Synergetic effect of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) in electrically conductive PTT-block-PTMO hybrid nanocomposites prepared by in situ polymerization

6 pags.; 3 figs.© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. A synergetic effect between graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) leading to an improvement of the electrical conductivity of poly(trimethylene terephthalate-. block-poly(tetramethylene oxide) (PTT-PTMO) based nanocomposites is demonstrated. PTT-PTMO based nanocomposites were prepared with varying concentration of SWCNT and GNP as conducting fillers, and their electrical conductivity and morphology were evaluated using Dielectric and Raman spectroscopies respectively. It has been shown that the addition of SWCNT and GNP enhanced the electrical conductivity of composites, particularly in the case of composites with 0.3 wt. % SWCNT and 0.1 wt. % GNP nanoparticles. These results suggest the existence of synergy arising from the combination of two conducting fillers with different geometrical shapes and aspect ratios as well as different dispersion characteristics in the PTT-PTMO thermoplastic elastomer matrix.This work was financially supported by National Science Centre in Poland, project Preludium 2013/11/N/ST8/00404 and by MAT2012-33517 (MINECO, Spain). Prof. H.D. Wagner and PhD Xiaomeng Sui would like to also acknowledge support from the INNI Focal Technology Area program “Inorganic nanotubes (INT): from nanomechanics to improved nanocomposites”, as well as from the G.M.J. Schmidt Minerva Centre of Supramolecular Architectures at the Weizmann Institute. This research was also made possible in part by the generosity of the Harold Perlman family. Prof. H.D. Wagner is the recipient of the Livio Norzi Professorial Chair in Materials Science.Peer Reviewe