Journal of Nanosciences: Current Research

Nanotech 2018: CNT reinforced silver nanocomposite: Effect of sintering on their electrical conductivity- Sonia Nain and Dinesh Kumar, Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology

Abstract

Sonia Nain and Dinesh Kumar

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) reinforced metal-based composites have become an important area of interest to researchers across the world due to the need for materials with unique properties. Metallic nanoparticles particularly noble metals such as silver (Ag) possess properties such as electrical and thermal conductivity that are far superior to their bulk counterparts. Silver has the highest electrical conductivity among all the metals by virtue of which Ag nanoparticles are considered as very promising candidates in flexible electronics silver/CNT nanocomposites have been fabricated using physical mixing method. Surface morphological studies have revealed that CNT’s are uniformly distributed into the silver matrix. Fabricated samples have been subjected to sintering for 12 hrs at 800oC. Effect of sintering on the electrical conductivity of the Ag/CNT samples is then analyzed. The electrical conductivity of both single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) and multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) reinforced silver nanocomposites increased appreciably upon sintering.