Facile Fabrication of Multifunctional Poly(ethylene-co-octene)/Carbon Nanotube Foams based on Tunable Conductive Network

A novel multifunctional composite foam was fabricated by creating the tunable porous structure in segregated poly(ethylene-co-octene) (POE)/carbon nanotube (CNT) composite through supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) foaming, functioning on the variation of destruction and recovery of the segregated conductive network. The segregated structure was successfully constructed by selectively assembling CNT on the interfaces of POE granules via ball milling, and followed by the preservation of conductive networks during hot compression molding. As a result of the well-assembled domains, the prepared POE/CNT composite exhibited an excellent electrical conductivity of 26.8 S/m and a low percolation threshold of 0.17 vol%. Then scCO2 was utilized as the physical blowing agent to introduce the microcellular structure in the segregated POE/CNT composite. In this way, the obtained unique porous segregated structure endowed the foamed POE/CNT with the adjustable electrical conductivity and electromagnetic interference...