Improvement of Electrical Property in Laterally Aligned CNT/Polyaniline Composite Thin Film by Rubbing Technique

Abstract

We have investigated the electrical property of carbon nanotube (CNT)/Polyaniline (PANI) composite thin film. It was found that the electrical conductivity of CNT/PANI composite film increases by seven orders of magnitude with the increment of functionalized SWCNT loading from 0 to 20 wt%, whereas little change was observed in pristine MWCNT/PANI composite. The electrical conductivity of the composite increases by conventional rubbing technique in the rubbing direction successfully. The increment of electrical conductivity in rubbed composite film strongly depends on SWCNT loading The electrical conductivity of rubbed composite film doped with 20 wt% functionalized SWCNT increases by factor of ∼ 12 compared to the non-rubbed film, which is considered as an unique technique to control the anisotropy of electrical conductivity in the aligned conjugated polymer/CNT composite.

Keywords:

• anisotropy of electrical conductivity
• carbon nanotube
• composite
• polyaniline
• rubbing

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the CLUSTER of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.