Conducting composite materials from the biopolymer kappa-carrageenan and carbon nanotubes

doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.48

Beilstein J Nanotechnol. 2012; 3: 415–427.

Published online 2012 May 23. doi: 10.3762/bjnano.3.48

PMCID: PMC3388366

Conducting composite materials from the biopolymer kappa-carrageenan and carbon nanotubes

Ali Aldalbahi,¹^§ Jin Chu,² Peter Feng,² and Marc in het Panhuis¹

Nunzio Motta, Guest Editor

¹Soft Materials Group, School of Chemistry, and ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

²Institute of Functional Nanomaterials and Department of Physics, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931, USA

Corresponding author.

Marc in het Panhuis: panhuis/at/uow.edu.au

^§Present address: King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

Received March 14, 2012; Accepted April 26, 2012.

This is an Open Access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The license is subject to the Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology terms and conditions: (http://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano)

Summary

Conducting composite films containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were prepared by using the biopolymer kappa-carrageenan (KC) as a dispersant. Rheological studies indicated that 0.5% w/v was the appropriate KC concentration for dispersing CNTs. Our results showed that multiwalled nanotubes (MWNTs) required less sonic energy than single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) for the dispersion process to be complete. Films prepared by vacuum filtration exhibited higher conductivity and improved mechanical characteristics compared to those prepared by evaporative casting. All composite films displayed sensitivity to water vapour, but MWNT films were more sensitive than SWNT films.

Keywords: biopolymers, carbon nanotubes, carrageenan, composite materials, conductivity, mechanical, rheology

Abstract

A mathematical equation, expression, or formula.
Object name is Beilstein_J_Nanotechnol-03-415-g001.jpg

Keywords: biopolymers, carbon nanotubes, carrageenan, composite materials, conductivity, mechanical, rheology

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