Finite-size effects in nanocomposites: experimental and computational studies

Many proposed applications for electrically-conducting composite materials (smart textiles, e-m shielding coatings, tissue scaffolds) are nanostructured - that is, characteristic sample length scales may be similar to at least one dimension of the embedded particle. This is particularly true for long aspect-ratio particles such as nanotubes where the length of the particle can approach or exceed the thickness of a thin nanocomposite film or a nanofiber diameter. In these cases, the formation of a particle network and thus the electrical conductivity enhancement is affected by finite size effects, that is, percolation thresholds and the width of the transition to percolation differ with sample size [Stevens et al., \textit{Phys. Rev. E} \textbf{84}, 021126 (2011)]. We present experimental electrical conductivity and 3-D continuum Monte-Carlo simulation results on such finite-sized percolation effects for particles with aspect ratios of 1 to 1000 and discuss proposed scaling laws and techniques to improve conductance in the finite-size regime.