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Structural and electrical characterization of bamboo-shaped C–N nanotubes–poly ethylene oxide (PEO) composite films

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Abstract

We have prepared bamboo-shaped C–N nanotubes–polyethylene oxide (PEO) composite films by solution cast technique and investigated their structural/microstructural and electrical properties and developed a correlation between them. The formation of clean compartmentalized bamboo-shaped C–N nanotubes was confirmed by TEM. SEM investigations revealed a homogeneous dispersion of nanotubes in PEO matrix. Enhanced electrical conductivity was observed for the C–N nanotubes–PEO composites than bare PEO. The conductivity measurements on the C–N nanotubes–PEO composite films with ~20 wt % concentration of C–N nanotubes showed an increase of eight orders (~7.5 × 10−8 to 6.2 S cm−1) of magnitude in conductivity from bare PEO film. Raman spectra showed the stress-free nature of the composites and established the bonding of nanotubes with PEO, which resulted in the variation of Raman parameters. The Raman data of composites corroborate the findings of variation in electrical conductivity.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are extremely grateful to Prof R S Katiyar, University of Puerto Rico (USA), and Prof. O.N.Srivastava, BHU Varanasi for their encouragement and kind support and Dr Kalpana Awasthi for the helpful discussions.

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  1. Department of Physics, VSSD College, Kanpur, 208002, India

    Ram Manohar Yadav & Pramod S. Dobal

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  1. Ram Manohar Yadav
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Correspondence to Ram Manohar Yadav.

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Yadav, R.M., Dobal, P.S. Structural and electrical characterization of bamboo-shaped C–N nanotubes–poly ethylene oxide (PEO) composite films. J Nanopart Res 14, 1155 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-012-1155-3

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