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Eco‐friendly conductive polymer nanocomposites (CPC) for solar absorbers design
Author(s) -
Antar Zied,
Feller JeanFrançois,
Vignaud Guillaume
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
polymers for advanced technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1581
pISSN - 1042-7147
DOI - 10.1002/pat.3126
Subject(s) - materials science , crystallinity , nanocomposite , carbon nanotube , polymer , molar absorptivity , composite material , percolation threshold , thermal conductivity , percolation (cognitive psychology) , chemical engineering , electrical resistivity and conductivity , optics , physics , electrical engineering , engineering , neuroscience , biology
To reduce both the cost and the environmental impact of copper‐based thermal solar absorbers, we have investigated their possible substitution by bio‐based conductive polymer nanocomposite (CPC) elements. Our results show that carbon nanotubes (CNT) have no significant influence on polymers’ calorimetric properties such as T m and T g but lead to a strong increase in crystallinity of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and to a lesser extent of poly(amide 12) poly(amide 12) (PA12) for 2 and 3 CNT wt % respectively. Percolation thresholds as low as 0.5 and 0.58 were obtained for PA12 and PLA, respectively, and visco‐elastic properties such as η*, G’ and G” were found to increase exponentially with CNT content confirming the formation of a CNT network within the matrix. All CPC are absorbing more energy in the visible and infrared than in the ultraviolet wavelength ranges. Finally, the thermal conductivity k of PLA–CNT and PA12–CNT were increased, respectively, of 85% and 24%, to reach 0.28 W.m −1 .K −1 and 0.26 W.m −1 .K −1 , for only 5 wt% CNT. The figure of merit suggests that PA12 is the polymer which satisfies at best all criteria, particularly combining a lower viscosity at almost equivalent thermal conductivity and absorptivity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.