Low electrical percolation thresholds and nonlinear effects in graphene-reinforced nanocomposites: A numerical analysis

A numerical model of graphene-reinforced nanocomposites taking into account the electric tunneling effect is employed to analyze the influence of microstructural parameters on the effective electric conductivity and the percolation thresholds of the composite. The generation procedure for the random microstructures of graphene-reinforced nanocomposites is described. Effects of the barrier height, of graphene aspect ratio and alignment of graphene sheets have been quantitatively evaluated. The results show that both higher graphene aspect ratio and lower barrier height can lead to smaller percolation threshold, and the alignment of graphene sheets results in anisotropic electrical behavior without affecting the percolation threshold. The numerical model also shows the importance of the tunneling effect to reproduce the nonlinear electric behavior and the low percolation thresholds reported in the literature. Finally, results are compared with available experimental data.