Construction of an Interconnected Nanostructured Carbon Black Network: Development of Highly Stretchable and Robust Elastomeric Conductors

In the present work, a strong filler filler network of conductive carbon black was strategically established in an elastomer matrix, which leads to a unique combination of electrical and mechanical properties. The novelty of our composites was the development of a strong percolated morphology of nanostructured conducting carbon black particles by the incorporation of relatively large nonreinforcing spherical silica particles, inside the soft elastomer matrix. This technique allowed us to fabricate solution styrene butadiene rubber (S-SBR) composites with outstanding electrical conductivity of 40 S/m, tensile strength similar to 10 MPa, and extensibility up to 200%. Furthermore, the electrical conductivity was strain-independent up to 50% elongation strain. The electrical conductivity was found to be unaltered after 2000 loading-unloading cycles. This is the first ever report of a robust elastomeric system with such high electrical conductivity where all the basic ingredients used were selected from well-known commercially available raw materials of rubber industry. This work directly manifests an industrially viable method for preparing high-performance elastic conductors that can be utilized in robust and flexible applications.