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In‐situ sol–gel synthesis of zirconia networks in flexible and conductive composite films
Author(s) -
Azarian Mohammad Hossein,
Mahmood Wan Ahmad Kamil
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.49506
Subject(s) - materials science , composite number , cubic zirconia , percolation threshold , composite material , electrical conductor , sol gel , fabrication , natural rubber , polyaniline , electrical resistivity and conductivity , modulus , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , polymer , ceramic , medicine , alternative medicine , engineering , pathology , electrical engineering , polymerization
The conductive and stretchable films with improved hardness are suitable for the fabrication of flexible electronic devices. This study describes the sol–gel technique to prepare a novel conductive and flexible film consisting of epoxidized natural rubber (ENR), doped polyaniline (PD) and zirconia. The zirconia networks were directly synthesized in‐situ in ENR/PD solution and flexible conductive composite film with improved hardness was obtained. The morphology study revealed the size of PD decreased significantly from 77.89 ± 43.95 nm to 4.32 ± 1.13 nm and highest electrical conductivity of 1.9 × 10 −3 S/cm was achieved with 10 wt.% percolation threshold of zirconia precursor. The binding energy of Zr3d 5/2 and Zr3d 3/2 decreased, suggesting that zirconia was converted to the lower oxidation state. Furthermore, the shape of PD changed from spherical to rod‐like structure with root mean square value of 2 nm, while the hardness and reduced modulus improved to 1.72 MPa and 36.7 MPa, respectively.