Electrical contact resistance in filaments

Electrical contact resistance (ECR) influences the electrochemical performance of porous electrodes made of stacked discrete materials (e. g., carbon nanotubes, nanofibers, etc.) for use in supercapacitors and rechargeable batteries. This study establishes a simple elasticity-conductivity model for the ECR of filaments in adhesive contact. The elastic deformation and size of electrical contact zone of the filaments are determined by using an adhesive contact model of filaments, and the ECR of adhesive filaments is obtained in explicit form. Dependencies of the ECR upon the filament geometries, surface energy, and elasticity are examined. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4718019]