Electrical conductivity of compacts of graphene, multi-wall carbon nanotubes, carbon black, and graphite powder

The electrical conductivity of different carbon materials (multi-walled carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon black and graphite), widely used as fillers in polymeric matrices, was studied using compacts produced by a paper preparation process and by powder compression. Powder pressing assays show that the bulk conductivity depends not only on the intrinsic material properties but is also strongly affected by the number of particle contacts and the packing density. Conductivities at high pressure (5 MPa) for the graphene, nanotube and carbon black show lower values (~ 102 S/m) as compared to graphite (~ 103 S/m). For nanotube, graphene and graphite particles, the conductive behavior during compaction is governed by mechanical particle arrangement/deformation mechanisms while for carbon black this behavior is mainly governed by the increasing particle contact area. The materials resulting from the paper preparation process for carbon black and graphite showed similar conductivity values as for the compacts, indicating a limited effect of the surfactant on the conductivity. The paper preparation process for the large surface area nanotube and graphene particles induces a highly preferred in-plane orientation, thereby yielding largely the single particle intrinsic conductivity for the in-plane direction, with values in the order of 103 S/m. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------