Synthesis and Characterization of Carbon Fiber Functionalized with Poly(glycidyl methacrylate) via Catalytic Chain Transfer Polymerization

Catalytic chain transfer polymerization (CCTP) is an extremely efficient process to produce low-molecular weight polymers. In this paper, we reported a controllable synthesis of carbon fibers functionalized with poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (CF-PGMA) by using cobalt oxime boron fluoride (CoBF) as a chain transfer catalyst via catalytic chain transfer polymerization. In a typical run, the carbon fiber was first oxidized with a mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid (1: 3) to introduce hydroxyl groups onto the carbon fiber surface. Subsequently, 3-(trimethoxysilyl) propylmethacrylate (KH570) was grafted onto the carbon fiber surface by chemical reaction of hydroxyl groups with the silane coupling agent. Finally, CF-PGMA was prepared by poly(glycidyl methacrylate) surface-grafted onto the carbon fiber via catalytic chain transfer polymerization and was characterized by FT-IR, TGA and XPS. The results show that the carbon fiber functionalized with poly(glycidyl methacrylate) was synthesized successfully and the content of grafted polymers was about 36.4 %.