Synthesis and Electrical Response of Paraffin Wax/Polyethylene/Silver Nanoparticle Composites: An Exploratory Composition-Series Study

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Paraffin wax is inexpensive and readily processed but intrinsically insulating. This study aimed to quantify how polyethylene (PE) and chemically reduced nominal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) affect apparent room-temperature electrical conductivity and to determine whether ternary wax/PE/AgNP formulations consistently outperform matched wax/AgNP controls. Three independent composition series were prepared: wax/AgNP (5 g wax; 0.1–1.0 g AgNP), wax/PE (5 g wax; 5–15 g PE), and wax/PE/AgNP (5 g wax; 5–23 g PE and 0.2–2.0 g AgNP increased together). Silver powder was prepared by citrate-assisted precipitation and chemical reduction. PE-containing formulations were hot blended at 100–110 °C; AgNPs were added at approximately 40 °C, followed by 3 h of stirring. Electrical response was measured at approximately 25 °C using a four-terminal configuration. Conductivity increased from 0.025 to 0.499 µS/cm in the wax/AgNP series, from 0.0114 to 0.170 µS/cm in the wax/PE series, and from 0.081 to 4.20 µS/cm in the ternary series. The ternary endpoint corresponds to 4.20 × 10−4 S/m. Because PE and AgNP mass co-varied in the ternary series, their independent contributions could not be separated. At matched AgNP masses, the ternary formulation exceeded the binary control only at 0.2 g AgNP. The matched-control analysis therefore supports a composition-dependent increase but not synergy, a percolation threshold, or a verified dispersion mechanism.