Electrical conducting behaviors in polymeric composites with carbonaceous fillers

Several kinds of polymer composites with carbonaceous fillers such as carbon black (CB), vapor-grown carbon fiber (CF), and carbon nanotube (CNT) are prepared by a gelation/crystallization process or a melt mixing method. The electrical phenomena, changes of electrical conductivities with different filler's type, filler's concentration and temperatures, and the mechanism of electron transport in these carbon-filled polymer composites are directly influenced by the geometric grain shape and aggregating morphology of the fillers dispersed in the polymer matrix. For the composites of CB and CF, long-range macroscopic conduction are governed by the percolation phenomenon, the conduction is behaved through the conductive path formed by the conductors' contacting, and the thermal expansion changes the physical dimensions of the entire electrical network and leads to the changes in the electrical phenomenon. Microscopic conduction between conductive elements is influenced by the tunneling barrier or tunneling voltage, which varies with the temperature change, explaining the apparent observation of the temperature dependence of the composites. In comparison with fillers of CB and CF, the CNT performs unique electric properties for their nonspherical geometry and morphology as a three-dimensional network (high structures), which has been visually proved by SEM photos in our former research, leading to the percolation threshold lower than 1% in the volume fraction and much less temperature dependence in its composites. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.