title: Polycyclopentene-Crystal-Decorated Carbon Nanotubes by Convenient Large-Scale In Situ Polymerization and their Lotus-Leaf-Like Superhydrophobic Films.
abstract: In situ Pd-catalyzed cyclopentene polymerization in the presence of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) is demonstrated to effectively render, on a large scale, polycyclopentene-crystal-decorated MWCNTs. Controlling the catalyst loading and/or time in the polymerization offers a convenient tuning of the polymer content and the morphology of the decorated MWCNTs. Appealingly, films made of the decorated carbon nanotubes through simple vacuum filtration show the characteristic lotus-leaf-like superhydrophobicity with high water contact angle (>150°), low contact angle hysteresis (<10°), and low water adhesion, while being electrically conductive. This is the first demonstration of the direct fabrication of lotus-leaf-like superhydrophobic films with solution-grown polymer-crystal-decorated carbon nanotubes.
authors.affiliation: Bharti School of Engineering, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Rd, Sudbury, ON, P3E 2C6, Canada.|College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, No. 18 Chaowang Rd, Hangzhou, 310014, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Lixin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Bharti School of Engineering, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Rd, Sudbury, ON, P3E 2C6, Canada.
authors.forename: Lingqi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Bharti School of Engineering, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Rd, Sudbury, ON, P3E 2C6, Canada.
authors.forename: Zhibin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, No. 18 Chaowang Rd, Hangzhou, 310014, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, One University Ave, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, One University Ave, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA.
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization; D003517:Cyclopentanes / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D058105:Polymerization; D011108:Polymers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D003517:Cyclopentanes; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D011108:Polymers
keywords: carbon nanotube; crystallization; polycyclopentene; polymer crystal; superhydrophobic films