Development of coffee biochar filler for the production of electrical conductive reinforced plastic

Abstract

In this work we focused our attention on an innovative use of food residual biomasses. In particular, we produced biochar from coffee waste and used it as filler in epoxy resin composites with the aim to increase their electrical properties. Electrical conductivity was studied for the biochar and biochar-based composite in function of pressure applied. The results obtained were compared with carbon black and carbon black composites. We demonstrated that, even if the coffee biochar had less conductivity compared with carbon black in powder form, it created composites with better conductivity in comparison with carbon black composites. In addition, composite mechanical properties were tested and they generally improved with respect to neat epoxy resin.