Synthesis and characterization of soluble multi-walled carbon nanotube/poly(organophosphazene) composites

Poor solubility of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in water and organic solvents offers a significant problem for their applications. Macromolecules can be suitable solubilizing agents and a structural component of composite materials for CNTs. Several polymers were tested for the preparation of CNT dispersions. In this study, a poly[(4-pyridineoxy)(phenoxy)phosphazene] (3) was prepared by sequential treatment of poly(dichlorophosphazene) (2) with sodium 4-pyridineoxy and sodium phenoxide in THF. Multi-walled carbon nanotube/poly(organophosphazene) composites (f-MWCNT/PZS) with different feed ratios [Rfeed = 1:1, 1:3, 1:5 and 1:10 (w/w)] were obtained by the treatment of the functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube (f-MWCNT) with the protonated poly(organophosphazene) (PZS). Excellent dispersions of the f-MWCNT/PZS nanocomposites in water and common organic solvents were achieved. The influence of feed ratio on polymer coating and the stability of composites were investigated by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). f-MWCNT/PZS1:5 nanocomposite was characterized by 31P, 1H NMR, FTIR, XRD, EDX and Raman Spectroscopy. The morphologic characterizations of f-MWCNT/PZS1:5 were carried out by HRTEM and SEM methods.