Preparation of water-soluble multi-walled carbon nanotubes by polymer dispersant assisted exfoliation

Abstract

Water-soluble multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) with a high solubility of 29.2 mg ml(-1) were obtained by polymer dispersant hydrolyzed poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride) (HSMA) assisted exfoliation and centrifugation. The MWNTs were exfoliated and dispersed in aqueous solution by non-covalent modification with polymer dispersant of HSMA. Characterizations of HSMA-coated MWNTs were conducted via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy, and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The as-prepared HSMA-coated MWNTs showed good dispersibility and stability in water.

Controlled anisotropic wetting behaviour of multi-scale slippery surface structure of non fluoro polymer composite

“…The hydrophobic segments aids in adsorption of dispersant on to hydrophobic particles. Aromatic compounds such as styrene is used to make an effective adsorption of hydrophobic particles by means of hydrophobic and pi-pi interactions [34][35][36][37]. PEI (polyethyleneimine) is also used as hydrophobic segments, which is known to improve the stability of SiC and CNT in aqueous media by PEI [38].…”

Electrochemistry of glucose oxidase immobilized on carbon nanotubes noncovalently functionalized by multihydroxyl and multicarboxyl groups

“…Firstly, MWNTs were mildly oxidized by treating the pristine MWNTs with K 2 S 2 O 8 in dilute H 2 SO 4 solution according to the reported method [30][31][32]39] to obtain K 2 S 2 O 8 -treated-MWNTs. Then K 2 S 2 O 8 -treated-MWNTs were functionalized by the copolymerization of citric acid and D-sorbitol according to our previous report [32].…”

“…Unfortunately, these acid treatments reduce considerably the mechanical and electronic performance of CNTs due to the introduction of large number of defects, and cause a large waste of CNTs. The solubilization of CNTs could also be achieved by non-covalent modification, using surfactants [24,25] and polymers [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] adsorbed on CNTs. For the application of biosensors, chitosan [18,34,35], polyelectrolytes of poly(dimethyldiallylammonium chloride) [18,29,36], poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) [18], perfluorosulfonated polymer Nafion [18], and polycation polyethylenimine [37,38] are mostly used.…”

Surface Modification for Improving the Stability of Nanoparticles in Liquid Media

“…On dispersing hydrophobic nanoparticles, such as SiC, CNT, and coals, in aqueous media, the copolymers with hydrophilic group and hydrophobic group is often used for anionic surfactants. [22][23][24] The hydrophobic segments are for the adsorption of dispersant on hydrophobic particles and the hydrophilic segments are for the improvement of compatibility with aqueous media. The hydrophilic segment also plays an important role for the generation of effective repulsive force by the electrical double layer interactions.…”