Open Access

ARTICLE

Conductive Polymer Composites Fabricated by Disposable Face Masks and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes: Crystalline Structure and Enhancement Effect

Meng Xiang¹, Zhou Yang¹, Jingjing Yang¹, Tong Lu¹, Danqi Wu¹, Zhijun Liu¹, Rongjie Xue¹, Shuang Dong^2,*

1 Department of Materials Engineering, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou, 213001, China
2 Department of Mathematics Science and Chemical Engineering, Changzhou Institute of Technology, Changzhou, 213032, China

* Corresponding Author: Shuang Dong. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Plastic waste management towards a sustainable future)

Journal of Renewable Materials 2022, 10(3), 821-831. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2022.017347

Received 03 May 2021; Accepted 15 June 2021; Issue published 28 September 2021

Abstract

Influenced by recent COVID-19, wearing face masks to block the spread of the epidemic has become the simplest and most effective way. However, after the people wear masks, thousands of tons of medical waste by used disposable masks will be generated every day in the world, causing great pressure on the environment. Herein, conductive polymer composites are fabricated by simple melt blending of mask fragments (mask polypropylene, short for mPP) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs). MWNTs were used as modifiers for composites because of their high strength and high conductivity. The crystalline structure, mechanical, electrical and thermal enhancement effect of the composites were investigated. MWNTs with high thermal stability acted the role of promoting the crystallisation of mPP by expediting the crystalline nucleation, leading to the improvement of amount for crystalline nucleus. MWNTs fibers interpenetrate with each other in mPP matrix to form conducting network. With 2.0 wt% MWNTs loading, the tensile strength and electrical conductivity of the composites were increased by 809% and 7 orders of magnitude. MWNTs fibers interpenetrate with each other in mPP matrix to form conducting network. Thus, more conducting paths were constructed to transport carriers. The findings may open a way for high value utilization of the disposable masks.

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Keywords

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