Volume 14, Issue 5, 2005

Influence of Acid Treatment on Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes in PBO Matrix

X. Li, Y.D. Huang*

Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Harbin Institute of Technology,
P.O.Box 410, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed
E-mail: huangyd@hit.edu.cn

(Received 9/05; accepted 3/06)

Abstract
Dispersion of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in polymeric matrix has been a key factor on forming CNTs/polymer composites. In this paper, the O-MWNTs were first derived from raw multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) which were purified with a mixed solution of concentrated H2SO4 and concentrated HNO3, then the O-MWNTs were dispersed with sonication in H3PO4 and the resultants were denoted as U-MWNTs. After processed with poly (p-phenylene–2, 6-benzoxazole)(PBO) by in-situ polymerisation successfully, the O-MWNTs and the U-MWNTs were finally formed into O-MWNTs/PBO composites and U-MWNTs/PBO composites, respectively. The SEM and AFM morphological analysis showed that a perfect dispersion of U-MWNTs in U-MWNTs/PBO composites was obtained. These composites can be widely used in photoelectric devices and engineering applications, etc.
Keywords: multi-walled carbon nanotubes, composites, in-situ polymerisation, Poly(p-phenylene–2,6-benzoxazole).