Effect of hybrid conductive fillers coating on woven jute fiber and its characterization

Despite the recent developments in fiber coating technology during the last decade, the coating of natural fibers still poses challenges. The present work aims to develop a novel electrically conductive jute fiber (JF) through electroless nickel-phosphorus (Ni-P) composite coating with hybrid reinforcements (graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and carbon black (CB)). Four different jute fiber-coated samples are prepared and identified as Ni-P/JF, Ni-P/GNPs/JF, Ni-P/CB/JF, and Ni-P/GNPs/CB/JF. The effect of hybrid reinforcements is studied through field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and four-probe test to identify the morphological changes, elemental compositions, functional groups, phase structure and the electrical conductivity. A significant change was observed in the microstructure, diffraction peaks, and electrical conductivity of coated jute fiber with reinforcements. The best electrical conductivity of 13.141 S cm−1 is exhibited by Ni-P/GNPs/JF, while the minimum is registered with the Ni-P/CB/JF sample (9.597 S cm−1). The electrical conductivity of Ni-P composite coating with hybrid reinforcements (Ni-P/GNPs/CB/JF) is shown to be 17% higher and 19% lower than Ni-P/GNPs/JF and Ni-P/CB/JF samples, respectively.