Morphological, Electrical, and Mechanical Characterization of Electrospun Nanofiber Mats Containing Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes
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- 作者：Seth D. McCullen ; Derrick R. Stevens ; Wesley A. Roberts ; Satyajeet S. Ojha ; Laura I. Clarke ; Russell E. Gorga
- 刊名：Macromolecules
- 出版年：2007
- 出版时间：February 20, 2007
- 年：2007
- 卷：40
- 期：4
- 页码：997 - 1003
- 全文大小：455K
- 年卷期：v.40,no.4(February 20, 2007)
- ISSN：1520-5835
文摘
This work focuses on the development of electrically conducting porous nanocomposite structuresby the incorporation of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) into electrospun poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)nanofibers. Electron microscopy confirmed the presence of individual aligned MWNT encapsulated within thefibers and showed fiber morphologies with diameters of 100-200 nm. Electrical conductance measurements ofthe random nanofiber mats showed that by increasing the concentration of MWNT we were able to produceporous nanocomposite structures with dramatically improved electrical conductivity. Above a percolation thresholdof 0.365 ± 0.09 MWNT weight percent (wt %) in PEO the conductance increased by a factor of 1012 and thenbecame approximately constant as the concentration of MWNT was further increased. Because of this percolationthreshold, for a 1 wt % loading of MWNT, the conductivity is essentially maximized. Mechanical testing confirmedthat the tensile strength did not change, and there was a 3-fold increase in the Young's modulus when comparinga 1 wt % MWNT loading to the pure electrospun PEO. Thus, the optimal MWNT concentration for PEO nanofibermats with enhanced mechanical and electrical properties is ~1 wt %.