Complex permittivity and microwave absorption properties of carbon nanotubes/polymer composite: A numerical study

Based on an equivalent resistance-capacitance (RC) network, we investigate theoretically the complex permittivity and microwave absorption properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/polymer composite in the frequency range of 50 MHz-3 GHz using the logarithmic mixing rule. Both the real and imaginary parts of the permittivities of CNTs and polymer are considered in detail. The simulated results show that the real and imaginary permittivities of the composite increase explicitly with increasing volume fraction of CNTs, and the latter is more sensitive. The calculated complex permittivity spectra of the composite are in good agreement with the available experimental data. In addition, a good linear relationship between microwave absorbance and frequency is found. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.