Electric field tailoring of single wall carbon nanotube and carbon nanofiber polymer composites

The performance of nanocomposites is affected by dispersion and patterning of the nanoinclusions in the polymer matrix. The main goal of this study is to manipulate high aspect ratio nanoinclusions such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) in polymers using AC electric fields to tailor the mechanical and electrical properties in the resulting composites. While the electric field is applied, the polymer is cured to freeze-in the alignment. The specific objectives are: to achieve efficient dispersion of the nanoinclusions in the polymer solutions; to investigate the alignment in liquid polymers in terms of electric field magnitude and frequency; and to quantify the alignment using electrical characterization in the liquid state.