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Creating poly(lactic acid)/carbon nanotubes/carbon black nanocomposites with high electrical conductivity and good mechanical properties by constructing a segregated double network with a low content of hybrid nanofiller

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Abstract

Conductive biodegradable polymer composites have broad application prospects, but obtaining composites with high electrical conductivity and good mechanical properties at low filler content has been an important challenge. In this work, we melt blended poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and one-dimensional (1D) carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and found that CNTs can form part of the conductive network in the polymer matrix to improve its electrical conductivity. However, to achieve high electrical conductivity, PLA should be mixed with large amounts of CNTs, which inevitably impairs its mechanical properties. When carbon black (CB) was mechanically mixed with PLA/CNTs particles with sizes less than 200 μm, it not only formed a conductive network structure by itself but also interconnected with the CNTs network within the PLA/CNTs composites. Ultimately, a segregated double filler (0D CB–1D CNTs) network structure was constructed in PLA nanocomposites. The resulting nanocomposites achieved good electrical conductivity, tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact toughness of 9.8 × 10−2 S/m, 70.1 MPa, 91.3 MPa, and 2.8 kJ/m2 at the addition of 1 phr CNTs and 1 phr CB, respectively. These results demonstrate that PLA-based composites with high electrical conductivity and good mechanical properties could be prepared using this technique at low filler content. This extends the application scope of PLA composites.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51873193, 51803062, 52173046, and 52173086) and Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (No. LZ21E030002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Material Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China

    Tairong Kuang, Maolin Zhang, Feng Chen, Yanpei Fei, Jintao Yang, Mingqiang Zhong, Bozhen Wu & Tong Liu

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  1. Tairong Kuang
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  2. Maolin Zhang
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  3. Feng Chen
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  4. Yanpei Fei
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  8. Tong Liu
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Contributions

T. R. Kuang, M. L. Zhang, B. Z. Wu, and T. Liu wrote the main manuscript text; F. Chen, Y. P. Fei, J. T. Yang, M. Q. Zhong, and B. Z. Wu provided pieces of advice and suggestions; T. R. Kuang, M. L. Zhang, and T. Liu prepared Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. All the authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tairong Kuang, Bozhen Wu or Tong Liu.

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Kuang, T., Zhang, M., Chen, F. et al. Creating poly(lactic acid)/carbon nanotubes/carbon black nanocomposites with high electrical conductivity and good mechanical properties by constructing a segregated double network with a low content of hybrid nanofiller. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 6, 48 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-022-00622-z

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