Synthesis of Functional Polypropylene as Efficient Dispersing Agent for Carbon Nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been used in many materials due to their interesting properties. But CNTs do not disperse well within apolar polymer matrices such as polypropylene. Recently, polypropylene-graft-maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) was used as a compatibilizer to improve the dispersion of CNTs within polymer. Disappointingly, the dispersion of CNTs was not expected. Here, utilizing 4-methylbenzenesulfonic acid as catalyst, PP-g-MA is chemically modified with phenol in dimethylbenzene. The resulting product (PP-g-PH) is characterized by the elemental analysis, fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The dispersions of CNTs within PP-g-MA and PP-g-PH are studied.