Tunneling conductivity in anisotropic nanofiber composites: a percolation-based model

The critical path approximation ('CPA') is integrated with a lattice-based approach to percolation to provide a model for conductivity in nanofiber-based composites. Our treatment incorporates a recent estimate for the anisotropy in tunneling-based conductance as a function of the relative angle between the axes of elongated nanoparticles. The conductivity is examined as a function of the volume fraction, degree of clustering, and of the mean value and standard deviation of the orientational order parameter. Results from our calculations suggest that the conductivity can depend strongly upon the standard deviation in the orientational order parameter even when all the other variables (including the mean value of the order parameter 〈S〉) are held invariant. (paper)