title: Control of the electrical conductivity of composites of antimony doped tin oxide (ATO) nanoparticles and acrylate by grafting of 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MPS).
abstract: The effect of the addition of antimony doped tin oxide (ATO) nanoparticles on the electrical conductivity of acrylate films is described. To enable dispersing of ATO in acrylate matrices, 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MPS) was grafted on the surface of the filler. The amount of MPS used for this surface modification was found to strongly affect the electrical conductivity. Surface modification with a large amount of MPS resulted in colloidally stable dispersions of ATO, leading to a homogeneous distribution. Surface modification with small amounts of MPS led to instable ATO dispersions and aggregation of ATO into a fractal type network, which gives a much higher conductivity especially at low-volume fractions. For composites with a fractal type ATO network a second effect was found. Decreasing the amount of on ATO grafted MPS resulted in an increase of the electrical conduction between the ATO particles.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Materials and Interface Chemistry (SMG), Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Willem
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Posthumus
authors.forename: Jozua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laven
authors.forename: Gijsbertus
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: de With
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van der Linde