Electrically conductive elastomers based on NR and polyaniline
by Jose Antonio Malmonge and Ricardo Hidalgo Santim, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil; and Colleen McMahan, USDA.
Natural rubber is an electrically insulating material, but introduction of conductive fillers like carbon based materials (carbon black, graphite, carbon nanofibers or nanotubes) or metal fillers can increase the conductivity of the resulting composite. These materials are frequently used for electromagnetic/radiofrequency interference (EMI/RFI) shielding, and laboratory and military uses. Intrinsically conductive polymers (ICPs) are well known and include materials such as polypyrrole (PPy) and polyaniline (Pani), which can be considered semiconductors.