Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) provide an excellent example of nanomaterialsNanomaterials because these are materialsMaterials that have incredible mechanicalMechanical, electricalElectrical and thermal properties with the potential to shift the performance of various composite materialsMaterials. They are differentiated by the number of layersLayer of a grapheneGraphene structureStructure to form the tube that attributes to their usefulness used in virtually every nanotechnological and materialsMaterials science applicationApplications (Nath et al. in Polymers for Advanced Technologies 34:1019–1034, 2022). CarbonCarbon nanotubesNanotubes distribution and location are significant in order to increase the mentioned propertiesProperties. A good dispersion in a polymerPolymer matrix promotes the mechanicalMechanical strength, the thermal stability and the electricalElectrical conductivityConductivity. Distributing the CNTs well will give a percolating network that can improve the transmission of load, along with distribution of stress in the composite (Ahmadi et al. in Materials Research Express 9, 2022). In the present study, white rice husk ash (WRHA) was undergoing various plasma treatment therapies to modify it to be more favorable to act as a reinforcing filler in natural rubberRubber (NR) composites. These treatments were argon (cleaning), Oxygen (activation) and acetylene (polymerization) plasma and the aim of these treatments was to increase the WRHA specific surface area. At that, a set of five rubberRubber formulations on the basis of conventional NR/silica tire tread formulation was synthesized, and the kineticsKinetic of vulcanization, mechanicalMechanical, dynamic and tribological characteristics were determined. In its turn, the sufficiently decreased surface free energyEnergy of the modified filler was confirmed by the analysis and preconditioned its more appropriate dispersion and interactionsInteraction with the NR matrix (Fig. 11).