Electrical Percolation Behavior in Silver Nanowire–Polystyrene Composites: Simulation and Experiment
Date
2010Author
White, Sadie I
Mutiso, Rose M
Vora, Patrick M
Jahnke, David
Hsu, Sam
Kikkawa, James M
Fischer, John E
Winey, Karen I
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The design and preparation of isotropic silver nanowire-polystyrene composites is described, in which the nanowires have finite L/D (< 35) and narrow L/D distribution. These model composites allow the L/D dependence of the electrical percolation threshold, ϕc, to be isolated for finite-L/D particles. Experimental ϕc values decrease with increasing L/D, as predicted qualitatively by analytical percolation models. However, quantitative agreement between experimental data and both soft-core and core–shell analytical models is not achieved, because both models are strictly accurate only in the infinite-L/D limit. To address this analytical limitation, a soft-core simulation method to calculate ϕc and network conductivity for cylinders with finite L/D are developed. Our simulated ϕc results agree strongly with our experimental data, suggesting i) that the infinite-aspect-ratio assumption cannot safely be made for experimental networks of particles with L/D < 35 and ii) in predicting ϕc, the soft-core model makes a less significant assumption than the infinite-L/D models do. The demonstrated capability of the simulations to predict ϕc in the finite-L/D regime will allow researchers to optimize the electrical properties of polymer nanocomposites of finite-L/D particles.
URI
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.201000451/abstract;jsessionid=530311E7B250425AD4CA4FBB7D3EB4E8.d03t03?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=falsehttp://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/35134
Citation
Volume 20, Issue 16, pages 2709–2716, August 23, 2010Publisher
College of Physical and Biological Sciences