title: Improved Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes in Polymers at High Concentrations.
abstract: The polymer nanocomposite used in this work comprises elastomer poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) as a polymer matrix and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as a conductive nanofiller. To achieve uniform distribution of carbon nanotubes within the polymer, an optimized dispersion process was developed, featuring a strong organic solvent-chloroform, which dissolved PDMS base polymer easily and allowed high quality dispersion of MWCNTs. At concentrations as high as 9 wt.%, MWCNTs were dispersed uniformly through the polymer matrix, which presented a major improvement over prior techniques. The dispersion procedure was optimized via extended experimentation, which is discussed in detail.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. cliu6@lsu.edu.
authors.forename: Chao-Xuan
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. choi@ece.lsu.edu.|Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. choi@ece.lsu.edu.
authors.forename: Jin-Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Choi
keywords: carbon nanotubes; dispersion; high concentration; nanocomposite; polymer