Chemical Physics Letters, Vol.715, 195-203, 2019
Effects of purity in single-wall carbon nanotubes into rubber nanocomposites
Two types of pristine single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were used: one with > 70% carbon element (P70) and another with > 90% carbon element (P90). After fitting of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, it was found that impurity in P70 have around 26%, P70 sonicated have around 17%, and P90 have around 9%. The rubber nanocomposites were prepared by mixing room-temperature-vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber with pristine and sonicated SWCNTs. SEM shows that the filler particles were distributed uniformly throughout the rubber matrix. At 3 per hundred parts of rubber (phr), low resistance was obtained: similar to 94 kilo ohms (k Omega) (P70 SWCNTs), similar to 89 k Omega (sonicated P70 SWCNTs), and similar to 35 k Omega (P90 SWCNTs). The results show that the new model and modified Guth-Gold Smallwood model fit well with the experimental data. These improvements could be useful for next-generation devices such as actuators and energy harvesting.