Grafting of thermoresponsive polymer from the surface of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes via atom transfer radical polymerization

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes were oxidized with concentrated HNO3 and H2SO4 to introduce carboxylic groups onto carbon nanotubes surfaces. The oxidized carbon nanotubes were reacted subsequently with thionyl chloride and 2-Hydroxylethyl-2'-bromoisobutyrate, producing MWNT-based macroinitiators, MWNT-Br, for the atom transfer radical polymerization of (N-isopropylacrylamide). FTIR, XPS, H-1 NMR, Raman and TGA were used to characterize the resulting products and to determine the content of the water-soluble poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) chains in the product. The MWNTs grafted with PNIPAM chains have good solubility in distilled water; THF and CHCl3. TEM images of the samples provide direct evidence for the formation of a nanostructure that MWNTs coated with polymer layer. The produced MWNT-g-PNIPAM has a PNIPAM shell, which is very sensitive to the change of temperature. This method would open a door for the fabrication of novel functional carbon nanotube-based nanomaterials or nanodevices with designable structure and tailor-made properties.