Influence of selective dispersion of MWCNT on electrical percolation of in-situ polymerized high-impact polystyrene/MWCNT nanocomposites.

This work demonstrates a simple method to develop highly conducting high impact polystyrene (HIPS)/multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) nanocomposites through selective dispersion of MWCNT in HIPS matrix. The method involves in-situ polymerization of polybutadiene containing styrene monomer in the presence of HIPS beads and MWCNT. A significantly lower percolation threshold value than ever reported for HIPS/MWCNT systems was obtained using unmodified unaligned MWCNTs. With the increase in HIPS bead content (at a particular MWCNT loading) in the HIPS/MWCNT nanocomposites, the conductivity value was increased, suggesting that the presence of HIPS beads acted as excluded volume that decreased the percolation threshold. An increase in electrical conductivity from 1.91·10-7 to 1.15·10-5 S/cm was evident, when the HIPS bead content was increased from 30 to 60 wt% at a constant loading of MWCNT (i.e. 0.6 wt%). The morphological investigation of the HIPS/MWCNT nanocomposites revealed that, the MWCNTs were selectively dispersed in the in-situ polymerized HIPS region, outside the HIPS beads, which resulted in the lowering of the percolation threshold to a lower value of 0.54 wt%. The morphology and electrical properties of the nanocomposites have been discussed in detail in the manuscript. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]