Influence of dispersion state of carbon nanotubes on electrical conductivity of copper matrix composites

In this paper, effect of dispersion state of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on electrical conductivity of copper (Cu)-matrix composites was investigated. While, it is interestingly found that composite with homogeneous dispersion CNTs has the lowest electrical conductivity (90.47 ± 0.34 IACS% (International Annealed Copper Standard)) and that one with aggregation CNTs has the best conductivity (93.45 ± 0.17 IACS%). This phenomenon was attributed to interconnected conductive networks of Cu damaged by adding dispersed CNTs through interface scattering between CNTs and Cu. Thus, it can be concluded that the dispersion of CNTs is not the key point to obtain high electrical conductivity of CNT/Cu composites.