Films, Buckypapers and Fibers from Clay, Chitosan and Carbon Nanotubes.docVIP

Nanomaterials 2011, 1, 3-19; doi:10.3390/nano1010003 OPEN ACCESS nanomaterials ISSN 2079–4991 /journal/nanomaterials Article Films, Buckypapers and Fibers from Clay, Chitosan and Carbon Nanotubes Thomas M. Higgins, Holly Warren and Marc in het Panhuis * Soft Materials Group, School of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia; E-Mails: thiggins@.au (T.M.H.); hw982@.au (H.W.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: panhuis@.au; Tel.: +61-24221-3155; Fax: +61-24221-4287. Received: 10 February 2011; in revised form: 17 March 2011 / Accepted: 23 March 2011 / Published: 6 April 2011 Abstract: The mechanical and electrical characteristics of films, buckypapers and fiber materials from combinations of clay, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and chitosan are described. The rheological time-dependent characteristics of clay are maintained in clay–carbon nanotube–chitosan composite dispersions. It is demonstrated that the addition of chitosan improves their mechanical characteristics, but decreases electrical conductivity by three-orders of magnitude compared to clay–CNT materials. We show that the electrical response upon exposure to humid atmosphere is influenced by clay-chitosan interactions, i.e., the resistance of clay–CNT materials decreases, whereas that of clay–CNT–chitosan increases. Keywords: chitosan; clay; carbon nanotubes; electrical; mechanical 1. Introduction Clays are excellent stabilizing and rheological agents due to their colloidal structure in water [1]. Each smectite particle is composed of thousands of platelets (thickness = 1 nm, width 100 nm) stacked in a sandwich fashion. Hydration of the clay promotes delamination of this sandwich structure until the platelets are completely separated. This allows the weakly positive platelet edges to interact with the negatively charged platelet faces