Electron Percolation In Copper Infiltrated Carbon

The work describes the dependence of the electrical conductivity of carbon materials infiltrated with copper in a vacuum-pressure autoclave on copper concentration and on the effective pore radius of the carbon skeleton. In comparison with non-infiltrated material the electrical conductivity of copper infiltrated composite increased almost 500 times. If the composite contained less than 7.2 vol% of Cu, a linear dependence of the electrical conductivity upon cupper content was observed. If infiltrated carbon contained more than 7.2 vol% of Cu, the dependence was nonlinear – the curve could be described by a power formula (x − x_c)^t. This is a typical formula describing the electron percolation process in regions containing higher Cu fraction than the critical one. The maximum measured electrical conductivity was 396 × 10⁴ Ω⁻¹ m⁻¹ for copper concentration 27.6 vol%. Experiments and analysis of the electrical conductivity showed that electron percolation occurred in carbon materials infiltrated by copper when the copper volume exceeded the critical concentration. The analysis also showed a sharp increase of electrical conductivity in composites with copper concentration higher than the threshold, where the effective radius of carbon skeleton pores decreased to 350 nanometres.