Electrical transport measurements of highly conductive carbon nanotube/poly(bisphenol A carbonate) composite

Acid-treated and pristine chemical vapor deposition grown multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) and poly(bisphenol A carbonate) (PC) composites were prepared through a simple solution blending with varied nanotube weight fractions. The electrical conductivities of the composites can be described by the scaling law based on percolation theory with unprecedented high saturated ac conductivity of pristine nanotubes (sigma(sat)=1598.4 S cm(-1), p(c)=0.19 wt %) and acid-treated nanotubes (sigma(sat)=435.4 S cm(-1), p(c)=0.3 wt %), which correlates well with the dc behavior. We attribute the high saturated conductivities to managing the dispersions, rather than looking to have a well dispersed three-dimensional network thin film. The comparison was made between acid-treated nanotubes and pristine nanotube, both dispersed in PC at various loadings. It was found that the pristine nanotubes in PC possessed an even higher conductivity than the more evenly dispersed composites consisting of lightly acid-treated MWNT in PC. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI:10.1063/1.3073938]