Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology , 2009, 9 (6), 4016-4021.

Optical, structural and electrical investigations of TiO2/multi-walled carbon nanotube composites

Castro, Mayra R. S. | Oliveira, Peter William de | Schmidt, Helmut K.

Nanocomposites of TiO2and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were produced by the addition of different concentrations of MWNTs to a TiO2sol matrix. Conductive coatings were prepared by spin coating the nanocomposite sols on glass substrates and sintering the samples at 300 ° C for 15 min. No crystalline phase of TiO2was formed at this temperature. The sheet resistance of the coatings was decreased from some hundreds of M Ω/sq to just a few k Ω/sq by the addition of MWNTs to the TiO2matrix. Moreover, sintering of the coatings in a reducing atmosphere has lead to a lower sheet resistance than that presented by coatings sintered in air. The lowest resistivity of 2.0 x 10-1Ω.cm was obtained by coatings prepared with 5.0 mg/ml MWNTs in the composite sol. The optical, structural and electrical properties of the coatings were correlated and demonstrated.