Nonlinear I-V characteristics near the percolation threshold

Electrical, Thermo-Electrical, and Electromagnetic Behaviour of Epoxy Composites Reinforced with Graphene Nanoplatelets with Different Average Surface Area

The influence of the average surface area of different graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) on the thermo-electrical behaviour, associated with Joule heating, and the attenuation of electromagnetic signals of epoxy composites has been studied, analysing the effect of the morphology obtained as a function of the dispersion time by ultrasonication and the GNP content added. Gravity moulding was used as the first stage in the scaling-up, oriented to the industrial manufacture of multilayer coatings, observing a preferential self-orientation of nanoparticles and, in several conditions, a self-stratification too. The increase of sonication time during the GNP dispersion provides a decrease in the electrical conductivity, due to the GNP fragmentation. Instead, the thermal conductivity is enhanced due to the higher homogeneous distribution of GNPs into the epoxy matrix. Finally, the lower surface area of GNPs reduces the thermal and electrical conductivity due to a greater separation between nanosheets. Regarding the study of the attenuation of electromagnetic waves, it has been discovered that in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 20 MHz, this attenuation is independent of the direction of analysis, the type of graphene, the sonication time, and the state of dispersion of the nano-reinforcement in the matrix. Furthermore, it has also been observed that the conservation of the constant shielding values for the three types of GNPs are in a range of average frequencies between 0.3 and 3 MHz.

Polyaniline/poly(ε-caprolactone) composite electrospun nanofiber-based gas sensors: optimization of sensing properties by dopants and doping concentration

Electrospinning was utilized to synthesize a polyaniline (PANI)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) composite in the form of nanofibers to examine its gas sensing performance. Electrical conductivity of the composite nanofibers was tailored by secondary doping with protonic acids including hydrochloride (HCl) or camphorsulfonic acid (HCSA). FT-IR and diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy were utilized to examine doping-dependent changes in the chemical structure and the protonation state of the nanofibers, respectively. The oxidation and protonation state of the composite nanofibers were shown to strongly depend on the doping agent and duration, demonstrating a simple way of controlling the electrical conductivity of the composite. PANI/PCL electrospun nanofibers having various electrical conductivities via varying dopants and doping concentrations, were configured to chemiresistors for sensing various analytes, including water vapor, NH3, and NO2. Secondary doping with Cl(-) and CSA differentially affected sensing behaviors by having distinctive optimal sensitivities. Biphasic sensitivity with respect to electrical conductivity was observed, demonstrating a facile method to enhance gas sensitivity by optimizing secondary doping. A balance between Debye length of the nanofibers and overall charge conduction may play an important role for modulating such an optimal sensitivity.

A multi-component nanocomposite screen-printed ink with non-linear touch sensitive electrical conductivity

Printable electronics is an innovative area of technology with great commercial potential. Here, a screen-printed functional ink, comprising a combination of semiconducting acicular particles, electrically insulating nanoparticles and a base polymer ink, is described that exhibits pronounced pressure sensitive electrical properties for applications in sensing and touch sensitive surfaces. The combination of these components in the as-printed ink yield a complex structure and a large and reproducible touch pressure sensitive resistance range. In contrast to the case for some composite systems, the resistance changes occur down to applied pressures of 13 Pa. Current-voltage measurements at fixed pressures show monotonic non-linear behaviour, which becomes more Ohmic at higher pressures and in all cases shows some hysteresis. The physical basis for conduction, particularly in the low pressure regime, can be described in terms of field assisted quantum mechanical tunnelling.

Low noise constant current source for bias dependent noise measurements

A low noise constant current source used for measuring the 1∕f noise in disordered systems in ohmic as well as nonohmic regime is described. The source can supply low noise constant current starting from as low as 1 μA to a few tens of milliampere with a high voltage compliance limit of around 20 V. The constant current source has several stages, which can work in a standalone manner or together to supply the desired value of load current. The noise contributed by the current source is very low in the entire current range. The fabrication of a low noise voltage preamplifier modified for bias dependent noise measurements and based on the existing design available in the MAT04 data sheet is also described.

Critical behavior of thermal relaxation near a breakdown point

At a composition far above the percolation threshold, the resistance of a composite sample increases with time due to Joule heating as a constant current of a sufficiently large value is passed through the sample. If the current is less than a certain breakdown current (I(b)) the resistance eventually reaches a steady value with a characteristic relaxation time tau(h). The latter diverges with current I as tau(h) approximately (1-I(2)/I(2)(b))(-z). The value of the exponent z displays large fluctuations leading to unusual scaling of the relaxation time. It is shown that the results lead to important conclusions about the nature of breakdown phenomena.

Resistance and resistance fluctuations in random resistor networks under biased percolation

We consider a two-dimensional random resistor network (RRN) in the presence of two competing biased processes consisting of the breaking and recovering of elementary resistors. These two processes are driven by the joint effects of an electrical bias and of the heat exchange with a thermal bath. The electrical bias is set up by applying a constant voltage or, alternatively, a constant current. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to analyze the network evolution in the full range of bias values. Depending on the bias strength, electrical failure or steady state are achieved. Here we investigate the steady state of the RRN focusing on the properties of the non-Ohmic regime. In constant-voltage conditions, a scaling relation is found between <R>/<R>(0) and V/V(0), where <R> is the average network resistance, <R>(0) the linear regime resistance, and V0 the threshold value for the onset of nonlinearity. A similar relation is found in constant-current conditions. The relative variance of resistance fluctuations also exhibits a strong nonlinearity whose properties are investigated. The power spectral density of resistance fluctuations presents a Lorentzian spectrum and the amplitude of fluctuations shows a significant non-Gaussian behavior in the prebreakdown region. These results compare well with electrical breakdown measurements in thin films of composites and of other conducting materials.