Preparation and characterization of sulfonated poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)/multi-walled carbon nanotube composite films with high performance in electric heating and thermal stability

For manufacturing thermally stable electric heating composite films, a sulfonated poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole) (sPOD) was synthesized and it was composited with pristine MWCNT of 0.1-10.0 wt% by an ultra-sonicated solution mixing and casting. SEM images revealed that the pristine MWCNTs were dispersed well in the composite matrix via pi-pi interaction between the MWCNTs and the aromatic rings of sPOD backbone. The electrical resistivity of the composite films decreased considerably from similar to 10(9) Omega cm to Omega cm with the increment of the MWCNT content by forming a percolation threshold at similar to 0.026 wt%. The composite films with 5.0-10.0 wt% MWCNT contents, which had sufficiently low electrical resistivity of similar to 10(3)-10(0) Omega cm, exhibited excellent electric heating performance by attaining high maximum temperatures as well as electric energy efficiency. Since the dominant thermal decomposition of the composite films took place at similar to 500 degrees C, sPOD/MWCNT composite films with low electrical resistivity could be used for high performance electric heating materials for advanced applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.