Polypropylene filled with kaolinite-based conductive powders

• Rod-/flake-like kaolinites are coated with Sb–SnO2 to produce conductive powders.
• Surface modification is beneficial to the well dispersion of powders in PP matrix.
• The as-synthesized composites show potential applications in conductive fields.

Antimony doped tin oxide nanoparticles (Sb–SnO2) were uniformly coated on the surfaces of rod-/flake-like kaolinites (Kaol) to synthesize kaolinite-based conductive powders (Sb–SnO2)Kaol, which was then added into polypropylene (PP) matrix to produce conductive (Sb–SnO2)Kaol–PP nanocomposites. The effects of (Sb–SnO2)Kaol characteristics on the volume resistivity and mechanical properties of (Sb–SnO2)Kaol–PP were in detail investigated. The results indicated that surface-modified (Sb–SnO2)Kaol could improve the dispersion in PP matrix, and the as-synthesized nanocomposites showed better electrical property than that without surface modification. The volume resistivity of (Sb–SnO2)Kaol–PP reached 7.3 × 108 Ω·cm at the (Sb–SnO2)Kaol concentration of 40%, 6–7 order of magnitude lower than that of pure PP. The as-synthesized (Sb–SnO2)Kaol–PP nanocomposites could show potential applications in the conductive fields.

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