title: Conductive network formation of carbon nanotubes in elastic polymer microfibers and its effect on the electrical conductance: Experiment and simulation.
abstract: We investigate how the electrical conductance of microfibers (made of polymers and conductive nanofillers) decreases upon uniaxial deformation by performing both experiments and simulations. Even though various elastic conductors have been developed due to promising applications for deformable electronic devices, the mechanism at a molecular level for electrical conductance change has remained elusive. Previous studies proposed that the decrease in electrical conductance would result from changes in either distances or contact numbers between conductive fillers. In this work, we prepare microfibers of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs)/polyvinyl alcohol composites and investigate the electrical conductance and the orientation of SWCNTs upon uniaxial deformation. We also perform extensive Monte Carlo simulations, which reproduce experimental results for the relative decrease in conductance and the SWCNTs orientation. We investigate the electrical networks of SWCNTs in microfibers and find that the decrease in the electrical conductance upon uniaxial deformation should be attributed to a subtle change in the topological structure of the electrical network.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Research Institute for Basic Science, Sogang University, Seoul 121-742, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun Woo
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-Do 443-803, South Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Research Institute for Basic Science, Sogang University, Seoul 121-742, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jeongmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-Do 443-803, South Korea.
authors.forename: Un Jeong
authors.initials: UJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-Do 443-803, South Korea.
authors.forename: Kyuhyun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Im
authors.affiliation: School of Polymer Science & Engineering, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Jin
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Research Institute for Basic Science, Sogang University, Seoul 121-742, South Korea.
authors.forename: Bong June
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Sung