Thermal conductivity of composites with hybrid carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoplatelets

An analytical model of the effective thermal conductivity in composites with hybrid carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) is presented by incorporating the percolation effect with an effective medium approach. The theoretical results are found to be in reasonably good agreement with recently published experimental data which well describe the synergistic effect of thermal conductivity enhancement in hybrid CNT/GNP composites. Theoretical analysis shows that the thermal conductivity enhancement mainly relies on a GNP percolation effect triggered by the presence of CNTs, rather than the isolated CNTs and GNPs, even at very low GNP percolation threshold. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4767899]