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a) b - École Polytechnique de Montréal

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4.3.6 Conductivity Measurements<br />

DC electrical measurements were performed through the vertical thickness of the substrate at<br />

ambient temperatures using a Keithley electrometer mo<strong>de</strong>l 6517. The sample is placed between<br />

two sample hol<strong>de</strong>rs and a DC voltage is applied using two point probe equipment. The setup<br />

works at a voltage range of 0-1000V and an ammeter range of 0-20mA. To standardize equal<br />

pressure for all samples, a 5lb load was applied on the sample hol<strong>de</strong>rs. Cylindrical specimens<br />

with a thickness of 1.2mm and a radius of 1.25cm were tested in dry air. Although the top and<br />

bottom surfaces of the samples are flat, two graphite sheets covered the surface of the sample in<br />

or<strong>de</strong>r to ensure good contact of the sample surface and electro<strong>de</strong>s. The electrical conductivity of<br />

the samples varied over a wi<strong>de</strong> range from 10 -12 S cm -1 to 10 -1 S cm -1 . The average % error in the<br />

conductivity measurements is ± 0.2 or<strong>de</strong>rs of magnitu<strong>de</strong>.<br />

4.4 Results and Discussions<br />

4.4.1 Reducing the Percolation Threshold of PANI in a Multi-component<br />

Polymer Blend<br />

The principal objective of this work is to control the morphology of a multi-component polymer<br />

blend in or<strong>de</strong>r to significantly reduce the percolation threshold of the conductive PANI<br />

component. The first question to be addressed is where does the PANI need to be located in the<br />

blend system?<br />

In recent work, Zhang et al.(J. Zhang, et al., 2007) <strong>de</strong>monstrated that the percolation threshold of<br />

one component could be reduced to values as low as three percent by preparing a ternary blend<br />

and situating that phase at the interface of two other co-continuous phases. In Figure 4-3a, it is<br />

shown that polystyrene situates at the interface of PE and PMMA and the or<strong>de</strong>ring of the phases<br />

can be directly related to Harkins spreading theory. In Figure 4-3a, the i<strong>de</strong>ntification of the<br />

phases can be clearly seen by the topographical heights induced by FIB etching and subsequently<br />

quantified by AFM analysis in the topographical mo<strong>de</strong>. Previous work showed that PMMA is<br />

107

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