Composite materials using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a filler and polymers as a host material show great promise in many applications due to exceptionally high electrical and thermal conductivities of CNTs and low density and resistance to mechanical stress of polymer materials. Here, we report a new bulk composite synthesized using commercially available single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and silicone compound. The prepared material demonstrates high electrical conductivity of 20 S/m with nanotube mass fraction of only 2%. The percolation threshold of the synthesized material is 0.3 wt%. Additionally, to analyze the properties of the prepared material we develop an analytical model of electrical conductivity in SWCNT composite materials. Within the proposed model we obtain simple relation for estimating the tunneling conductance of carbon nanotube-polymer interface and discuss the effective shortening of nanotubes in a composite due to buckling and tangling of SWCNTs. The developed model is in excellent agreement with our data as well as other data available in the literature and allows to ananlyze the conductive properties of composites in the wide range of CNT loadings.

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• Electrical conductivity
• Carbon-based materials
• Composite materials
• Landauer formula