Synergetic effect of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) in electrically conductive PTT-block-PTMO hybrid nanocomposites prepared by in situ polymerization

Abstract A synergetic effect between graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) leading to an improvement of the electrical conductivity of poly(trimethylene terephthalate-block-poly(tetramethylene oxide) (PTT–PTMO) based nanocomposites is demonstrated. PTT–PTMO based nanocomposites were prepared with varying concentration of SWCNT and GNP as conducting fillers, and their electrical conductivity and morphology were evaluated using Dielectric and Raman spectroscopies respectively. It has been shown that the addition of SWCNT and GNP enhanced the electrical conductivity of composites, particularly in the case of composites with 0.3 wt. % SWCNT and 0.1 wt. % GNP nanoparticles. These results suggest the existence of synergy arising from the combination of two conducting fillers with different geometrical shapes and aspect ratios as well as different dispersion characteristics in the PTT–PTMO thermoplastic elastomer matrix.

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