Enhanced Electrical Networks of Stretchable Conductors with Small Fraction of Carbon Nanotube/Graphene Hybrid Fillers

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene are known to be good conductive fillers due to their favorable electrical properties and high aspect ratios and have been investigated for application as stretchable composite conductors. A stretchable conducting nanocomposite should have a small fraction of conductive filler material to maintain stretchability. Here we demonstrate enhanced electrical networks of nanocomposites via the use of a CNT-graphene hybrid system using a small mass fraction of conductive filler. The CNT-graphene hybrid system exhibits synergistic effects that prevent agglomeration of CNTs and graphene restacking and reduce contact resistance by formation of 1D(CNT)-2D(graphene) interconnection. These effects resulted in nanocomposite materials formed of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), thermally reduced graphene (TRG), and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which had a higher electrical conductivity compared with MWCNT/PDMS or TRG/PDMS nanocomposites until specific fraction that is sufficient to form electrical network among conductive fillers. These nanocomposite materials maintained their electrical conductivity when 60% strained.