Gas sensitivity of carbon black/waterborne polyurethane composites

The synthesis of conductive composites consisting of waterborne polyurethane (WPU) and carbon black (CB) is reported. Besides the low percolation threshold (0.7-0.95 wt%), the composites are quite sensitive to organic solvent vapors regardless of their polarities as characterized by the drastic changes in conductivity. In the case of polar solvents, negative and positive vapor coefficient phenomena of the composites were successively observed with a rise in CB content. It was found that different mechanisms are responsible for the broad applicability of the composites as candidates for gas sensing materials owing to the different interactions among the matrix polymer, the filler particles and the solvent molecules. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.