Electrical conductivity of water- based nanofluids prepared with graphene – carbon nanotube hybrid

Abstract

Graphene, Carbon Nanotubes and their hybrids are receiving considerable attention in energy storage devices due to their unique properties. The present study reports the synthesis of Graphene–Carbon Nanotube hybrid having variable ratios of the constituting nanomaterials by employing two different chemical routes to explore their potential in energy storage devices. To study the structure and morphology of synthesized nanomaterials, all samples were characterized by high resolution imaging and spectroscopy techniques. Electrical conductivity of synthesized Graphene-Carbon Nanotube hybrid, graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes was measured by two probe method to study whether the conductivity of hybrid is greater than that of graphene and carbon nanotubes. It was observed that hybrid exhibited excellent stability due to strong π-π interaction between carbon nanotubes and graphene oxide sheets. The maximum electrical conductivity was obtained for the hybrid in which amount of graphene oxide was more than that of multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Moreover, the results of electrical conductivity demonstrated that the structure of hybrid plays significant role in improving its properties.