Poly(butylene terephthalate)-functionalized MWNTs by in situ ring-opening polymerization of cyclic butylene terephthalate oligomers

摘要

Poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) had been covalently attached onto the surface of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) by a "grafting from" method based on in situ ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic butylene terephthalate oligomers (CBT) using MWNT-supported initiator (MWNT-g-Sn). The Sn-O bond grafted on the surface of MWNTs, which was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, provided the initiating sites for ROP of CBT. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance were used to confirm the chemical structure of MWNT-graft-PBT copolymer and emission transmission electron microscope was utilized to observe the nanostructure of the PBT functionalized MWNTs. A distinct core-shell structure with PBT layer as the shell could be observed after functionalization of PBT despite it was not uniform. The results of thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the grafting ratio of PBT was about 59.3%. Furthermore, the solubility of the PBT functionalized MWNTs in phenol/tetrachloroethane had also been investigated.