Use of amphiphilic graft copolymer as dispersant for carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) draw attention as promising materials due to their excellent electrical and mechanical properties. However, the intrinsic strong interaction between CNTs presents a challenge to their use in various applications. Here, we present a facile method to disperse single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in a polar solution using a graft copolymer, poly (vinyl chloride) graft -poly (oxyethylene methacrylate), PVC-.g-POEM. The graft copolymer was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), as confirmed by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The SWCNTs were uniformly dispersed in a polar solvent such as dimethylsiloxane (DMSO) using PVC-g-POEM as a dispersant, due to interaction between CNT and the graft copolymer, as revealed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. Upon removal of the solvent, free standing nanocomposite films with good homogeneity were obtained.