ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE POLYMERIC MICROSPHERES BY ADSORPTION OF CARBON NANOTUBES

초록

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were incorporated onto the surface of polystyrene (PS) microspheres by a simple and potentially scalable process. PS microspheres, 3.0 mm in size, were prepared using a dispersion polymerization method (Figure 1). These were adopted as the suspended particles for electrorheological (ER) fluids, in which the electrical conductivity originated primarily from the surface-coated conducting CNTs layers. The CNTs-PS composite suspensions in silicone oil showed the typical ER characteristics of forming a chain-like structure under an applied electric field (1.4 kV/mm). The CNTs-PS composite microspheres exhibited a conductivity ranging from 2.0´10-4 to 3.0´10-5 S/cm, which is an acceptable conductivity range for ER fluids. This phenomenon can be explained by the interfacial polarizability of nanotubes adsorbed on the surface of the polymeric microspheres.