Shear-induced preferential alignment of carbon nanotubes resulted in anisotropic electrical conductivity of polymer composites

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes were used as filler to furan resin in the aim of producing an electrically conducting polymer composite that may be useful for electrode applications. The orientation of the nanotubes is controlled to prepare a composite with fillers unidirectionally oriented, which may result in higher electrical conductivity at one direction and at lower nanotube loading. Using the doctor blade technique, composite films were prepared and the alignment and its effect on the electrical conductivity of the composite were investigated. It was found that the doctor blade technique induced preferential alignment of the nanotubes in composite and a higher degree of alignment is achieved in composites with lower contents of nanotubes. Also, for low contents of nanotubes, the electrical conductivity of the composite with preferentially aligned nanotubes was up to a million times higher in the direction of alignment compared to that of the composite with randomly oriented nanotubes; however, at higher contents of nanotubes, this effect was diminished. The preferential alignment of the nanotubes also caused anisotropic electrical conductivity. The alignment and distribution is thought to create more junctions between nanotubes that resulted into the formation of more conducting channels in the polymer matrix parallel to blading direction.