Synthesis of carbon black/polystyrene conductive nanocomposite. Pickering emulsion effect characterized by TEM

▶ In this work a conductive composite from carbon black and polystyrene as the matrix was obtained. In situ suspension polymerization was used as the synthetic technique. The relevancy of this research was the possibility to procure a conducting composite with high surface interaction between the conductive and the polymeric phases. Due to the high content of carbon in the composite the microstructure was opposite of the usually obtained. That is, in most works the encapsulation of the carbon is pursued. However, in this work the carbon black is covering the polymer particles, similarly to Pickering emulsification, which was also an outstanding feature of this work. Finally, the composite was used as the conducting element in elastomeric formulations with styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR). Percolation was found at a net content of 2 wt% of carbon black, exhibiting resistivity in the order of 200 Ω cm.