A study of the electrical properties of carbon nanotube-NiFe2O4 composites: Effect of the surface treatment of the carbon nanotubes

Novel carbon nanotube-NiFe2O4 composite materials have been prepared for the first time by in situ chemical precipitation of metal hydroxides in ethanol in the presence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and followed by hydrothermal processing. The obtained composite powders were characterized using XRD, TEM and EDS. The effect of surface oxidation treatment of CNTs on their properties was investigated by FTIR, zeta potential and hydrodynamic radius distribution characterization. Electrical conductivity measurements show that surface oxidation treatment of CNTs can improve the electrical conductivity of the composites more pronouncedly than pristine CNTs do. With 10 wt.% addition of surface treated CNTs, the electrical conductivity is increased by 5 orders of magnitude. The surface oxidized CNTs are crucial for this significant increase in electrical conductivity, which provides strong adhesion between the nanotubes and the matrix to give a homogeneous carbon nanotube-NiFe2O4 composite.