Abstract This article develops a simple equation for the tunneling distance between neighboring carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in polymer CNTs nanocomposites (PCNTs) as a function of CNT concentration, CNT dimensions, interphase thickness, the percentage of networked CNTs, and the wettability of the CNTs by polymer chains. The coupling of two developed models for the conductivity of PCNTs, assuming interphase and tunneling effects expresses in this equation. The suggested equation calculates the tunneling distance for some PCNT samples at different filler concentrations, and expresses the impacts of all the parameters on the tunneling distance. The appropriate predictions of the developed models for the conductivity of the samples and the acceptable levels of tunneling distance at various values of all parameters validate the suggested equation. The calculations indicate that the thinnest CNTs (radius of 5 nm) and the largest CNTs (length of 5 μm) produced the shortest tunneling distance of 2.5 nm, but the maximum tunneling distance of 6.5 nm was observed at the CNT radius of 20 nm and length of 20 μm. In addition, the low surface energy of the polymer matrix and the high CNT surface energy result in a short tunneling distance, but their roles in the tunneling distance are negligible.

中文翻译：

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碳纳米管尺寸、网络分数和界面厚度对纳米复合材料中相邻碳纳米管 (CNT) 之间隧穿距离的影响

摘要 本文开发了聚合物 CNT 纳米复合材料 (PCNT) 中相邻碳纳米管 (CNT) 之间隧穿距离的简单方程，作为 CNT 浓度、CNT 尺寸、相间厚度、网络化 CNT 百分比和 CNT 润湿性的函数。通过聚合物链。PCNTs 电导率的两个开发模型的耦合，假设相间和隧道效应在这个方程中表达。建议的公式计算了一些 PCNT 样品在不同填料浓度下的隧穿距离，并表达了所有参数对隧穿距离的影响。所开发的样品电导率模型的适当预测以及所有参数的各种值下隧道距离的可接受水平验证了建议的方程。计算表明，最薄的碳纳米管（半径为 5 nm）和最大的碳纳米管（长度为 5 μm）产生的最短隧穿距离为 2.5 nm，但在 20 nm 的 CNT 半径处观察到的最大隧穿距离为 6.5 nm。长度为 20 微米。此外，聚合物基体的低表面能和高碳纳米管表面能导致较短的隧穿距离，但它们在隧穿距离中的作用可以忽略不计。