AC and DC Electrical Conductivity of PC/ PVDF (50/50 v/v) blend containing different compositions of MWCNTs

Polycarbonate (PC)/Poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) (50/50 v/v) blends containing different amounts of multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were prepared via melt mixing in an internal mixer. Alternating current electrical conductivity of resulted nanocomposites was studied as a function of frequency in the range of1 6 10 10   Hz. The frequency dependence of AC conductivity has been presented. At low MWCNTs loading, the influence of large polymeric gaps between conducting fillers is the reason for the frequency dependent electrical conductivity. The phenomenon of percolation in the composites has been discussed based on the measured changes in DC electrical conductivity at different concentrations of the filler. Despite the lack of a continuous conducting network between particles at low concentrations, the nanocomposites exhibited a significant DC electrical conductivity due to tunneling conduction. MWCNTs are selectively localized in PC phase during melt-mixing, which had been verifiedby scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy measurements

Keywords:

Electrical conductivity , nanocomposite , Polycarbnate , Poly(vinylidene fluoride) , polymer blend