Nanoparticles, conductive

Unusually small value of pc in this system speaks that the true concentration of Ag in the areas of a film, where Ag nanocrystals are formed, strongly differs from the average concentration determined in experiment. Systems with concentration of M/SC nanoparticles close to pc are of special interest. In such systems the essential increase in conductivity as compared to that of pure polymer results from processes of tunnel electron transfer between nanoparticles. Conductivity of composite system with regard to electron tunneling between M/SC nanoparticles has been considered in work [88] on the basis of the following model. In the model, the spherical particle of radius Rq is surrounded with the sphere of radius Rd describing the delocalization for conductivity electrons of the particle and partial transition of electronic density in an environment (Figure 10.6a). 

T. K. Sarma, D. Chowdhury, A. Paul, and A. Chattopadhyay, Synthesis of Au nanoparticle-conductive polyaniline composite using H2O2 as oxidizing as well as reducing agent, Chem. Commun., 1048-1049 (2002). 

Metal-Oxide Nanoparticles/Conducting-Polymer Nanocomposites... 

PPy nanocomposites have been extensively reported in the literatme [261-267]. In the case of inorganic nanoparticles/conducting polymer nanocomposites, various inorganic nanomaterials including silica, palladium, platinum, and maghemite have been formed via inclusion techniques using both chemical and electrochemical approaches [261]. Multifunctional nanocomposites could be fabricated by the judicious choice of synthetic techniques and inorganic materials. 

Keywords Magnetic nanoparticles Conducting polymers Magnetic properties Electrical properties... 

Ebbesen[4] was the first to estimate a conductivity of the order of lO fim for the black core bulk material existing in two thirds of tubes and one third of nanoparticles. From this observation, it may naturally be inferred that the carbon arc deposit must contain material that is electrically conducting. An analysis of the temperature dependence of the zero-field resistivity of similar bulk materials[14,15] indicated that the absolute values of the conductivity were very sample dependent. 

MWCNT synthesized by catalytic decomposition of hydrocarbon does not contain nanoparticle nor amorphous carbon and hence this method is suitable for mass production. The shape of MWCNT thus produced, however, is not straight more often than that synthesized by arc-discharge method. This differenee could be aseribed to the strueture without pentagons nor heptagons in graphene sheet of the MWCNT synthesized by the catalytic decomposition of hydrocarbon, which would affect its electric conductivity and electron emission. 

The common underlying principle was shown in Figure 11.2. The electrochemical potential of electrons jl e(=Ep, the Fermi level) in the metal catalyst is fixed at that of the Fermi level of the support.37 This is valid both for electrochemically promoted model catalysts (left) and for seminconducting or ion-conducting-supported metal nanoparticles (right). 

Figure 11.14. Schematic of cylindrical or, more generally, fixed cross-section nanoparticles deposited on an O2 conducting support.23...

Noble metal nanoparticles dispersed in insulating matrices have attracted the interest of many researchers fromboth applied and theoretical points of view [34]. The incorporation of metallic nanoparticles into easily processable polymer matrices offers a pathway for better exploitation of their characteristic optical, electronic and catalytic properties. On the other hand, the host polymers can influence the growth and spatial arrangement of the nanoparticles during the in situ synthesis, which makes them convenient templates for the preparation of nanoparticles of different morphologies. Furthermore, by selecting the polymer with certain favorable properties such as biocompatibiHty [35], conductivity [36] or photoluminescence [37], it is possible to obtain the nanocomposite materials for various technological purposes. 

Fig. 17. Variation of conductivity of Ag-starch nanocomposites with temperature. Inset shows variation with concentration of silver nanoparticles.

Coulomb blockade effects have been observed in a tunnel diode architectme consisting of an aluminum electrode covered by a six-layer LB film of eicosanoic acid, a layer of 3.8-nm CdSe nanoparticles capped with hexanethiol, and a gold electrode [166]. The LB film serves as a tunneling barrier between aluminum and the conduction band of the CdSe particles. The conductance versus applied voltage showed an onset of current flow near 0.7 V. The curve shows some small peaks as the current first rises that were attributed to surface states. The data could be fit using a tunneling model integrated between the bottom of the conduction band of the particles and the Fermi level of the aluminum electrode. 

FIG. 16 Current versus bias voltage for a CdS nanoparticle on the end of an STM tip. The CdS particles were formed by exposing a bilayer of cadmium arachidate on the STM tip to H2S gas. The other conducting surface is a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite electrode. The inset is a plot of differential conductance versus the bias voltage. (Reproduced with permission from Ref. 202. Copyright 1996 National Academy of Sciences, U. S. A.)... 

Another method to synthesize hollow nanocapsules involves the use of nanoparticle templates as the core, growing a shell around them, then subsequently removing the core by dissolution [30-32]. Although this approach is reminiscent of the sacrificial core method, the nanoparticles are first trapped and aligned in membrane pores by vacuum filtration rather than coated while in aqueous solution. The nanoparticles are employed as templates for polymer nucleation and growth Polymerization of a conducting polymer around the nanoparticles results in polymer-coated particles and, following dissolution of the core particles, hollow polymer nanocapsules are obtained. 

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