilayer polymer composites i.e. 0.01 vol% as compared to the single layer polymer composites. Observed data of dielectric constant encourages the synthesis of composites with this kind of structure.