Systematic Comparison of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube/ Poly(vinyl Acetate) Graft-to Reactions
File(s)James_Paper_Final_Accepted_Version.docx (735.34 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Clancy, AJ
Serginson, JM
Greenfield, JL
Shaffer, MSP
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The covalent grafting of polymers to single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is widely used to improve solvent compatibility, as well as composite and functional performance. Here, three different graft-to strategies are directly compared, using azide, diazonium, and bromide terminated polymers, over four different molecular weights (oligomeric to 10 kDa) using specifically synthesized low polydispersity, end-group controlled poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) prepared by polymerisation using a bespoke protected-amine RAFT agent. Coupling of the bromo-polymer to reduced SWCNTs led to higher degrees of functionalisation (grafting ratios up to 68.9%) than the azide and diazonium grafting reactions, attributed to better initial dispersion of the pre-grafted SWCNTs. The use of higher molecular weight polymers led to a decrease in the total weight of polymer grafted, as the increase in per-polymer weight is more than offset by steric occlusion on the SWCNT surface. For these graft-to reactions, the dispersibility of grafted SWCNTs was found to depend most strongly on the polymer molecular weight, not total weight of grafted polymer or grafting chemistry, with an intermediate Mn∼5757 PVAc giving the best dispersibilities, at up to 118 mg L−1.
Date Issued
2017-10-23
Date Acceptance
2017-10-21
Citation
Polymer, 2017, 133, pp.263-271
ISSN
0032-3861
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
263
End Page
271
Journal / Book Title
Polymer
Volume
133
Copyright Statement
© 2017, Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Grant Number
AERO/RB1527
Subjects
03 Chemical Sciences
09 Engineering
Polymers
Publication Status
Published