Electric and thermal performance of poly(phenylene oxide)‐based composites with synergetic modification of carbon nanotubes and nanoplatelets

The combination of carbon nanotubes (CNT)‐graphene (GE) or CNT‐graphite (GP) was chosen as inorganic fillers to form synergetic modification of poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO). Microstructure, electrical conductivity, dielectric permittivity and heat dissipation were characterized to investigate the performance difference of the composites containing CNT‐GE and CNT‐GP. The results indicated that PPO‐based composites with CNT‐GE could exhibit better electric and thermal performance than those with CNT‐GP when the adding filler was at same content. PPO‐based composite with 1.0 wt% GE and 7.5 wt% CNT exhibited glass transition temperature of 148.2°C, electrical conductivity of 3.7 × 10⁻⁶ S·cm⁻¹ at 1 kHz, dielectric permittivity of 283 at 1 kHz and thermal conductivity of 0.73 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:E1920–E1927, 2018. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers