Nanocomposite building blocks of TiO2–MWCNTf and ZrO2–MWCNTf

The objective of the present work was to synthesize TiO2 and ZrO2 nanoparticles on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) in order to obtain nanocomposite building blocks and to study the effect of MWCNT functionalization on the interaction between the metal oxide nanoparticles and the MWCNT. The materials were characterized by XRD, FTIR, XPS, TEM, AFM and DSC-TGA. The average MWCNT diameters were measured by TEM and AFM and a decrease from 13.3 ± 0.4 to 11.0 ± 1.0 nm was observed after functionalization. A very good dispersion of nanoparticles on the MWCNTf surface was observed. Thermal studies showed that TiO2 and or ZrO2 nanoparticles accelerate the decomposition of the carbon nanotubes in air atmosphere due to a catalytic effect. The zirconia cubic phase and the anatase phase are stabilized by the presence of carbon nanotubes on the nanocomposite systems.