Both cellulose nanofiber (CNF) and carbon nanotube (CNT) are nanoscale fibers that\nhave shown reinforcing effects in polymer composites. Itâ??s worth noting that CNF and CNT\ncould form a three-dimensional nano-network via mixing and vacuum filtration, which exhibit\nexcellent mechanical strength and electrical conductivity. In this study, the developed CNF/CNT\nfilm was applied as a nano-network template and immersed into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)\nsolutions. By controlling the immersed polydimethylsiloxane pre-polymer concentration,\nthe PDMS/CNF/CNT nanocomposite with various PDMS contents were fabricated after a curing\nprocess. Morphological images showed that the CNF/CNT nano-network was well-preserved inside\nthe PDMS, which resulted in significantly improved mechanical strength. While increasing the PDMS\ncontent (~71.3 wt %) gave rise to decreased tensile strength, the PDMS-30/CNF/CNT showed\na fracture strain of 7.5%, which was around seven fold higher than the rigid CNF/CNT and still\nkept a desirable strengthâ??Youngâ??s modulus and conductivity of 18.3 MPa, 805 MPa, and 0.8 S/cm,\nrespectively. Therefore, with the enhanced mechanical properties and the electrical conductivity,\nthe prepared PDMS/CNF/CNT composite films may offer promising and broad prospects in the\nfield of flexible devices.
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