Reconstruction of volume structure of carbon-based conductive polymer composites

Conductive polymer composites with different carbon fillers are under intensive investigation nowadays due to their unique properties and possible applications in different areas of science and technology. The percolation character of the conductivity behaviour in these materials and influence of nanoscale structure of conductive filler on macroscopic characteristics of composites make it important to determine the 3D structure of the components. Various electrical methods of atomic force microscopy (AFM) are efficient tools for visualization of a conductive network on a sample surface. In this work, we use a combination of AFM methods and ultramicrotomy for the 3D reconstruction of the filler structure in graphene-polystyrene and carbon black-epoxy-amine composites. Common features of the various composites, such as the formation of clusters with similar conductivity and limited number of filler particles forming a conductive network, are discussed. (paper)