Functionalization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes grafted with self-generated functional groups and their polyamide 6 composites

摘要

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were applied in this study to demonstrate that multi-walled carbon nanotubes synthesized from ethanol flames (F-MWCNTs) inherently have functional groups on their surfaces. This finding clearly indicates that the cova-lent functionalization of carbon nanotubes can be achieved without oxidation as pretreatment. Thus, n-hexadecylamine functionalized F-MWCNTs (H-MWCNTs) can be synthesized simply, without disrupting the primary structures of the nanotubes. The melt-compounding method was used to fabricate polyamide 6/MWCNTs composites. Scanning electron microscope results confirmed that both F-MWCNTs and H-MWCNTs have much better nanoscopic dispersion in PA6 matrix than commercial MWCNTs, and the tensile strength, Young's modulus, dynamic mechanical properties, and thermal behavior of their PA6 composites are considerably improved.