title: Polymer brushes on carbon nanotubes by thiol-lactam initiated radical polymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate.
abstract: Water-soluble polymer brushes with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) as backbones were synthesized by grafting 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) from surface functionalized MWNTs via in situ surface thiol-lactam initiated radical polymerization. MWNTs were functionalized with 2-mercaptoethanol and used as initiators in the polymerization of HEMA in the presence of butyrolactam. FT-IR, XPS, 1H NMR, GPC and TGA were used to determine chemical structure and the grafted polymer quantities of the resulting product. The covalent bonding of PHEMA to the MWNTs dramatically improved the water dispersibility of MWNTs. The average thicknesses of the polymer brushes in the functionalized MWNTs were detected with electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) and images indicated that the nanotubes were coated with polymer layer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging System Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan 608-737, Korea.
authors.forename: Md Harun-Or
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Rashid
authors.forename: Won-Ki
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seong-Soo
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Jong Myung
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Hyun Gyu
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kwon Taek
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Lim
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D007769:Lactams / Q000737:chemistry*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008689:Methacrylates / Q000737:chemistry*; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007769:Lactams; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008689:Methacrylates; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D011108:Polymers; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; C009495:titanium dioxide; C005044:hydroxyethyl methacrylate; D014025:Titanium