Non destructive electrochemical fluorination of multiwalled carbon nanotubes

摘要

Functionalisation of multiwalled carbon nanotubes is of great interest for developing a wide field of applications. In the present study, fluorinated multiwalled carbon nanotubes were prepared by electrochemical grafting through the anodic oxidation of pentafluorophenol in alkaline solution. The reaction was performed in aqueous medium using sodium sulfate as support electrolyte. Grafted nanotubes were characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, XPS, and TGA. Fluorinated nanotubes show a high ability to form metastable emulsions in some organic solvents (ethanol and chlorinated hydrocarbons). Such a material could be used in a near future to get efficient and selective adsorbents.