title: Massive electrical conductivity enhancement of multilayer graphene/polystyrene composites using a nonconductive filler.
abstract: We report a massive increase in the electrical conductivity of a multilayer graphene (MLG)/polystyrene composite following the addition of nonconducting silica nanoparticles. The nonconducting filler acts as a highly effective dispersion aid, preventing the sheetlike MLG from restacking or agglomerating during the solvent casting process used to fabricate the composite. The enhanced dispersion of the MLG leads to orders of magnitude enhancement in electrical conductivity compared to samples without this filler.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and ‡Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Rhode Island Kingston, Rhode Island 02881, United States.
authors.forename: Indrani
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Bodurtha
authors.forename: Nicholas J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Heeder
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Godfrin
authors.forename: Anubhav
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Hurt
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shukla
authors.forename: Arijit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bose
keywords: composites; dispersion; electrical conductivity; multilayer graphene; polymer