Dispersity of CNT and GNF on the polyurethane matrix: Effect of polyurethane chemical structure

The aim of this study is to understand the effect of structure on the dispersion of both CNT and GNF in the phase of synthesized polyurethanes matrix. Various CNT/PU and GNF/PU composite films were prepared. Polyurethane having a different hard segment was blended with both CNT and GNF. PU having HDI as hard segment showed good dispersion with both CNT and GNF because of their linear structural character and molecular kinesis while PU having aromatic ring showed poor dispersion with those due to their structural complexity. Structural effect also induced the increase of its electro conductivity. The PU/CNT composite showed a bad dispersion (because of phase separation between PU matrix and CNT) but good electro conductivity at its surface (because CNT was collected on the surface of composite film due to low density of CNT). PU/CNT and PU/GNF composite films have quite low normalized sheet resistance value compared with silver/PU nanocomposite film because the fiber type filler could have much more contact points than that of sphere shaped silver particles have.