2018 (2) 6

Simulation of contact phenomena in systems based on oligoethers and carbon nanotubes

E.A. Lysenkov1, V.V. Klepko2

1Mykolayiv V.O. Sukhomlinskiy National University

24, Nikolska Str., Mykolayiv, 54030, Ukraine

2Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of NAS of Ukraine

48, Kharkivs’ke shose, Kyiv, 02160, Ukraine

Polym. J., 2018, 40, no. 2: 113-120

Section: Physics of polymers.

Language: Ukrainian.

Abstract:

Contact phenomena in nanofilled systems are one of the determining factors that provide high electrical conductivity, so their study is very important. This work is devoted to the review of existing approaches to the simulation of contact phenomena and the description of these models of electrical conductivity of systems based on oligoethers and carbon nanotubes. For research, model systems based on homologous oligoeters and carbon nanotubes were used.

Simulation the contact phenomena between nanotubes in oligoether-CNT systems showed that the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposite is usually limited by the contact resistance. For determination of the value of contact resistance between the nanotubes in the oligoether-CNT systems we use approach that allows us to describe the electrical properties of uniformly distributed, fixed solids with cylindrical shape. It is established that the value of the contact resistance depends essentially on the structure of the tubes and the contact geometry. A high contact resistance of nanocomposites may be due to the large width of the gap between the carbon nanotubes through penetration of polymer molecules between the CNT and therefore low probability of tunneling.

The tunneling mechanism in the studied systems was revealed and its characteristics were described. The value of the tunnel electrical conductivity, which depends on the parameters of the CNT and the thickness of the interphase layer between the matrix and the filler, is calculated. It was established that after reaching the percolation threshold, the tunnel electrical conductivity is much lower than the overall electrical conductivity of the system. Thus, tunneling is not the only mechanism for charges transfer in oligoether-CNT systems after reaching the percolation threshold. The charges transfer in such systems, as in most of the polymeric nanocomposites, occurs both through direct contacts between the CNT and the hopping mechanism. The high level of the tunnel resistance limits the tunneling effect for charge transfer. An effective way of reducing the tunnel resistance is to reduce the tunnel distance, for example, by orienting or compacting and using thin nanotubes.

Keywords: contact phenomena, oligoethers, carbon nanotubes, tunnel resistance, tunnel electrical conductivity.

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