A multifunctional integrated carbon nanotubes/polyphenylene sulfide composite: preparation, properties and applications

Although great progress has been achieved in polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) composites by the use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), the development of cost-efficient, well dispersive and multifunctional integrated PPS composites has yet to be achieved because of the strong solvent resistance of PPS. In this work, a CNTs-PPS/PVA composite material has been prepared by mucus dispersion-annealing, which employed polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to disperse PPS particles and CNTs at room temperature. Dispersion and scanning electron microscopy observations revealed that PVA mucus can uniformly suspend and disperse micron-sized PPS particles, promoting the interpenetration of the micro–nano scale between PPS and CNTs. During the annealing process, PPS particles deformed and then crosslinked with CNTs and PVA to form a CNTs-PPS/PVA composite. The as-prepared CNTs-PPS/PVA composite possesses outstanding versatility, including excellent heat stability with resistant temperatures up to 350 °C, corrosion resistance against strong acids and alkalis for up to 30 days, and distinguished electrical conductivity with 2941 S m(−1). Besides, a well-dispersed CNTs-PPS/PVA suspension could be used to 3D print microcircuits. Hence, such multifunctional integrated composites will be highly promising in the future of new materials. This research also develops a simple and meaningful method to construct composites for solvent resistant polymers.