Influence of Electrochemically Exfoliated Graphite Addition on the Dielectric Properties of Epoxy/Montmorillonite Nanocomposites

Abstract

The influence of hydrophilic electrochemically exfoliated graphite (EEG) and hydrophobic reduced EEG (rEEG) on the electrical conductivity, dielectric properties, and high-frequency dielectric losses of epoxy-based composites with montmorillonite was described. It was confirmed, that the addition of EEG changes the low-temperature conduction mechanism. The electrical conductivity in composite with EEG and montmorillonite was described by correlated barrier hopping model, whereas for composites with montmorillonite and rEEG two models were used: non-overlapping small polaron tunneling and correlated barrier hopping. The addition of EEG drastically changes the activation energy of charge carriers motions from 2.68 to 0.83 eV, whereas the addition of rEEG only to 2.43 eV. Also composite with EEG was characterized by highest high-frequency dielectric losses.